I believe the quick flashing indicates a fault.  Are you using a crossover cable ro a straight?  Once you get the leds on constant, go to Start - Run - type winipcfg and hit enter.  In the window that opens use the pulldown to make sure your NIC is listed, then release then renew.  You should get back a 192.168.x.x type IP address and be on the network.

Thanks for the input.  I am pretty sure the problem is in the home cat5 wire as I cannot get the notebook to connect from the same input jack.  Will try some other things to isolate the problem and let you know.

Thanks again.