My hp pavillion slimline- ie wont work.

Hello,
I recently gave my computer to a friend. Restored it factory settings and went through the setup wizard. Then went into ie and her at&t service popped up with a setup wizard. Filled it all out and it sent us strait to the browser. Turned off computer and restarted. Now it shows good signal and connected to internet. Yet can't go to ie and get online. In the bottom of the screen the icon that shows connectivity just has the little circle that shows something is loading, but it never goes away and can't click on it to tell us what type of connection we have. Also when trying to go to network settings it is very slow. Any ideas, please?