DSL connection times out. Is not ISP since used friends laptop and
connection was strong and stable.  Using Win XP (home) with SP1. 
E-mail through Outlook Express is no problem (except trying to check
Hotmail) Only way I can even ask this question is to reboot and then I
will have a connection for a short time.

my first guess would be a faulty network card
other then that try reinstalling TCP/IP and/or build a new network connection

Don't forget to check the network cable as well!

Probably a bad TCP/IP stack or some sort of software corruption.
Whenever you are having weird problems, always make sure you are
working with a KNOWN GOOD operating system.  OS's can get corrupted
and do some very funky stuff.  So back up your data if need be,
reformat and reinstall Windows.  If you are still having problems
after this, then you have narrowed it down to hardware.  Most likely a
bad NIC card, as corwin mentioned.