thank you for the response 
i had to restart my machine, probably to reset the ethernet
and i used this code to test my connection and Woohoo! it worked with my static ip
here's the code i used to test
//zoomkat 12-08-11
//simple client test
//for use with IDE 1.0
//open serial monitor and send an e to test
//for use with W5100 based ethernet shields
//note that the below bug fix may be required
// Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
#include <SPI.h>
#include <Ethernet.h>
byte mac[] = { 0x90, 0xA2, 0xDA, 0x0D, 0x3E, 0x48 }; //physical mac address
byte ip[] = { 192,168,137, 170 }; // ip in lan assigned to arduino
//byte gateway[] = { 192, 168, 0, 1 }; // internet access via router
//byte subnet[] = { 255, 255, 255, 0 }; //subnet mask
byte myserver[] = { 208, 104, 2, 86 }; // zoomkat web page server IP address
EthernetClient client;
//////////////////////
void setup(){
Ethernet.begin(mac, ip);
//Ethernet.begin(mac, ip, subnet, gateway);
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("Better client test 12/01/11"); // so I can keep track of what is loaded
Serial.println("Send an e in serial monitor to test"); // what to do to test
}
void loop(){
// check for serial input
if (Serial.available() > 0) //if something in serial buffer
{
byte inChar; // sets inChar as a byte
inChar = Serial.read(); //gets byte from buffer
if(inChar == 'e') // checks to see byte is an e
{
sendGET(); // call sendGET function below when byte is an e
}
}
}
//////////////////////////
void sendGET() //client function to send/receive GET request data.
{
if (client.connect(myserver, 80)) { //starts client connection, checks for connection
Serial.println("connected");
client.println("GET /~shb/arduino.txt HTTP/1.0"); //download text
client.println(); //end of get request
}
else {
Serial.println("connection failed"); //error message if no client connect
Serial.println();
}
while(client.connected() && !client.available()) delay(1); //waits for data
while (client.connected() || client.available()) { //connected or data available
char c = client.read(); //gets byte from ethernet buffer
Serial.print(c); //prints byte to serial monitor
}
Serial.println();
Serial.println("disconnecting.");
Serial.println("==================");
Serial.println();
client.stop(); //stop client
}
thank you once again XD
i'd like to know how i can use it to connect it to my local wampserver with mysql so that i can store a cellnumber and serial number remotely.
I'm going to hook up a 4x3 keypad, 20x4 lcd in 4 bit mode, ethernet shield and the arduino uno r3.
any suggestions will be greatly appreciated