DNN 3.2 .0 was running beautifully.  So I just had to make Host Settings changes. 
I killed it.  http://www.justmyportal.com 
Changes exist in only three places. 

A. DNS setup to get to my IP
B. PORTALALIAS
C. HOSTSETTINGS

No other files have been touched.

I am about to try and install another DNN instance in a backup database and in a backup location so I can compare files.  I went into the SQL file HOSTSETTINGS directly to try to re-set some values, but I'm not sure if there are values cached somewhere else and I don't know what all the original settings were and I can no longer log into the website.  The behavior I see is the site unable to resolve a location - browser stops responding - then Internet Explorer shuts down.

1. Should my DNS include the sub-folder, or should that be left to PortalAlias?
    My DNS says www.justmyportal.com points to http://24.34.173.27:80/DotNetNuke
    PortalAlias says www.justmyportal.com.  Right? Wrong?  I just took out what
    I thought was an extra slash in my URL.
    I haven't touched my firewall, as I actually have multiple HTTP ports running.
    This is still a concept where the more I  read, the less certain I understand.

2. What are the default settings in the HOSTSETTINGS table?

3. Is there another location where values need to be cleared out (cache) ?

4. Where should I be looking to see what is going on.

5. Any Troubleshooting suggestions?  

(Backup? Of course I have no backup!  This is a Test site . . . . in production...oops)

I was able to install a second copy of DNN and compare SQL tables - full install only took an hour this time (learned a lot in two months) and I've eliminated possible problems except my Portal Alias - no big surprise. 

The good news is that with the local IP in the PortalAlias file, I am now able to log into the web site locally (thank the gods!).  I would like to try to decifer the correct Portal Alias for Internet access to http://www.justmyportal.com.

Using DNN 3.2.0, this is what I've got;
   Windows 2000 Server with Microsoft SQL Server 2000
   Within IIS, /DotNetNuke is a Virtual Directory and Application.

DNS --- www.JustMyPortal.com  --->  http://24.34.173.27:80/DotNetNuke

Linksys Firewall --- forwards port 80 to 192.168.1.100 (server with DNN)
     I have port 81 and 82 going to two other IP's (non-DNN) and these work fine

PortalAlias --- I've been adding and deleting, but right now I've got these:
     192.168.1.100:80/DotNetNuke
     localhost:80/DotNetNuke
     192.168.1.100/DotNetNuke
     24.34.173.27:80/DotNetNuke

I am able to get to the portal locally only.

   Question 1.) Is the Registry DNS entry correct? (for this example)
   Question 2.) What are the correct PortalAlias entries?
   Question 3.) Should there be any particular order of entries for the PortalAlias?

I've read other posting exchanges and was still not sure about the correct answers.  I believe there are others still trying to work out the correct answers, or will be once they migrate from internal site to external site.