Knoppix- Cable Internet Issue
 

I'm pretty new to linux, so pardon my new-bee-ness.

I downloaded a version of KNOPPIX, and everything works great- except for my Charter cable internet access. I'm using a standard Intel 10/100 E-net card, which is detected by knoppix. The card connects to my cable modem, which I don't know much about b/c I got it from Charter, and they won't tell me anything about it (I've contacted tech support about this multiple times: they "don't support linux)." I can even connect to my Belkin router by typing in it's IP address. I just can't go to any web addresses.

I've tried the netcardconfig command both on the KDE desktop, and in the console. The DHCP broadcast gives me the error: "eth0 NIC link is up 100mbps, full duplex- OPERATION FAILED." If I try to configure the card w/o DHCP, but I don't know what I'm doing (i.e., what values to enter for DNS and Default Gateway), and it doesn't work anyway. When I type the command ifconfig -a, i get this:

etho Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 04:AC:6E:20:7C
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 METRIC: 1
Rx Packets: 8 errors:0 drops:0 overruns:0
Tx Packets:7 errors:0 drops:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
Rx bytes: 83738 (81.7KiB) Tx bytes: 2736 (2.6)
Interrupt: 11 Base Address: 0x5c60 Memory: E3FFF000-E3FFF-038

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr: 127.0.0.1 Mask: 255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 METRIC:1
Rx Packets: 8 errors:0 drops:0 overruns:0
Tx Packets:8 errors:0 drops:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes: 400 (400.0b) TX bytes: 400 (400.0b)

Also, when I typed in the route -n command, I got a bunch of empty fields, with no values- Destination, Gateway, Genmask- all blank fields. When I type in the 127.0.0.1 address that I recieve from ifconfig -a into a browser, I get an error message- something like "permission denied" or "not allowed." I've tried routing the cable modem through USB interface instead of ethernet, but that doesn't work either. Any suggestions??

Have you tried the command: ifconfig eth0 up in the knoppix root term?

I did, and nothing happened. The eht0 card was up to start with.

Just to clarify, do you have the computer hooked up like this...
computer --> router --> cable modem

or do you have the computer hooked directly to the cable modem?

well, i had it hooked up to the router before, and then the router to the modem. this was just to double check the ethernet card. my comp is going straight to the modem, now. judging from my results, it wasn't the card, it's probably either the modem, knoppix's incapacity to communicate with it, or my incapacity to know how to GET knoppix to communicate with it.

Sometimes a ISP will keep track of what ethernet hardware address you are using when you first connect to them. With that in mind some routers have a hardware address cloning feature. So if you are able to connect any computers to the router and gain access to the net, then I would also connect the knoppix machine through the router.

i do recall the cloning feature on the router, although it yeilded no results. i didn't have the router connected when i first got my cable internet hooked up. honestly, i think the modem's just set up to be read from windows, probably even as a security feature to keep ppl from stealing cable internet. but i'm no expert here.. :-)