I have a computer running debian 3 with a 2.2 kernel and I am not able to connect to the internet. I wanted to use apt-get to get some updates but I can't. I am using dhcp and I get an IP address and I can ping local IPs but it does not resolve any names.

You say that you can ping but not resolve names.

can you ping 66.102.11.99?

PING www.google.akadns.net (66.102.11.99) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 66.102.11.99: icmp_seq=0 ttl=244 time=37.8 ms

If you can It sounds like you need a dns server, you can set this in /etc/resolv.conf
it looks like this: -

nameserver X.X.X.X
nameserver X.X.X.X

Where X.X.X.X is the IP of your dns server

To find out the IP addresses of your dns server/s contact your ISP - or have a look at their website.

I have checked the resolv.conf and it lloks like this below:

search
nameserver 216.111.65.217
nameserver 205.171.3.65
nameserver 206.142.144.197

These are the same entries on my window xp machine and it works fine. When I do a nslookup I get the following:

debiantest:/etc# nslookup www.google.com
Note: nslookup is deprecated and may be removed from future releases.
Consider using the `dig' or `host' programs instead. Run nslookup with
the `-sil[ent]' option to prevent this message from appearing.
Server: 216.111.65.217
Address: 216.111.65.217#53

Non-authoritative answer:
*** Can't find www.google.com: No answer


And dig:

debiantest:/etc# dig www.google.com

; <<>> DiG 9.2.1 <<>> www.google.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 39136
;; flags: qr rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 13, ADDITIONAL: 13

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.google.com. IN A

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
com. 86769 IN NS k.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS f.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS h.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS d.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS g.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS b.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS m.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS j.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS a.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS i.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS c.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS l.gtld-servers.net.
com. 86769 IN NS e.gtld-servers.net.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
k.gtld-servers.net. 19558 IN A 192.52.178.30
f.gtld-servers.net. 17825 IN A 192.35.51.30
h.gtld-servers.net. 11139 IN A 192.54.112.30
d.gtld-servers.net. 17829 IN A 192.31.80.30
g.gtld-servers.net. 19404 IN A 192.42.93.30
b.gtld-servers.net. 44306 IN A 192.33.14.30
m.gtld-servers.net. 19543 IN A 192.55.83.30
j.gtld-servers.net. 19564 IN A 192.48.79.30
a.gtld-servers.net. 8250 IN A 192.5.6.30
i.gtld-servers.net. 16020 IN A 192.43.172.30
c.gtld-servers.net. 7570 IN A 192.26.92.30
l.gtld-servers.net. 15500 IN A 192.41.162.30
e.gtld-servers.net. 14276 IN A 192.12.94.30

;; Query time: 37 msec
;; SERVER: 216.111.65.217#53(216.111.65.217)
;; WHEN: Tue Aug 10 07:28:10 2004
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 464

I used nslookup to test the servers (see below),

server 1 & 3 in your list timed out, so try moving 205.171.3.65 to be the first in resolv.conf
'cos both dig and nslookup are using the first one from resolv.conf


----------------------------------------------------------------
>server 216.111.65.217 <------- Server 1 in resolv.conf
Default server: 216.111.65.217
Address: 216.111.65.217#53
> google.com
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

> server 205.171.3.65 <------- Server 2 in resolv.conf
Default server: 205.171.3.65
Address: 205.171.3.65#53
> google.com
Server: 205.171.3.65
Address: 205.171.3.65#53
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 216.239.37.99
Name: google.com
Address: 216.239.39.99
Name: google.com
Address: 216.239.57.99

> server 206.142.144.197 <------- Server 3 in resolv.conf
Default server: 206.142.144.197
Address: 206.142.144.197#53
> google.com
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for all of your help. I changed the order of the nameservers and it worked. I don't understand why it would not go through the list as one does not work.