Okay, so here's what's up. We've had Verizon DSL for some time running on Windows from a Westell Dual-Connect DSL modem from Verizon themsleves. There have been two computers running on the DSL through a Linksys 5-Port Workgroup Hub. One was WIN98 the other WINME. I have just installed Suse Linux 9.1 on my computer (the WIN98) and after having extreme problems partitioning the drive, i finally got it to work. Now during the configuration I am trying to get internet access to work with my verizon DSL. Currently, under the Network Interfaces menu, I have the 3Com 3c905b Fast Etherlink 10/100 which says that it is configured with DHCP. The network device is labeled as eth-id-00:50:04:d4:0e:4d Setup method is Automatic address setup via DHCP. There is no IP address showing, the Subnet Mask is 255.255.255.0 Now when I attempt to test the internet during setup it fails. The logs read: "eth0 device: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev30)" then the second line reads: "eth0 configuration: eth-id-00:50:04:d4:0e:4d" It then states that "DHCP client is already running on eth0". I do apologize for the long post, but I like to make sure that all details are given so as to aid the help process. I am very new to doing these types of things, and this is my very first time experienceing Linux in any form. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi friend! Be welcome!

Can you post here the output of the command ifconfig? You have to be root to issue this command.
Also, try to do:

ifdown eth0

and then

ifup eth0

in the console, as root. Post here the results so we can try to figure things out.

Thank you for responding Bruno. Here are the results of those commands.
Running ifconfig:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:044:0e:4d
inet6 addr: fe80::250:4ff:fed4:e4d/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:321 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:321
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:187800 (183.3 Kb)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x1000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:104 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:104 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:6720 (6.5 Kb) TX bytes:6720 (6.5 Kb)

Running ifdown eth0

eth0 device: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 30)
eth0 configuration: eth-id-00:50:04:d4:0e:4d
Warning: /etc/resolv.conf not found

Warning: No interface active (yet?)


Running ifup eth0 after running ifdown eth0

eth0 device: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 30)
eth0 configuration: eth-id-00:50:04:d4:0e:4d
Starting DHCP client Daemon on eth0... . . . . . no IP address yet... backgrounding.

Warning: No interface active (yet?)



Well that's it, hope to hear from ya soon man, thanks for any help you can give.

Ifconfig, in fact, tell us that you don't have an IP address. The IP would be the second line, instead of inet6 stuff.

ifdown is needed so we can run again the dhcp client. But when you do, it doesn't grab an IP.

"Starting DHCP client Daemon on eth0... . . . . . no IP address yet... backgrounding."

which is why it backgrounds...

How does the same computer running win grabs IP? In the control panel, it is set to "automatic configuration" or something like this?

Does the dsl modem works as a dhcp server? Or your are using your isp's?

As far as I know the modem does not and everything is ruin by the ISP.

Well then, now to expose just how big of an idiot I truly am. Apparently all this time, what I thought was a 56k Modem in the back of my PC IS ACTUALLY A FRIGGIN NIC!!!!!!!!!!!! My computer acutally doesn't have a modem, just 2 NIC's so after all this wondering as to why I couldn't get on the internet thorugh Linux, it was because it wanted to use the card I thought was a modem..... Go me..... *gets into a defensive stance preparing for rotten vegetables to be thrown at him*

He he... don't need to throw no vegs, cause you have thrown'em all, yourself...
Don't worry, really. It happens with everybody.

So, what now? Are you set?