When I was running Mandrake 9.1, It didnt detect my Ambit cable modem via usb. I tried to recompile the kernal but it didnt work out good. So its been about 5 months since I got rid of linux. Im thinking about getting the new Mandrake 9.2. now my question is does it come ready with the LATEST kernal installed so it can detect my usb Ambit cable modem? Thanks

Not likely. Some Ambit cable modems support both ethernet and usb interfaces. It should work fine in linux if use the ethernet interface. Decent network cards are so cheap now, it may be worth a try. That's what I had to do with my cable modem and the switch to ethernet improved performance in windows as well.

I baught an ethernet card. and I tried putting it in and I damaged all my pci slots..... I guess I pushed a lil hard ? but Im sure the card itself is just fine. Is there a way to fix pci slots? or to see if its actually damaged? because, when I try to put in the card now, it doesnt go down all the way (the whole thing fits in the slot), and I tried screwing it tight and windows still cant detect it..... hmm.. maybe I should get a new mobo. Duron's kinda suck :P

No way to fix a damaged pci slot although I find it inconceivable that you could have damaged all your open pci slots. If your not familiar or comfortable with computer hardware or your just not mechanicaly inclined, try to get some help. See if there's a linux users group in your area.

Well. One PCI slot is being used by my video out. and I took my dial 56k card out and that makes 3 free pci spaces. I tried all 3, and the Ethernet card doesn't go down all the way. But I'm not sure if the pci slots are actually damaged. Is there a way of telling? Well.. If not I guess I will go to best buy and see if they can tell if its damaged or not.

You should also check the website for your current MOBO manufacturer. Mine is only a relatively cheap one (a bit like the computer), the whole pc came from one of the pc chain stores with their badge, but the pc it's self was manufactured by Medion (German) though the mobo is actually made by MSI (Taiwanese).

I had to check because I wanted to add a "proper" soundcard (the onboard one is a bit of a pain to get working) and network card - on the face of it, it should have had 3 pci slots, when I opened it up to check, I couldn't quite work things out, so I did more digging at the mobo site, and it turned out that what I thought was the third pci was actually a modem riser slot - i.e. different from a pci and so I've only got 2 - my mobo is the even cheaper version than I thought it was, though I did manage to get the pdf mobo documentation for it.

Could this be the case with yours, as modem risers and pci look similar, but as far as I can work out, they are incompatible ???

just a thought.

regards

John