The events that have conspired absolutely confound me...

I had two XP machines hooked up to a router, which was hooked up to a DSL modem. The 'net worked fine for a longgg time.

Then, I installed mandrake on one of the machines. The 'net worked quite fine for a couple of hours, but then, after a couple of reboots, the 'net just stopped working. I thought this was a Linux problem, but lo and behold, my XP machine wouldn't connect to the router either.

I've tried

- Turning off either machine, and trying to connect with an individual computer via the router (just in case there are any IP conflicts?)

- Individually directly connecting the machines (both XP and Linux) to the DSL modem, without the router, and logging in via pppoe.

- Buying a new dsl modem (same model) and repeating.

The DSL modem simply will not make a PPPOE connection.

Some notables:

- Both machines can connect to the router when it is connected.

- Both machines can connect to the modem's interface when it is directly connected.

- The DSL light on the modem blinks a few times on power-up, and then stays solid green.


Mandrake, Mandrake, Mandrake this can't be your fault, can it?

What on earth happened? Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Aaron

are you using static or dhcp on the lan? are the machines getting an ip?

DHCP. They are indeed getting an IP, either from the router or the modem, depending on which one is (directly) connected.

ok, what router/modem do you have? does it support telnet login?

Speedstream 5100. I'm really not that sure if it has telnet capability. It does have a nifty web interface.

well the likelihood of mandrake killing it is zero, i mean, it cannot interfere with the firmware so perhaps there is a problem with your isp or your local exchange or the wirring outside your house .

Agreed, it's not your PC software.