good day all!
..here is the deal:

have been installing and reinstalling slack 10.2
over the last two months (being new to linux just trying to get the best working installation) over this time I was trying to set up my dsl connection over the penguin pppoe program, then i realised that it wasn't necessary as I managed to get the connection on by simply setting the static IP and the gateway and the nameservers......(my provider uses the PPPoA protocol)!
However I have noticed a pattern that is getting almost frustrating.....whenever I finish the installation regardless whether I use netconfig or 'ifconfig' and 'route'I manage to get on line for a short testing time and can never get back on line with the same settings.....or any other settings....getting no ping on my gateway and the 'Unreachable Host msg'.
I have tampered with the /etc/hosts file and the etc/resolv.conf file but to no avail!
Is it possible that some malicious program whenever I get for the first time on the Net renders my gateway settings non-functional....?
Any ideas as to what can help me move one step ahead...?

ps:I use the same router for a windows machine where through the gateway-browser-page I have set up port forwarding for p2p programs.....is it possible that this might be causing the problem when I try to connect with my slackbox?


thnx

Do you have your router set up to use static address or dhcp? If dhcp, then you need to set this up on your box also using dhclient or dhcpcd.

no dhcp....just static IP addres!

Hmmm... What type of ADSL modem are you using?

You may want to peruse these sites as well. I think we need more info on your setup too.

http://linux-atm.sourceforge.net/doc.php

go to the pppoa Section 3.2.4
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...s&ct=clnk&cd=1

thnx Kriton12,
I think the second link might prove usefull.....!
cheers

I ll be checking for more answers just in case someone has come across the same
limb!
The reason why i haven't provided any setup details is because the connection
has worked several times with the Slack box but eventually -without my changing anyhthing- goes 'bogus' and never works again till I reinstall Slack (the same connection works perfectly fine when i have my win2000 box connected to my router)
...my router is a chinese Telindus 1131 ADSL ROuter which my provider gave to me for free, I am sure its not a gem of a router but still why is it responding ok with my windows machine....and should cause problems with the slackbox?

Thnx anyhow

Try this, the next time it goes out, leave your computer as it is and leave the ethernet device up. Go and cycle the power (unplug it and plug it back in) to your adls modem/router and see if your internet suddenly starts working again.

I have a hunch the problem is somewhere in the lease time of the DHCP server on the router and your computer dropping the lease time. I can't explain it properly because honestly, I don't understand it completely myself. At home when I run a P2P app it seems to work for a while and then all internet access drops. If I leave everything as is and simply unplug the power to my router and plug it back in, suddenly it works again. If I shutdown my network card and try to bring it back up, nothing changes, the internet still does not work. I believe the error is in the UDP type packets as I remember reading something about that somewhere where if the header has malformed information it causes the router to do something where the PC forgets check the lease time for its address. Cycling the power to the router causes the DHCP server on the router to reissue those times.

Here, something like this:
http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/sw/dhcp/authoritative.php

This could be some type of support with either th IPv6 or 4 support I compiled in the kernel. Let me read up a bit on it and I'll let you know if I figure anything out.

thnx ffor taking the time kriton.....i am off to the mountain for end of the week....back on monday for more
eye-poking n head-banging endeavours......

good day,
writing just to say that I have resolved the
problem with the connection! I cannot of course
be certain that the problem will not surface again!

It appears that when I was setting the gateway I was
writing:

root# route add default gw 192.168.1.1
instead of:

root# route add default gw 192.168.1.1 dev eth0

...so the gateway wasn't explicitly related to the eth0 device.

then again that is just an assumption as I am not much of a wizzard!

What strikes me though is that through the "netconfig" program (which I had repeteadly used) this wasn't resolved!


However I have my connection up and running for the time being!


thnx for the support!