i set up the NIC device drivers.
the computer didnt complain when i did any of the "set up network". i used the settings that should work and except for the computers own IP are working on other computers on the network. I know the cable works fine but when i get to the screen entitled "Select Installation Server" and use the default settings press enter and i get
the URL the default settings point to is:
http.us.debian.org/debian iv looked at the URL and it looks like it should work. i cant ping the computer on the IP i set either so i guess its not connecting to the network. the green light on the back on the NIC is on.

can some one give me some trouble shooting pointers.

cheers.
Ben.

Could you describe your network? If you're behind a router, did you specify it as a nameserver/gateway?

i have a computer with a USB modem connected to a hub this computers IP i set as the gateway on the computer i want to install debian on. the computer i want to put debian on connects to the network through the same hub. i tryed both setting the nameserver as the IP of the computer that has the modem connected and as blank.

im thinking that debain might accept the device driver but it might be the wrong one im gonna try other drivers and after that a different network card. do you think this could be the problem?

cheers.
ben.

Debian typically doesn't load device modules during install if the device is not present. I think the problem is with your network topography. You're using a machine with two nics as your gateway? Instead, try running the modem into the hub and connecting each machine into that. There's a good chance that the other machine wasn't running dhcp for your debian client, so the debian.org url was never recognized. So now you can select your isp's dns address, or leave everything blank.

nah, the gateway only has one NIC that connects it to the network the modem is connected to this computer through USB. the gateway is the networks firewall although its not dedicated. the hub has no USB ports.
does the above make sense?
there are other computers coming off the hub although i didnt think them relevant.
the firewall shouldnt be a relevant detail either as other computers can connect to the internet through the gateway/firewall from the hub.

cheers.
Ben.

So . . . is this gateway running dhcpd? What OS is it running? What OS's are other nodes running (is this your first Linux machine on the network)? Do the other boxes specify the gateway as its nameserver, or do they use your isp's settings?

the computer running the modem is using XP pro. (please dont hit me!)
theres a Fedora computer on the network and for a while there was a mandrake machine to. theres some other windows computers on the network. the computer that im putting Debian on is a 486 and i had FreeDOS running on it (just for interests sake) for about two days before i got sick of it and didnt really try much except to see if i could get java running on it (i couldnt) never tried to set up networking.
All the machines on the network connected to the internet through defining the computer with the USB modem attached as the gateway (192.168.0.1).
I dont know what "dhcpd" is sorry, im googling it now but would like it if people could enlighten me somewhat.
also is name server the same as gateway cos i had to specify both fields when installing network details on the debian install?

thanks.
Ben.

dhcpd is the 'dhcp' 'd'aemon. It doesn't have the same name in Windows, but knowing that other machines are connecting to outside addresses is enough to assume XP is acting as a dhcp server, which means it's probably also handling dns.

Easiest solution -- set everything manually. /etc/network/interfaces could look something like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.xxx
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.0.255
gateway 192.168.0.1

Reboot, check everything with ifconfig, and try again.

ok thanks heaps ill give that a go.