Distro: Debian Sarge stable.
I have a number of machines connected to the Internet through a NetComm NB1300 PLUS4 modem/router. The connection to the net is often lost and I posted a question on the subject some time ago, the advice I received was it was probably a weak signal from the phone line.

I found the power point supplying the machines was faulty (arcing) and I replaced it. This gave me longer periods of time without problem and I thought it was fixed.

But it is coming back.

My new questions are:
I'd like to try to have only the main machine connected to the Internet to make sure nothing else is interfering.

The motherboard of the main machine is Asus A7V600-X, the manual says it has "Integrated 10/100 Mbps LAN controller".

Can I connect this directly to the phone line or do I need to get a Linux compatible modem?

Here is the relevant part of the output of "lspci":

0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)

If this is possible, it looks like I need a special cable from the phone line to the motherboard, is that RJ45 to RJ11?

Thank you for your help.

Do you connect via dsl or dial up ? You will most likely need a hardware modem to use with linux, if you are on dial up, there are some drivers for so called "winmodems", but they are a pain to get working. When I had to deal with this issue I just went out and bought a hardware modem. But first things first, from your post I couldn't tell exactly how you are connecting right now. Do you have DSL or dial up ?

Thanks to budword.

The connection is ADSl and it as a dynamic IP address. The mobo manual says the LAN connection "... allows connection to a Local Area Network (LAN) through a network hub."

This seems to leave other options possible although there may be none.

When I installed Linux, it found the modem automatically and set it up correctly without the need to identify a driver.

The RJ11 is just a phone cord. The RJ45 is an ethernet cord. They are different sizes. You can cram one into the slot for another but it usually won't work. You can tell which is which because the RJ45(ethernet) cord is slightly larger, even though they look mostly the same. The ethernet cord is what goes into the back of your computer from the NetComm NB1300 modem. That is a broadband DSL modem. The RJ11(ordinary phone cord) goes from your DSL modem to the phone port wall plug. You wouldn't be able to access the net just by hooking up a cord from the phone port to your computer, you need the DSL/modem to do it's thing. It's like trying to talk on the phone by yelling at the end of the phone cord, without a phone connected to it. If you suspect your broadband modem is on the fritz, your best bet to figure it out is to replace it, and see if the new one does the same thing. If switching out a power supply helped in the past, something you may want to try that won't cost you anything would be to make sure the NetComm NB1300 modem(still called a modem, even though it has nothing to do with a dial up modem), anyway, make sure the NetComm NB1300 modem is on it's own power circuit, so no other device(computers) power consumption would interfere. This probably has nothing to do with your problem, but it won't cost you anything to try. You might want to check with your isp to see if there are any firmware updates available. They might be able to do a line noise test too, which might help you figure things out. I'm sure they suggested unplugging the modem for several minutes too, which might help, but isn't of much use if the problem happens daily.

Best of luck.....

David

P.S. I once set up a DSL connection for a friend (I have cable myself), and the dsl modem came with a noise filter. This may have just been to use with the phone, I'm not sure. But it's something else to check out. You might want to ask your isp if they use them down under, or if it might help.

Thank you for the suggestions, I'll try that.

I lost the connection today and I ran the diagnostic test from the "modem/router", this is the result obtained:

Checking LAN Connection
Testing Ethernet LAN connection PASS HELP
Checking ADSL Connection
Testing ADSL Synchronization PASS HELP
Checking Circuit 0 for Network Connection
Test ATM OAM Segment Loop Back PASS HELP
Test ATM OAM End-to-End Loop Back PASS HELP
Test Ethernet connect to ATM PASS HELP
Test PPPoPvc 0 PPPOE connection FAIL HELP
Test PPPoPvc 0 PPP layer connection SKIPPED HELP
Test PPPoPvc 0 IP connect to PPP SKIPPED HELP
Testing Internet Connection
Ping primary DNS SKIPPED HELP
Query DNS for www.netcomm.com.au SKIPPED HELP
Ping www.netcomm.com.au SKIPPED HELP

Then I turned the modem off for a minute and on again, ran the test again and this was the result:

Checking LAN Connection
Testing Ethernet LAN connection PASS HELP
Checking ADSL Connection
Testing ADSL Synchronization PASS HELP
Checking Circuit 0 for Network Connection
Test ATM OAM Segment Loop Back PASS HELP
Test ATM OAM End-to-End Loop Back PASS HELP
Test Ethernet connect to ATM PASS HELP
Test PPPoPvc 0 PPPOE connection PASS HELP
Test PPPoPvc 0 PPP layer connection PASS HELP
Test PPPoPvc 0 IP connect to PPP PASS HELP
Testing Internet Connection
Ping default gateway 150.101.0.195 PASS HELP
Ping primary DNS 192.231.203.132 PASS HELP
Query DNS for www.netcomm.com.au PASS HELP
Ping www.netcomm.com.au PASS HELP

Does this help in locating the problem?

This is outside of my ability, perhaps someone can give me some idea of what is happening. I still have to try some of the suggestions made by budword.

Fefore this, the connection was lost on 17/11 and 23/11, previous losses were not recorded.

Thank you for your help.