Hello, this is my first post so I will explain what I have really quick and why.

I have a Toshiba M-35x s-309 laptop with a 1.4 GHZ pentium m processer, 768 MB RAM, a 60 GB HDD, Toshiba Super multi-drive (cd/dvd-rw).

I created a dual boot system so that I could still use windows while learning Linux. I am using Fedora Core 5, mainly because the school I will be attending uses this distro and I would like to know it before I attend.

My problem(s) is this;

My wireless works fine at home, I am able to connect to my encrypted wireless network and surf the net and do stuff like I am right now. However, when I go to my friends store with an open wireless network, I can connect to the network, but I can't do anything online. Just to test, I go into windows and I am able to connect and go online, so his wireless network and internet are both working fine. Why is this? I see his network, and a few others, and I can connect to it, but I can't actually "use" it.


I also have a concern about my DVD drive. If I put a disc in, it continually runs. I can feel the heat and even the spinning of the drive. The heat after say a night of sitting on my desk and going back to it in the morning. Why is this? I know in Windows that after initally reading the disc, it goes into a sort of standby mode where it is no longer running until you try to use it in some way. Why not here?

Thank you for your time.

-Tim

I dunno about the DVD issue, but for the wireless, make sure you're getting not only a connection, but an IP address.

If you are using KDE, download KNemo (or if you're using gnome, find another network monitor).
Now then, in a terminal type "iwconfig". It should be detecting your friend's router.
Now type "dhc" and press tab to see what dhcp program you have (it could be dhcpcd or dhclient, I'm not too sure). Now, check your network monitor to see if you're connected.

since I am currently not at his store I can't tell you for sure, but I do remember that when I was connected to the wireless network, I was getting an ip addy. but for some reason was not connecting to the internet. next time I go I will get more info.