Hello!
I am a Linux newbie and have installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AS kernel 2.6.xx on my P-4. My mother board is Intel 865GBF. I have no LAN cards installed.
I am trying to get my box to connect to the net, but in vain.
I am located in India and use a Huawei MT882 ADSL broadband modem with GlobespanVirata SmartAX MT882 chipset. I also use Win Xp (dual boot), and connect in XP using PPPoE, using a USB connection.
I tried setting up my connection in Linux, however I cannot activate the connection. The USB, Power, Link lights on my modem are all lit ok, but the 'Active' light does not even glow for a second. When I click on the 'activate' button in the i-net config. wizard, after a lot of time, I get a cryptic message saying 'Cannot activate!- TERMINATED Adsl-Connect line xxxx connect>/dev/nul &2>1' or something similar.
Please help.

In XP, do you usually use an XP-based PPPoE client, or does the DSL Modem handle the PPPoE for you?

No, in XP, I do not use any 3rd party PPPoE program. The modem has built in software to store firewall settings and for pppoe. However, I mostly do not use those but connect thru the Win XP builtin dialer for PPPoE connections.