Welp, this is my first post on this forum

I've always been using Windows, and now I've decided to try Linux, but I have a problem.
I'm running Mandrake 7.2 and I cannot figure out how to get my cable modem working. My cable provider is @Home, and something seems to be wrong with the DHCP client. My ethernet seems to be working fine (I'm using Mandrake and when I go to DrakConf and Interent Settings it automaticly selects the "VIA Rhine" module. My ethernet card is a D-Link DFE530TX Rev. A). However when I boot into Mandrake it says:
Bringing up interface eth0: determining IP information for eth0 via dhcpcd... failed.
Does anyone know how to fix this? I've asked about 3 people on irc.openprojects.net and nobody has been able to help me yet. Please Help! I'm very new to this
