I borrowed a modem becuase I couldn't get my winModems to work.

The external modem is detected and works, it dials my ISP although it doesn't sound like it does it well; it takes longer than usual (using Win XP ). My ISP is notorius for that so it may just be them.

So once connected if I try any url I get an error page that www.whatever.com isn't a valid address. Not the exact error message. I'm about to reboot. Try again. Take notes.

Is this a common problem? I tried a search here but I'm not quite sure how to phrase my search. From what I've red I have to edit ppp something or try [i]pppsetup[/]? I'll try again

...I just want to get connected

check your IP address (assigned by provider ?), default gateway and nameserver configuration (/etc/named.conf)

can you ping your default gateway ?
can you ping your nameserver ?
does the nameserver reply to requests ? (nslookup www.whatever.com)

more info:

When I use Kppp the modem connects, I can hear it very loud (how do you turn down an external modem's volume??) but when I try to view a web page I can't. I tried opening Konqueror without dialing out and it acts the same, as if there is no connection.

I went into Mandrake Control Center and used the wizard again and it still isn't able to detect that the modem is connected. I have all my info entered DNS, IP is assigned by ISP.

I tried net_monitor and the graph shows activity but then on the right it shows 1kbps.

I tried pinging my ISP ...nothing.

As far as I can tell, AltF4, I have no "/etc/named.conf"

Manndrake 9.0 kernel 2.4.19
External serial modem

Net_monitor shows sending and receiving, but no access to any web pages or even my ISP's domain.

Kppp > Setup if I try both /dev/modem and /dev/ttyS0 and Query the modem it responds. If I try ttyS1, ttyS2 etc. no modem is detected.

I wasn't sure which to use /dev/modem or /dev/ttyS0

If I try file /dev/modem
I get this
/dev/modem: symbolic link to /dev/ttys/0

Neither /dev/modem and /dev/ttyS0 work, but both dial and connect.

Is this just something simple I'm missing?
Mandrake Control Center wasn't able to do it so I wonder if my modem isn't set up right.

if you can't ping your default gateway it seems you didn't get an address

post the outout of:

ifconfig -a

netstat -nr

nslookup <www.yourprovider.net>