ok this is what i have set up i have my server with a on board lan card that is connected to a 3com router in slot number 1 then i have 3 computers all with linux mandriva on them connected to the 3com router now for internet i have a road runner cable modem that is connected to the server by way of usb cable ( the server finds and uses the usb cable fine cause i am on the internet) the problem i am having is that my other three computers will not connect to the internet thru the router and i have used the "share internet connection wizard (drakconnect) can someone give me detailed info on how to get this setup right

If DHCP is configured on the "server", then you'll likely just need to turn it off in the router (essentially turning it into a switch).

sorry had to clear something up it is not a router it is a 3com hub with the switch (push button ) at the back of it all my other 3 computers show connected or at least the little plug icons are together but they say not connected in the monitoring window but i still cant connect to the internet with them and on the server for eth0 the one connected to the hub it shows disconnected

Firstly, I would suggest using "ipconfig" to determine the IP address of all of the hosts. It is not necessary to use DHCP, but if you don't then you need to give each host on the switch a unique IP address in the same subnet. The "default gateway" on the 3 hosts without the modem connections will need to be the IP address of the first host (with the modem). This is the IP address of the ethernet port, not the modem connection. Also, you need to use NAT to share the internet IP address amount several hosts. ( This is probably done by the Sharing Connection setup you did ). Also, each host needs the DNS address to be able to resolve internet names.

If you don't have a cable router that is also a DHCP server, you will need to run a DHCP server service yourself. If you don't see a server's icon in MCC, you may need to install a package. I think that the name of the package is "wizdrake". This package contains a number of server configuration wizards.

ok this is not working i can get on the net with eth1 ( cable modem) but i cant get eth0 ( lan) to connect i have tryed everything that i can think of if someone knows how to do this and has yahoo messanger or aol messanger my screen name is dlwalker000 for both of them aol and yahoo i also want to be able to view and use files on all of my computers