I'm not sure where to go with this but it certainly seems to involve the Mandriva Control Centre (MCC), so here I am.

I have a broadband connection via ethernet to a modem, in turn connected to an adsl telephone line. The modem has 4 ethernet ports and the computer is connected to port 1.

I also have the Grandstream Handytone 486 (GS486) which is connected by its WAN port and an ethernet cable to port 2 of the modem. It is also connected to the telephone line.

I need to gain browser access to the GS486 device. The way to do that, I'm told, is to connect the computer directly to the LAN port of the GS486 (i.e. instead of to the modem) and "refresh" the IP address of the computer. The commands for that, evidently, are ifdown eth0 followed by ifup eth0. The latter command results in the following: As advised, I am using DHCP. On the DHCP tab in the network config part of MCC, the first choice is dhclient - other options are dhcpcd, pump and dhcpxd. dhclient is the option selected.

The IP of the modem is ...1.1, the computer is ...1.2 and the GS486 is ...1.3. With the computer connected directly to the GS486 (or to the modem), I am unable to reach the device's IP address. I've tried messing about with MCC but cannot strike the right whatever.

Has anyone succeeded in contacting a VOIP device by their browser where the computer is normally connected by ethernet to a modem and, if so, how?

If your modem has 4 ethernet ports, it probably has a switch/router built-in, so there should not be any need to connect the GS486 directly to the computer.

You tell us that the IP of the GS486 is ...1.3 (I assume by this that you mean 10.0.1.3, or something like that ie a properly formed IP address).
I wonder how you can be so sure that this is indeed the IP of the GS486?

If that is indeed the case you should be able to connect to your modem with http://I.P.OF.MODEM (like http://10.0.1.1 to access the modem's configuration page) and you should be able to connect to your GS486 with http://10.0.1.3

One final question, are you able to get an internet connection with your modem?

Thanks. There is no need to connect the GS486 directly to the computer except to access the html pages evidently built into the device.

I'm using DHCP (I've tried static as well) but the modem's contact address is 192.168.1.1. I can use the 'phone to get some, limited access to the GS486. From that I learn that its IP address is 192.168.1.3. Apparently, that is the WAN address. To get browser access to the device, I have to use its LAN address, which, I'm told, is 192.168.2.1. Firefox cannot make contact with either address. Obviously, I've used the 'http://' prefix

I need to check one setting in the GS486, namely, the "Register expire" field because two calls have broken off after exactly the same duration.

Yes, I have internet access through the modem. I cannot get access through the GS486 although I can apparently configure it for that purpose if I can just get in touch with it. I can make calls over the internet and incoming off-net calls come through as they should. I can get a dial tone if I want one. Except for the disconnections, it's working well; I just cannot communicate with it.

I'm thinking I'll have to connect the device to a Windoze box, shudder, in order to access the settings.

OK, I think I am getting a better picture of what is going on.
What is your PC's LAN address? (Not your router's WAN (internet) address). Please post the output of ifconfig (you need to be root).
I think we need to make sure your PC is in the same subnet range (ie it should be 198.168.2.something).
I took a quick look at the manual page for your GS486, and I see it has a WAN socket & a LAN socket. I think that the WAN socket is the one that should be connected to your modem/switch.
Perhaps you could do a little ASCII diagram of how you have everything connected up. (If you put this in a code box on this board, spaces will be preserved, otherwise it'll be difficult to read! Do this from the "Go advanced" button on the reply to thread bit, then click the # sign)

You may ignore my previous post.
I have been looking at the manual for your GS486.
Seems to me you need to do the following:

[1] "Get familiar with the Key Pad & voice Prompt" (Sec5.1)
Set it for "DHCP" mode. (This device has a DHCP server which you can use)
[2] Connect your computer's eth0 port to the GS486 LAN port
[3] Bring down your eth0 like this (as root):
ifdown eth0
[4] Bring up your eth0 using DHCP like this (as root):
dhclient eth0
(The above two commands are the linux equivalent of the windows commands mentioned in the manual Sec6.2.1)
[5] Exit from root
[6] Open your browser and point it at http://192.168.2.1 which is the LAN address of the GS486

Now you should be at the admin page where you can login to the GS586 to make the changes you require.

If your modem/router has its own firewall, you might like to set up the GS486 to accept http requests from the WAN interface to make configuration easier in the future.

Now you can put the wiring back as you had it before.

HTH

Many thanks. The dhclient eth0 command is new to me as is the notion of exiting from root before going further. I'll definitely try that and report back.

I duly followed the procedure outlined by tredegar, to whom I'm grateful for his efforts.

Firefox was unable to establish a connection. The fault must lie in the way dhcp is configured. This was the response to the command dhclient eth0:
I'm off to http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP but past experience tells me I'm chasing shadows.

Your PC is making the correct DHCP request(s).
The GS486 is not providing the proper response.

Please:
Check that the GS486 is set for DHCP mode (manual section 5.1)
Check that you are using the LAN connection port of the GS486, not the WAN port.
Try another ethernet cable (it should be a straight-through, not crossover cable)

HTH

Yes! Thank you so much. Changing the cable made the difference. I believed one ethernet cable to be the same as another. I now have internet access with the computer connected to the LAN port of the GS486. (Now I'm just as baffled but not anxious.) I've changed the setting for "WAN side access to http server" to "yes" and the register expire time to 600 minutes.

I'm so glad I don't have to wade through all that guff on DHCP.

Thanks again. I'll have to post this news in the other forums I've been bothering.

Good.
I hope your modem/router has a firewall, otherwise you should not be allowing access to the GS486 from the WAN port, as someone else could change your settings...