Can anyone assist please. I am new to Linux and have clean installed Ubuntu on my spare desktop pc. I have a wired/wireless broadband router driving 2 workstations on XP Pro and a laptop on XP home, the latter being the only one on wireless, and the Linux machine. The XP machines are all OK but I cannot get Ubuntu to see or connect to the router.

From the properties menu IPv4 is present and so is eth0 which is reporting an IP address(not that of the router)but I cannot ping the router. When I use #ifconf it reports eth0 but not IPv4.

I have validated the install CD so I am convinced I am missing something fundamental in the setup, but having little experience I have no idea which setings to check or alter.

I have trawled the web looking for suggestions but so far no success.

Any suggestions would be more than welcome.

Could you please open a konsole, and run the command sudo ifconfig eth0 , cut and paste the results to the forum. We need to know a little more about the router. Are you using DHCP to get an IP address? Or are you using static IP addresses. It can work either way. I only use DHCP for portables that come and go. Desktops I set static IP addresses.

You should know the IP address of your router, your lan side. This is the gateway address. Do you know the DNS addresses for your ISP?

It isn't clear if you are trying to connect through a wireless or a wired connection. If you can, wired is a lot easier to get going first. Wireless takes more configuration.

Problem solved. It was a defective network cable (and it was a new one!), how embarassing!!. Lesson learnt - check all the connections and change cables first!!
Thanks everyone for your help, at least I learned a few troubleshooting commands along the way.