Last night I downloaded kubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso and popped it on the computer for my band.

Things that happened during the install were kind-of weird.

When booting the CD, as soon as it got to the screen that is right beyond the x-server getting started, right after the mouse cursor becomes that X shape, it put the monitor/display into sleep mode--I thought something was wrong, but I waited, and moved the mouse to find everything was okay.

Then I went to install, chose the desired options, and then as soon as it actually started to go into the install process, it put the monitor in sleep mode again. Weird. Thought it was just a temporary glitch, and luckily it WAS.

Everything went fine as far as the install. I restarted the computer, the grub bootloader worked great.

After I got to the desktop, I wanted to get the second monitor working, so I set the options to make it share the desktop space. After I restarted the x-server, guess what--no x-server anymore. So I rebooted the computer and hoped that it would work after a reboot. Nope. Since I don't know the commands to fix that kind of thing in a command line interface, I decided to re-install kubuntu, since it was MUCH easier than going back to my house (where I'm typing this from now) to do hours of research on how to fix the problem. That went fine. We decided to just leave it as one monitor until I can do the research on what went wrong.

So I apt-get installed Firefox and sh installed flash, and got everything working great there--Comcast cable internet. Everything was great--until I rebooted to the windows drive and disabled internet connectivity on the windows side (fresh install of windows, only went on the internet long enough to download and install necessary drivers--the windows partition is going to be used ONLY for music recording--no internet, no spyware-checkers, just the basics).

Well, when I booted back up to the linux drive--NO internet connectivity. I checked the settings--it couldn't get an ip. So I went to--custom isn't the word--well, anyway--I went into the settings and made sure it was set for dhcp. I wait around after hitting ok as it saves the network settings. Now it has the ip, but it couldn't get the default gateway--it reports as 0.0.0.0. I do the modem cycle thing and try again. I restart the computer again. I cycle the modem AND restart the computer. Same thing. I change the settings from automatic dhcp to manual, apply, go back to automatic again, apply. Same thing, no default gateway--just 0.0.0.0. I restart AGAIN, just in case. Same thing. I call comcast, they can't help me--they have me do what I already did.

So I re-install kubuntu AGAIN. The internet connection works FINE as long as I don't restart the computer. As soon as I restart, it can't find an ip until I change the settings, then it finds an ip but can't find the gateway address (or more accurately, it finds one but it's invalid because it's 0.0.0.0). Comcast won't give me the numbers because it's not static.

Has anyone else had this problem, and have they figured out a way of fixing the problem?

The machine can get internet connectivity just fine under windows, and it works fine right after a fresh install of kubuntu, but not after a restart/reboot.

Any suggestions?

Well, I'm at the practice pad/studio now, on the windows side. Now it won't accept the network connection even on a fresh install of linux. I don't understand what's wrong. The light that shows when there's network activity (right by the rj45 connector) does not come on at all when I boot up to linux, but it's plenty active when I boot up to windows.

If it can get an ip, what's stopping it from working? And why does it say "disconnected" until I change the settings to something it's already on? I'm really at a total loss right now.

I tried the other version of linux that someone had recommended to me, but it won't boot up--it stops when it's trying to find devices. I've looked through to make sure all the bios settings are right...

I just have no idea what to do.

Network Interfaces:

Interface
Eth0


IP Address
**9.**4.4.250


Protocol
dhcp


State
Enabled


Comment
(checkmark) Enabled Ethernet Network Device





Routes
Default Gateway
ip Address
[blank]
Device Eth0




Then there's the weird way it displays the k-menus, every menu displays like this:

Entries in k-menu: (name of application) App Name, (name of application)


instead of simply just showing the name of the application.



Maybe I have something wrong with my copy of Kubuntu. Is there any sort of problem with having it written to a dvd instead of a cd? I'm out of cd's.