unruled

I tried and searched for pppoe or even just ppp but it didnt find any packages in the remove programs window.... :o also, I noticed that, during bootup it pauses for a long while (10+ seconds) when initializing eth0 device.... and I just noticed that after setting up the network connection and it says 'u have to restart the network service' it also does that very long pause.... :unsure: also if I try to ping anything it says "network is unreachable" *sigh* I hate this.... :(

I have cable internet, I don't have/need a username/password to connect to the internet...its a direct connection. Its just always connected through the motorola surfboard 4200E modem.. (once again, the internet goes from my cable modem, to my router, and then to my computer). I feel like ive completley screwed up.... somewhere :( and without internet I probably wont use linux... plz dont give up trying to help me!

okay, I just booted back into windows after having tried that stuff in linux.. I first removed my connection I had before and then tried adding the new one, this time taking LAN and then DHCP. I close the wizard, in the tray it still says its disconnected. No worky. So then I tried what artic said; I found out that if I logged in as root I could change those files, so I added the lines and stuff.... still didn't work. Then I removed connection again, added it again, this time under DHCP ticking'advanced' and I chose PUMP instead of dhcp client. I rebooted and it still doesnt work, infact now if I try to ping something it says "network is unreachable" and before it just couldnt ping machines except myself.. (when I manually configged my internal IP...which didnt work, but at least could ping myself). also, during bootup Im still getting a long pause saying"bringing up interface eth0" and then aftera long time FAILEd. The drivers are installed properly I think cuz I can select my NIC from the list fine... is there no hope for me? am I doing something wrong? as I said, I already had trouble finding how to edit the files..lol :(

yes, cable modem, router, network card. Thanks guys, Il try to give it a go tomorow. artic: that sounds kinda complex, Im a massiv linux noob :unsure: btw: my external IP (the internet one) is dynamic but it only changes like once per 2yrs, so basically static. my internal IP I get from my router (Wired, with CAT5) is DHCP but stays the same for several weeks/months. onboard ethernet, yes

plz....its quite urgent really...Ive looked all thoughout the forum and googled but I cant come up with anything.... :o

as I said in the title, Im having trouble with my network/internet and sound card. To start off with the network: I have cable internet and I run it behind a router with NAT which also has a DHCP server. In windows the IP I obtain can change once in a while but right now its been 192.168.0.4 for a while. Anyhow, when I go to mandrake 10.1 my internet doesn't work. So I go to manage connections, remove connection, then add new. I choose cable internet, then DHCP, then just follow the rest. ANyhow, long story short, it doesn't work. Ive tried just about everything, and I really wanna get this working...is there something Ive missed? :o btw, I hope to have a nice stay at these forums