hostname lookup failure

["Hank Fay" <fayhj@mediaone.net>]

I have a Hamm box set up with a cable modem driver  for the SB-1000
(courtesy of Franco Venture, franco@mediaone.net), and so far am connecting
to the ISP just fine.  However, being networking challenged, I am getting
"Host name lookup failure" -- but of course it's a "user setup failure"
also. <g>

I have the nameserver in resolve.conf set to the IP of the ISP's nameserver.
I am not running a local DNS.

Any directions to start looking would very much appreciated -- so near yet
so... <s>

Hank