Re. Total Confusion

[Sidney Brooks <sidneybrooks@vtc.net>]

Andrew Perrin asked:

- What's the output of lsmod?
        nls_cp437
        lp
        parport_pc
        unix

Although ppp is not here, when I type insmod ppp, the response is that I 
already have the newest version.

- Once you connect, what's the output of:

        I can only use wvdial since pon won't work even though ppp is 
installed. pppconfig works which should be further proof that ppp is installed.
        With wvdial, I do not stay connected long enough to run any of 
your tests. The relevant sequence is:
        CONNECT
        Carrier Detected
        Waiting for prompt
        (line of meaningless symbols)
        Don't know what to do
        Starting ppp daemon
        ppp daemon has died

Even though I can't stay connected, I tried ipchains -a. The response was 
"invalid option".
Then I tried route -n and got column headings with no entries.
Your following suggestions would obviously not work when I am not connected.

ipchains -a
route -n
nslookup www.debian.org
ping -c5 198.186.203.20
traceroute 198.186.203.20

The reason that I have not been responsive is not that I don't appreciate 
your help, but as you can see, I cannot make anything work the way that you 
seem to expect.