I have just loaded UBUNTU OS and I cannot get firefox to browse

From your description i gather that your name resolution is not working.

You might need to setup your modem as a DNS client correctly or you still need to add the DNS to your ubuntu config.

The first depends on your modems configuration options & capabilities. (I assume that if it is setup correctly it will transport the data throught DHCP.)

If the data is not setup by DHCP, then you can configure the setup yourself:

1) Use the modem as DNS server ...

edit /etc/resolv.conf to contain:
---8<---
domain yourprivate.domain       # or local
search 192.168.1.1
---8<---

2) Setup the DNS
---8<---
domain yourprivate.domain       # or local
search <dns.server1.addr.ess>
search <dns.server2.addr.ess>
---8<---

Where <dns.serverX.addr.ess> is replaced with the IP address that your
provider issued.

If this doesn't work out, please provide the original content of these files.
...

You can check the workings of DNS resolution through the 'dig' tool.

dig google.com          - should provide the dns answer & query data.
dig -x 66.264.93.104 - should provide the backward translation.

Hi Noci

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question. I have tried to take your advice - however the text editor tells me I do not have write permissions to alter the resolve.conf file. I have tried to change these permissions however the owner is set to 'root'. I have tried logging in as 'root' but dont know the UBUNTU default password for root.
Any ideas?

Just use the sudo command and your own password ie sudo gedit, when it asks for a password put in your own. Thats the way it works for root access in ubuntu.

Hi All,

The sudo command did the trick. However still cant browse. Will take me to google.com using the ip but not the name. No other web site available by name. I can browse to the router address for maintnenance.

Contents of resolve.conf is:-
domain mccnet
search 212.85.249.148
search 212.85.249.130 (these are ip of my ISP dns servers)
nameserver 192.168.1.1 (my router IP)

The original contents of this file were as above but without the 'search' lines
I have attached the results of the dig command below.
ubuntu.txt

Please note the name is: resolv.conf
NOT resolve.conf (it's a leftover from the time when names had to be short....)

Sorry, just a typo

wmccourt.

Now that you have resolv.conf set up correctly - try running the dig tool again.

dig www.google.com

any luck?

Hi All,
see attached file of dig results. Also content of resolv.conf. (Both attached files are txt files showing contents). I can receive e-mail, but not sednd, I can ping bbc.co.uk but not browse, i can ping google.com, but not browse, I can browse to googles ip adress and even search on it, but not browse to any resulting sites. I can use firefox to browse to my router and make changes to it. By the way the router also acts as my router on a separate windows sbs network and is fine.

help!!
dig-stuff.txt
resolv.conf.txt

Ok, so the dig command makes it look like DNS is working properly.

In Firefox 3 that's:

Edit>Preferences>Advanced>Network>Settings>Auto-detect Network Settings.

Let me know if you can't find the same settings in your version.

hi andylockran
It appears I have V1.5.0.5 of firefox.
Under edit - preferences-general-connection settings,
I have the following choices -
direct internet connection
auto-detect proxy settings for this network,
or
manual proxy settings.
I have tried the 1st two with no luck.

Which version of ubuntu are you running?  It would appear that you are quite far behind if you're still on version 1 (as version 3.0beta is the current version).

Perhaps it'd be better if you'd upgrade the whole system  - that may go some way to resolving your problem.

If you want help on doing this, feel free to contact me directly.

Hi andylockran

I'm using version 6.06lts which I downloaded about a week ago. should I look for a more recent version and if so what version number.

Thanks

Ok. I'm downloading V8.04 as we speak. How do I contact you again?. You get the points by way.
I'll close this when I get your contact info.
Thanks

Willy McCourt.

email ubuntu@zrmt.com

Thanks

I'll get back to you