I need lots of help!

[mfklinux]

I am new. I need explicit detailed help. I have a newly constructed computer using Intel core 2 duo. I have 640 Gb drive.
I have two modems that I have tried. One is "Creative modem blaster model DE5621 external modem. The other is a Zoom model 3095 V.92/V.90 USB modem which is supposed to work with Linux. It has instruction for installing for linux but I have not been able to follow the instructions.
I have a HP5440 printer which I have been able to configure and which worked once, but has become unresponsive since.
I have a Epson Perfection 1200 phhoto scanner which I have made no attempt to configure.
I was using KDE but got out of it. I have x windows up right now. I have trouble getting a lot of commands to work. ( I have worked a lot with command lines in DOS and on IBM 36 and 400 computers).
I now am running Debian 5.0 Lenny. I have tried Debian 4.04 and Ubunta 8.04
So much for introduction. I cannot figure out how to configure a modem or even see if it is recognized by the system. Also, my hard drive shows to be partitioned into 2 sections, one about 19Gb and one about 600 Gb or a little less. When I try to do anything with the bigger paratition it tells me "permission denied"'
I hoppe someone can work me through the modem problems and then I will ask for more.

[smolloy]

OK, so first -- welcome to the forums!

Now, you bring up two problems -- your modem and your disk. I don't know that much about networking, so I'll concentrate on your hard drive partitions. Hopefully someone smarter than me (waterhead?) will chime in on that.

At a command line, can you type the following as root and post the results here?

fdisk -l

Also, can you tell us if you are dual-booting with windows or another OS, or if you're single booting Debian?

[jayd512]

Welcome to LinuxForums!

I may have went to the wrong site, but all I saw were Windows drivers (.exe files). Perhaps you could post a link for where these instructions are found? Also, just for a little more detail on hardware, post output of

lspci

[mfklinux]

I typed fdisk -l and got the following.

Device Boot Start end blocks id system
/dev/sda1 * 1 2317 18611271 83 linux
/dev/sda2 2318 77825 606518010 5 extended
/def/sda5 77496 77825 2650693+ 82 linux swap / solaris
/dev/sda6 2318 76171 593232192 83 linux
/dev.sda7 7612 77495 10634998+ 82 linux swap / solarais

partition table endries are not in disk order
debian:/home/marshall#

I am single booting with debian. I have tried several distros but always just reload over the last one.

To jayd512: the lspci brought a long response. I won't type all of it unless necessary but here is some;

host bridge: intel express pci express root
audio device: intel high definition audio
host bridge: intel corp. express dram controller
pci bridge intel corp pci express port 4
usb controller intel corp usb uhci controll
usb controller intel corp usb uhci controll
same repeated for all usb ports
pci bridge
isa bridge
ide interface intel corp ... SATA IDE controller
SMB bus
vga compatible nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
ethernet controller Realtek Semionductor Co
exoress Gigabit ethernet controller and 3 more USB controllers

[smolloy]

Thanks for the info mfklinux.

I see you have two linux partitions, just as you said -- one with ~18.5 GB (sda1), and another with ~590 GB (sda6). Weirdly you have two swap partitions, which isn't really necessary -- one of them is huge (10 GB), but I guess it's the 2 GB one that you have activated?

Can you post the contents of /etc/fstab, and the output of the "mount" command?

What happens when you try to use /dev/sda6 ?

[mfklinux]

I typed in all the info you ask for, t hen lost my connection and lost the date. It will be Monday before I can re-enter it. marshall

[smolloy]

I don't understand. You mean this is on a remote machine that you've lost the connection to?

[mfklinux]

No. I sorry I confused you. I have one computer, the one I have used for several years, with windows 98se that I can connect to the internet. That is how I am contacting this forum. I have another one which I just put together and have linux loaded on. I have not been able to connect to the internet with it, or even to get it to see the modem.
I copied the information that you ask for from the debian computer and typed it in on this computer to send to you, then lost it when the connection failed. I am going to try to get time tomorrow to retype. Sorry for the mixup. Marshall

[smolloy]

No problem.

I'll be here

[mfklinux]

(Your reply in part)

Can you post the contents of /etc/fstab, and the output of the "mount" command?

What happens when you try to use /dev/sda6 ?

I think I have included all that you ask for below.
Please excuse typing errors.


Debian: /home/marshall# /etc/fstab
bash: /etc/fstab: Permission denied
debian: /home/marshall# cd /
debian:/# /etc/fstab
bash: /etc/fstaab: Permission denied
debian: /# ls etc
acpi foomatic lisarc qt3
adjtime gai.conf locale.gen rc1.d
aliases gconf localtime rc2.d
alsa gdm login.defs rc3.d
alternatives gimp logrotate.conf rc4.d
anacrontab gnokiirc logrotate.d rc5.d
amps gnome lsbl-base rc6.d
apt gnome-app-install magic rc.local
at.deny gnome-vfs-2.0 magic.mime rcS.d
avahi gnome-vfs-mime-magic mailcap rearj.cfg
bash.bashrc gre.d mailcap.order reportbug.conf
bash_completion groff mailname resolvconf
bash_completion.d group mail.rc rmt
bindresvport.blacklist group- manpatah.config rpc
bonobo_activaation gshadow menu sane.d
ca-certificates gshadow- menu-methods scrollkeeper.conf
ca-certificates.conf gssapi-mech.conf mime.types scsi_id.config
calendar gtk-2.0 minicom securetty
chatscripts hal mke2fs.conf security
complete.tcsh hdparm.conf modprobe.d selinux
console hesiod.conf modules sensors.conf
console-tools host.conf modutils services
cron.d hostname motd sestatus.conf
cron.daily hosts motd.tail sgml
cron.hourly hosts.allow mtab shadow
cron.monthly hosts.deny mtools.conf shwdow_
crontab hp Muttrc shells
cron.weekly htdig Muttrc.d skel
csh iceweasel mysql sound csh.cshrc identd.conf nanorc ssh
csh.login identd.key netscsid.conf ssl
csh.logout idmapd.conf network sudoers
cups imlib NetworkManager sysctl.conf
cvs-cron.conf inetd.conf networks sysctl.d
cvs-pserver.conf init.d nsswitch.conf syslog.conf
dbus-1 initramfs-tools openoffice terminfo
debconf.conf inittab opt texmf
debian-version inputrc pam.conf tidy.conf
default iproute2 pam.d timezone
defoma issue pango ts.conf
deluser.conf issue.net papersize tsocks.conf
dhcp3 java passwd ucf.conf
dictionaries-common kde3 passwd- udev
dirmngr kernel-img.conf perl updatedb.conf
discover.conf.d kerneloops.conf pm uswsusp.conf
discover-modprobe.conf kernel-pkg.conf pmount.allow vga
dm ksysguarddrc ppp vim
doc-base ldap privoxy w3m
dpkg ld.so.cache profile wgetrc
emacs ld.so.conf protocols wodim.conf
email-addresses ld.so.conf.d pulse wpa_supplicant
enscript.cfg libao.conf purple X11
esound libgda python xdg
exim4 libgda-3.0 python2.4 xml
fonts libpaper.d python2.5 ytalkrc


debian: /# cd /etc
debian: /etc#
debian: /etc# ls /fstab
ls:cannot access /fstab: No such file or directory
debian: /etc# cd /fstab
bash: cd: /fstab: No such file or directory
debian: /etc# cd /
debian: /# ls /etc/fstab
/etc/fstab


debian: /# mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors+remount-ro)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
procbususb on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
udev on /def type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (re,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,qid=5,mode=620

debian: /# /dev/sda6
bash: /dev/sday: Permission denied
debian: /#

During all this I was signed on / except the very first few lines.