Browser(s) Will Not Connect to Internet

[OldBob]

I have my T-21 Thinkpad set up as a dual boot with Win98SE & PCLinuxOS 0.93a Junior and a Realtek RTL8180 wireless LAN Mini PCI NIC in the PCMCIA slot. At the local library "hot spot", Win98SE works just fine, problem is PCLinuxOS.

Thru much "trial & error" [I'm no "expert" in wireless or Linux] I have managed to get the yellow & green LEDs on the card to light up.

NOTE: I actually got connected to internet once for about 10 minutes BUT lost the connection when I rebooted !!!

But when I open a browser [both SeaMonkey & Konqueror] I get a message "www.whatever.com not found". I feel like I'm "one click" away from connecting but I can't do it !!!

My "latest clue" is during my many reboots I observed in the POST scrolling the following two lines:-

"Bringing up interface eth0" (there is a LONG pause on this line)
"Determined IP info for eth0 ..................................FAILED"

I have no idea what this means [if anything] but all help/advice will be appreciated !!

[OldBob]

Follow-up Info

All my "trial & error" is in PCLinuxOS Control Center > Networking where there are nine icons.

1. Manage host definitions.
2. Share internet connections with other local machines.
3. Reconfigure existing network interface.
4. Remove a network interface.
5. Configure 802.11abg wireless network connection.
6. Configure DNS setting for your internet connection.
7. Create new network interface [LAN, ADLS, wireless, etc...]
8. Monitor the network connection. [a bar graph]
9. Set up a squid web proxy cache ???

The two I work on most are 5 & 7, but I really don't know what I'm doing.

Also I have managed to figure out that:-

eth0 = is the Thinkpads "built-in" circuitry for wireless connections within the office.
wlan0 = the Realtek wireless card.

The T-21 model is too old to have true wifi capabilities, this is why I need the card.