ok, youv'e helped me immensly in the past and i hope you can do the same thing on this one. first off the reason i do not leave a descriptive enough question with info is because i'm busy porting myself over from microsoft(along with trying to get their certification for work related reasons) and for this i am sorry. it seems that the connection connects but hangs at the 'logging onto network' box. this has happened to me in windows and all i had to do was uncheck the logon to network box. is there some sort of way to do the same thing in linux? if there is something i can do to give someone a clearer picture of what is happening, let me know. mr. birchall, i've followed your instructions and saw nothing new happen (except for the tail command). i appreciate your help on this one rich. thanks again to all that support the new linux users who are on this list
