Motorola SB5120 and Mepis

Hi -

I'm a newbie, but not a complete retard [ unless you prove me otherwise in which case I'm able to accept it ]. Here's my deal. Basically, I have no internet connection. During setup, Mepis recognises my modem but not as an internet connection. Simply a USB device. I've tried both the USB and Ethernet connections on the modem and nothing.

I've also tried several Ethernet cards, for the Ethernet connection on the modem. Nothing.

Basically, I think the, "PC/ACTIVITY" light on the modem should turn on at some point during network connection setup [ which fails all options...wlan...etho...etc. ] but it does not, which leads me to believe it's a connection problem of some sort. But I've tried several cards, and several cables (since I've read it's easier for Mepis to set up Ethernet connects), and nothing.

Please tell me I'm missing some obvious stupid thing that's staring me in the face so I can yell, "duh", smack my forehead, get on the internet with a beer and say bye-bye to Microsoft.....Please?

Here's my computer stats :

Unknown motherboard
AMD 2000+ [ actually, 1800+ but overclocked to 2000+ ]
768 mb. ram.
64 Mb. NVidia video card
plenty of hard drive space, DVD burner, TV Tuner....etc.
Motorola SB5120 Surfboard Cable Modem

best and thanks,
Joe