>works almost nearly, i can telnet to an ip address (it even gives me an
>address for me machine!!!!!), but it cant find any domain names...and i
>added the nameserver entries to resolv.conf, with the right ips
>(199.3.12.2, 199.3.12.3, these are also in /etc/hosts), but it no werk...
>-xiamin
>

hrm. well, possible errors i can see you doing is making an
/etc/ppp/resolv.conf, which is incorrect. it should be /etc/resolv.conf.
did your system immediately tell you that it could not find the host or did
it actually look for a nameserver over the modem? the nameservers at your
ISP might have been down...this has happened to me before. in the latter
case, it would attempt to look up the host for a few minutes before telling
you it couldn't connect, or get an ip address.
  - a