internet not working in 3.8.1

[spoop]

I have a motorola surfboard 5100 cable modem and I am not able to use the internet in version 3.8.1. In 3.6, using either kernel, the internet worked without me having to do anything. What can I do to fix this. Keep in mind that I am a newbie. I have tried looking in other topics, but usually couldn't understand what to do or I tried to do something suggested and couldn't. Is there anyone out there that can help me? By the way, it's hooked up via usb, because I have no ethernet.

[Harry Kuhman]

.... By the way, it's hooked up via usb, because I have no ethernet.

From what I could learn of this modem on the Motorola site, it supports both USB and Ethernet. My suggestion, do yourself a big favor and get a very inexpensive ethernet NIC (frequently $5 or less, sometimes free after rebate) and put it in your computer. That and an also inexpensive ethernet cable (should be as little as $2.99 or less, although some stores try to rip the unknowing off for $19.99 or more on this item) will resolve many problems that you see with a USB interface to the broadband modem.

An additional thing to do, particularly if you use that broadband connection with any version of Windows, is to get a very inexpensive DSL/Cable router. This will give you an extra level of hardware firewall (very important with Windows and growing in importance with Linux) and will provide a lot of extra utility. These can frequently be had for $10 or less after rebate (I posted about a $5 one that was available last Friday night, and I've even seen then free after rebate). They usually come with their own ethernet cable, so you usually don't even have to buy an additional ethernet cable (the only brand I know not to include an ethernet cable was my $100+ Linksys a few years back).