alright, the modem installation is complete and functioning now, even upon reboot. thanks to all. although i seem to be having a frustrating time with programs not launching from kde when i click on them. i get a busy mouse cursor, and then it just goes away. i'm pretty sure my system resources should be able to handle the load of linux, i have a 1.2ghz duron with 512mb of ram. any suggestions would be appreciated. i tried some of the other window managers, but i still had the same problem.