BleepingComputer.com: Connection problems

Hello
i got an older laptop that had XP home but was so corrupt nothing would work.
so i decided to try and put a linux distro on it but only 2 would boot up successfully.
NimbleX (which i dont really like) and PCLinux (which is ok) but i cannot get i to connect to the net?
NimbleX connected with no problem. so i guess my question is how do i get PCLinux to connect?
I went to Utilities>internet setup>DSL>National Semiconductor>Automatic IP(BOOT/DHCP)>Get DNS from DHCP is already checked and Assign host name from DHCP address is also checked in the box>start connection at boot>do you want to start connection now? (i click yes) and it says that it connected successfully and to restart X which i did CTRL/ALT/Backspace
but when i open up the web browser it goes to PCLinux page and click on there link i get ( An error occurred while loading http://pclinusos.com Unknown host pclinux.com. I tried to enter www.google.com in the address bar and get the same error>

Any ideas as to what i am doing wrong?
any help is always appreciated

D_N_M

If you open a terminal and type the command 'iwconfig' what do you see? Are you on a encrypted network? What kind of network adapter are you dealing with?

iwconfig (no wireless extensions)
and is connected through ethernet cable to modem
it used to connect fine when it had wondows xp