I'm new to Linux/Ubuntu.

[glm1958]

A Friend of mine gave me a mini laptop that he could not get working. It is a Compaq Mini-Laptop 110 and after several hours of messing around with it I found out it had a 3.something version of Ubuntu on it that would not boot. So, I went on line and not knowing anything about this system I found how to download an updated version 12.10. So I downloaded it onto a flash drive and the mini booted just fine. But, now I can not get the mini to get online no matter what I try. I keep getting error messages that no servers can be found and the web page cannot load. I had two black little arrows for a while at the top left of the page but now I don't even have them, it even said that I was connected for a while but the web pages would not load. I have comcast cable internet service and the computer should auto connect to the web like my other machine but it is not doing that either. Anyone out there have some step-by-step for this newbie to get his machine online? Thanks for your time!

[arochester]

It looks like it might be a DNS (Dynamic Name Server) problem.

Try changing your DNS settings. Look here: https://developers.google.com/speed/...dns/docs/using .

Scroll down to "Example: Changing DNS server settings on Ubuntu"

[pane-free]

Any luck yet?

As I peruse forums, it appears networking problems are the rule for release 12.10. So I recommend starting over with the lubuntu LTS release here.
Go with what works, is my motto.

Welcome to GNU/Linux!