Thank you both for your suggestions.
Yes, I have a firewall turned on always (Windows XP Firewall).
And the light on the modem is green - I tried another Ethernet cable and that didn’t solve the problem.
Since I had the firewall turned on, wouldn’t it be hard for someone on the outside to create a VPN to my machine?
I’m not even sure the VPN attempted connection is related to my problem, but it seems it could be.
Well, there should be lights at BOTH ends of the cable. And are you sure the light on the modem is for the Ethernet connection and not for the satellite side signal or power? Can you ping the modem? Get a tool like ipscan and scan your subnet, to see if you can see the modem. Try reseating your network card if not on the motherboard, or disabling the mothernoard one and adding one from the computer store (about $10-15). Then try talking introducing another PC on the house side of your modem, to see if you can see the current PC and/or see the modem. This may tell you which is not working. You may be able to disable the XP firewall temporarily to see if it makes a difference. I use Zone Alarm, and I have to make sure to make my own subnet a "Trusted Zone" or I can't even ping anyone in the LAN. If turning off the firewall makes everything work, you will need to make some configuration settings to allow the path to the modem. I also suggest using a third party firewall. Zone Alarm has a free version which is perfectly good. www.zonelabs.com