The ppp adapter is not for a NIC. Your modem will use this adapter. The NIC should be identified by what it is, such as a 3COM, DLINK, Realtek, or whatever brand it is. Occassionally it will appear as an NDIS adapter under winipcfg. The appropriate adaptor should appear in the drop down box that the ppp adapter is in. Should there not be any adapter listed for your NIC, then the drivers for the NIC are not properly installed or it has an assigned IP address. Make sure you have the most current drivers for your OS and adapter. Also assure that TCP/IP is bound to the NIC. You can check this by right clicking on Network Neighborhood and selecting " Properties ". This is where all of your installed clients, adapters, and protocols will be shown. Make sure that your NIC is listed as one of the adapters and that TCP/IP is bound to this adapter. You do this by checking the installed protocols in the list and see if your adapter has TCP/IP listed. Such as TCP/IP 3COM 3C950c-TX, for an example.
Should all of this be correct, assure that your NIC is set to obtain an IP address and is not assigned ( hard set ). You check this by double clicking the network adapter under the properties for Network Neighborhood and TCP/IP settings to assure that the IP address is assigned by DHCP and not already set to an IP address.
Should all of this be correct, check your ethernet cable connection and assure that is secure at the NIC and at the cable modem. Reconnect the cable to be sure that it is fully seated in each device. If it is and you still can not get an IP address, change out the ethernet cable and try again.
Should all of this fail, connect another computer to the cable modem and see if it can obtain an IP address. If it can, and you have double checked everything else, replace the NIC. If it can not, then contact your IP provider and see if they can ping your modem. It is possible that the cable modem itself is bad.
This is not all inclusive of what can be happening. T