Modem sync, but no PPPoE: ISO debugging tools

[DMChess]

I have a brand-new DSL account with Verizon (Westchester County, New York), but
no connectivity yet. The three green lights on the Westell WireSpeed
(power/ready/link) come on solid, but the PPPoE software on the PC (pppdtect,
in Windows 98) can't see the Access Concentrator. If I put my LinkSys BEFW11S4
between the PC and the modem, it also fails to make a PPPoE connection.

The Tier Two support guy claims it must be something wrong in my PC, but after
many long minutes uninstalling and reinstalling random bits of Windows at his
behest, there's no change in symptoms (and he can't explain why the router
can't connect, but of course he's not required to support routers). He
recommends that I try a different PC, and I suppose I'll try the Win2K laptop
tomorrow (left its Ethernet card in my other pants), but I have the feeling
it's a wild goose chase.

He says he talked to "the broadband team", and they say that from their end my
modem looks fine. (My gut feeling is that they forgot to put me in the routing
table or something, but how do I convince them to check?)

Are there any useful PPPoE diagnostics or anything that I could use to try to
narrow down the problem? WinPoET 2.1's log shows it sending out four discovery
packets, and doesn't show it getting anything useful back. pppdtect just shows
the little red "couldn't connect to AC" circle next to my Ethernet card. The
modem's 'activity' light does blink during these tests. Are(n't) their
utilities that would give me some more detail about what's actually going on?

I'm getting real tired of reinstalling Microsoft Dial-Up Networking... *8)

Tx most extremely,
DC
ch...@theogeny.com
dmc...@aol.com
http://www.davidchess.com/

[David M.Chess]

To answer my own question *8) it turned out that the modem they
initially sent me was bad, and once I convinced them of that and
they sent me a new one, everything is working fine... DC