Destination Host Unreachable

Hi!

First off, let me say that I am new to unix/linux operating systems and I chose Ubuntu because it is noted for its ease of installation. I would also appreciate that any replies be at a level of detail which is useful to someone that is new.

I installed Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 on a Dell Dimension 4550 that has 1GB of ram. It runs great. I am, however, having problems getting connected to a network. I need to connect using my Linksys WUSB54G v4 wireless adapter(uses rt2500 driver). Here is what I have done so far.

- Using the Network Connection utility I
    - removed the wired connection that was created during the install
    - edited the wireless connection that was created during the install
       - On the Wireless tab
          - the SSID is set to the appropriate setting for my wireless router
          - Mode: Infrastructure
          - BSSID: is blank
          - MAC address: is blank
          - MTU: automatic
       - On the IPv4 Settings tab
          - Method: Manual
          - Address, Netmask, Gateway are correctly set ( I am using a static IP address)
          - DNS: is set for my ISP provider
          - Search Domains: is blank
        - On the IPv6 Settings tab
          - Method: Ignore
        - On the Wireless Security tab
          - Security: WEP 40/128-bit key
          - Key: set for my router
          - WEP Index: 1(Default)
          - Authentication: Open System

I blacklisted ipv6 in the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf file and created a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.local file containing blacklist ipv6 (read about this one in one of the answers).

The little connection icon at the top of my screen says that I have a good strong connection yet I am unable to ping anything other than localhost. Just this morning, I opened Network Tools. It shows three devices
     - Loopback Interface (lo)
     - Ethernet Interface (eth0)
     - Wireless Interface (wlan0)

wlan0 shows the following information
  protocal IP Address Netmast/Prefix Broadcast Scope
    IPv6 fe80::212:17ff:fe72:e8c4 64 is blank Link
    IPv4 address as i set it 255.255.255.0 is blank is blank

Interface Information Interface Statistics
   Hardware Address: 00:12:17:72:e8:c4 Transmitted bytes: 123.2 KiB
   Multicast: Enabled Transmitted packets: 2018
   MTU: 1500 Received bytes: 0.0 B
   Link Speed: 54 Mbps Received packets: 0
   State: Active Reception Errors: 0
                                                                                  Collisions: 0

I hope there is enough detail here for someone to help me get connected to my home network and the internet.

Thanks