debian netinst: upgraded kernel; cannot access internet.

vmlinuz.gz · 03-17-2006, 06:29 PM

Recently, I did a fresh netinst of Debian 3.1. I upgraded the kernel using apt-get (because x-window-system only works with 2.6.8). After I boot 2.6.8 though, it seems to have trouble accessing the internet. For one thing, trying apt-get install x-window-system gives me lots of "Temporary failure resolving: '<host name>'" errors. Also, pinging 192.168.0.1 gives me "connect: Network is unreachable." I checked my /etc/resolv.conf and everything seemed to be in order. Any ideas?

It is worth noting that my internet worked on version 2.4.27 of the kernel, which was originally included with the installation. I have that kernel available in case anything else needs to be installed.

RobertP · 03-17-2006, 09:09 PM

ifconfig
should show you your interfaces. Are they up?
/etc/init.d/networking start
may be needed.

vmlinuz.gz · 03-17-2006, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

ifconfig
should show you your interfaces. Are they up?

Ifconfig outputs:

Code:

#ifconfig
lo    Link encap:Local Loopback
      inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
      inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
      UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
      RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
      TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
      collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
      RX bytes:560 (560.0 b) TX bytes:560 (560.0 b)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

/etc/init.d/networking start
may be needed.

I got:

Code:

#/etc/init.d/networking start
...
sit0:Unknown hardware address type 776
eth0:ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
sit0:Unknown hardware address type 776
Bind socket to interface: No such device
exiting.
Failed to bring up eth0.
done.

RobertP · 03-18-2006, 06:19 AM

Tell us about your hardware, particularly the interfaces to the internet. Do you have an ethernet card (NIC, Network Interface Controller) or a connection on the motherboard? Do you intend to use dial-up?

To show some of your hardware devices:
lspci
On my machine, among many other lines, I get these two:

Quote:

0000:00:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)
0000:00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)

To show installed modules:
lsmod

Among others, I get

Quote:

r8169 18436 0

Is there anything in the output about interface devices?

You can also skim through
dmesg
to see what may have been detected at boot time. You can also see stuff in /var/log/messages

vmlinuz.gz · 03-18-2006, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

Tell us about your hardware, particularly the interfaces to the internet. Do you have an ethernet card (NIC, Network Interface Controller) or a connection on the motherboard? Do you intend to use dial-up?

I have an external RCA broadband cable modem, which I use to connect to the internet. Based on the output below, I may have an ethernet card, but I am not certain. I do not use dial-up. In addition, I use a D-Link DI-604 (residential gateway) router.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

To show some of your hardware devices:
lspci

Of particular interest, I noticed

Code:

#lspci
...
0000:02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Via Technologies, Inc. VT86C100A [rhine] (rev 06)
...

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

To show installed modules:
lsmod

Code:

#lsmod
...
via_rhine        19848  0
...

seemed to be related to the information output by lspci.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

You can also skim through
dmesg
to see what may have been detected at boot time. You can also see stuff in /var/log/messages

I do not believe dmesg revealed anything of interest, but in /var/log/messages, I noticed

Code:

#vim /var/log/messages
...
Mar 17 14:25:48 localhost kernel: eth0: VIA VT86C100A Rhine at 0xcc00, 00:50:ba:af:9c:a5, IRQ17
Mar 17 14:25:48 localhost kernel: eth0: MII PHY found at address 8 status 0x782d 05e1 Link 45e1
...

I will attempt to install the newest version of the kernel (2.6.15, I believe, as opposed to 2.6.8) to see if that has any effect.

vmlinuz.gz · 03-18-2006, 04:35 PM

I have unsuccessfully attempted to install a newer version of the kernel. Unless anyone thinks it would be a good idea otherwise, I have given up...I do not believe there are significant enough differnces between the 2.6.x versions to solve my problems.