Hi I configured successfully my wireless lan card on red hat 9, it is activated but the internet still doesnt work. I typed ifconfig and I noticed that the eth1 ( wilress lan network interface ) and the loopback interface ( actually what is this for ? ) network masks are the same so I think this is the reason I still dont have internet. How can I change it ( else than netconfig, cause Im afraid I will override all settings that I have made till now ). Peace.

Netmask is the setting that says how "big" a particular network is. Now since your loopback adaptor and wireless card are on completely different networks their netmasks are irrevelant to each other. Loopback is on the 127.0.0.0/8 network, while your network card is on some other network (something that doesn't start with 127).

By the way, the loopback address is used for certain processes to communicate locally (just on your machine). It's impossible for anything outside your computer to connect to the loopback adaptor.

So as to why your connection isn't working, no one can know because you didn't include enough information. Are you sure your wireless card is eth1? Can you post the output from ifconfig -a? What is the IP and netmask of your gateway? Is your gateway a Wireless Access Point? Does your WAP have Wired Equivilant Protection enabled (WEP)? Does your WAP hand out IPs via DHCP? Is your wireless card configured for DHCP? What is the output of netstat -nra?

There is a lot more information you have to share before anyone can help you.

Yo. Thats the info for my network interfaces
lo loopback IP 127.0.0.1 Netmask 255.0.0.0
Yes eth1 is wireless lan. IP 10.4.2.14 Netmask 255.0.0.0 (see, they match )
eth0 is LAN ( cable connecting 2 computers ) IP 192.168.20.4 Netmask 192.168.20.255
As you can see the problem is from the same netmasks for eth1 and lo. How can I change the lo netmask to 255.255.255.255 ? I think this will solve my problem.

your netmask on eth0 can not possibly be 192.168.20.255!
is that a typo?

your netmask is fine for loopback

next step check your subnet mask for eth0

Paul

dude, the eth0 mask has nothing to do with my loopback and eth1 problems. I didnt type it wrong, it may not be working, havent tried this interface yet. Red Hat gave this netmask by default to my ethernet eth0 ( LAN ) interface.

And the problem is with loopback and eth1 ( wireless lan )`s netmasks matching I think.

Mate, you could have five eth cards all with different or the same IP ranges and all have the same mask it is only relevant to the card it is set on.

also if it gave you a netmask of 192.168.20.255 then it is absolutely the incorrect format for a SM, and is wihout question wrong!

which is your connection to the net?

Paul

my connection to the internet is the wilreless lan eth1 device.

if its not the netmasks, what can it be ?
But I still have some feeling its from the netmasks that match

enter the route command and reply with the full results!

Paul

That's definately a misinterp. The 192.168.1.x address with the .255 isn't the netmask that should be the broadcast address for a class-c subnet /24

Make sure you check the ifconfig data it goes:
Inet addr: <your ip> bcast: <broadcast address> Mask: <SM>

As for the IP address you're getting on the wireless that looks like it's off a NAT-router so it might be using the 10.0.0.0 reserved class-A address which is valid depending on your NAT/router.

Most of the LinkSys and NetGear's on the market use the 192.168.x.x address range though.

I'd also use iwconfig to make sure that you're actually attached to the Access Point you think you are.