I've got Debian with a 10/100 ethernet card. It's been working fine for about 10 months, but a few weeks ago the network stopped working. I must have changed something, I was working on web server config and made a couple of minor tweaks in httpd.conf, but resetting these doesn't fix.

The message I'm getting 'receive_packet failed on eth0: network is down' is returned in the console when I do a 'dhclient eth0'. On startup the system is also trying to use dhcp, but gets to 'no dhcpoffers'.

The hardware is okay, I've got dual boot Win2k and the network works fine from there.

Any ideas, I'm looking at configuring the ip static in the /etc/network/interfaces, but I use my Linux in more than on place so need help to get dhcp working again.

Thanks in advance, once I've got more than 5 posts inder my belt I'll post the url for setting manual IP.

can you post the output of "ifconfig"
and "lsmod"
run as "root"

Okay please find the output as requested - sorry for delay, was struggling to extract the output from the Linux box:


ifconfig output:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0D:56:30:3E:A5
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:878 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:3
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:420001 (410.1 KiB) TX bytes:4152 (4.0 KiB)
Interrupt:11

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:52 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:52 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3440 (3.3 KiB) TX bytes:3440 (3.3 KiB)

lsmod output

Module Size Used by Not tainted
input 3040 0 (autoclean)
i830 51804 0
agpgart 35416 7 (autoclean)
af_packet 11624 1 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 8464 0
scsi_mod 85344 1 [ide-scsi]
i810_rng 2368 0 (unused)
i810_audio 21468 0 (unused)
ac97_codec 11412 0 [i810_audio]
soundcore 3268 2 [i810_audio]
i810-tco 2900 0 (unused)
b44 12076 1
lp 5952 0 (autoclean)
parport 21800 0 (autoclean) [lp]
rtc 6120 0 (autoclean)
ext3 53220 0 (autoclean)
jbd 34824 0 (autoclean) [ext3]
ide-detect 9008 0 (autoclean)
via82cxxx 9448 0 (autoclean) (unused)
trm290 2090 0 (autoclean) (unused)
triflex 2156 0 (autoclean) (unused)
slc90e66 4240 0 (autoclean) (unused)
sis5513 9968 0 (autoclean) (unused)
siimage 7364 0 (autoclean) (unused)
serverworks 7292 0 (autoclean) (unused)
sc1200 4464 0 (autoclean) (unused)
rz1000 968 0 (autoclean) (unused)
piix 7240 1 (autoclean)
pdc202xx_old 9924 0 (autoclean) (unused)
opti621 2060 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ns87415 1640 0 (autoclean) (unused)
hpt366 12868 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ide-disk 12384 2 (autoclean) [hpt366]
hpt34x 1992 0 (autoclean) (unused)
generic 1800 0 (autoclean) (unused)
cy82c693 1708 0 (autoclean) (unused)
cs5530 3216 0 (autoclean) (unused)
cmd64x 6628 0 (autoclean) (unused)
cmd640 2372 0 (autoclean) (unused)
amd74xx 8516 0 (autoclean) (unused)
alim15x3 6484 0 (autoclean) (unused)
aec62xx 5252 0 (autoclean) (unused)
adma100 776 0 (autoclean) (unused)
pdc202xx_new 6468 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ide-core 84216 2 (autoclean) [ide-scsi ide-detect via82cxxx trm290 triflex slc90e66 sis5513 siimage serverworks sc1200 rz1000 piix pdc202xx_old opti621 ns87415 hpt366 ide-disk hpt34x generic cy82c693 cs5530 cmd64x cmd640 amd74xx alim15x3 aec62xx adma100 pdc202xx_new]
unix 13260 108 (autoclean)

try doing a "ifconfig eth0 down"
to take the network card down , athen find the exact module for the eth0 in your modules.conf or modprobe.conf file
and unload the module using rmmod and then reload the network module and then try getting an ip address using dhclient.
also does it work if you assign a static ip address to the computer. and whats in the /var/log/messages as well as dmesg does it say anything else there.

Sorry, I'm not sure about 'athen find the exact module for the eth0 in your modules.conf or modprobe.conf file'. I looked in these files and found no references to eth0.

Pls see my etc/network/interfaces file below which allows me to connect to the machine via ftp and web. It does not let me surf web pages outside of my local net from the Linux box.

It does allow me to access ip addresses externally, but v.v v. slowly. Maybe my prob is DNS related? Not sure how to check if this is the case.

# /etc/network/interfaces -- configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)

# the loopback interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# This entry was created during the Debian installation
auto eth0
# iface eth0 inet dhcp
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.254.35
network 192.168.255.255
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.255.255
gateway 192.168.254.254

Also below the output from the log files you requested after making a boot with my interfaces file set to 'iface eth0 inet dhcp'

Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Freeing initrd memory: 3188k freed
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: VFS: Mounted root (cramfs filesystem).
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Freeing unused kernel memory: 76k freed
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00beta4-2.4
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ICH4: IDE controller at PCI slot 00:1f.1
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Enabling device 00:1f.1 (0005 -> 0007)
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:1f.1
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:1d.2
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ICH4: chipset revision 2
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ICH4: not 100%% native mode: will probe irqs later
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ide0: BM-DMA at 0xbfa0-0xbfa7, BIOS settings: hdaMA, hdbio
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ide1: BM-DMA at 0xbfa8-0xbfaf, BIOS settings: hdcMA, hddio
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: hda: QSI CD-RW/DVD-ROM SBW-242, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: hdc: IC25N020ATMR04-0, ATA DISK drive
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: blk: queue e0824214, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: hdc: attached ide-disk driver.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: hdc: 39070080 sectors (20004 MB) w/1740KiB Cache, CHS=2432/255/63, UDMA(100)
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Partition check:
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: /dev/ide/host0/bus1/target0/lun0: p1 p2 < p5 > p3 p4
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Journalled Block Device driver loaded
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Adding Swap: 554200k swap-space (priority -1)
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Real Time Clock Driver v1.10e
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: lp: driver loaded but no devices found
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: b44.c:v0.9 (Jul 14, 2003)
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 02:01.0
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:1f.5
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:1f.6
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: eth0: Broadcom 4400 10/100BaseT Ethernet 00:0d:56:30:3e:a5
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810 TCO timer, v0.05: timer margin: 30 sec (0x0860) (nowayout=0)
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Intel 810 + AC97 Audio, version 0.24, 19:11:35 Sep 27 2003
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:1f.5
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:1f.6
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 02:01.0
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810: Intel ICH4 found at IO 0xcc40 and 0xc800, MEM 0xf6f7f800 and 0xf6f7f400, IRQ 11
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810: Intel ICH4 mmio at 0xe08fb800 and 0xe08fd400
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810_audio: Primary codec has ID 0
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810_audio: Audio Controller supports 6 channels.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810_audio: Defaulting to base 2 channel mode.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810_audio: Resetting connection 0
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810_audio: Connection 0 with codec id 0
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: 0x8384:0x7650 (Unknown)
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810_audio: AC'97 codec 0 supports AMAP, total channels = 2
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: i810_rng hardware driver 0.9.8 loaded
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: hda: attached ide-scsi driver.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Vendor: QSI Model: CDRW/DVD SBW-242 Rev: UD22
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Link is down.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Link is up at 10 Mbps, half duplex.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Link is down.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Link is up at 10 Mbps, half duplex.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX.
Sep 20 16:09:32 localhost lpd[387]: restarted
Sep 20 16:09:42 localhost kernel: apm: BIOS not found.
Sep 20 16:09:43 localhost kernel: Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
Sep 20 16:09:43 localhost kernel: agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 438M
Sep 20 16:09:43 localhost kernel: agpgart: Detected an Intel(R) 845G Chipset.
Sep 20 16:09:43 localhost kernel: agpgart: Detected 892K stolen memory.
Sep 20 16:09:43 localhost kernel: agpgart: AGP aperture is 128M @ 0xe0000000
Sep 20 16:09:43 localhost kernel: [drm] AGP 0.99 on Intel i810 @ 0xe0000000 128MB
Sep 20 16:09:43 localhost kernel: [drm] Initialized i830 1.2.0 20011004 on minor 0


ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hdc: attached ide-disk driver.
hdc: 39070080 sectors (20004 MB) w/1740KiB Cache, CHS=2432/255/63, UDMA(100)
Partition check:
/dev/ide/host0/bus1/target0/lun0: p1 p2 < p5 > p3 p4
Journalled Block Device driver loaded
ext3: No journal on filesystem on ide1(22,1)
Adding Swap: 554200k swap-space (priority -1)
Real Time Clock Driver v1.10e
lp: driver loaded but no devices found
b44.c:v0.9 (Jul 14, 2003)
PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 02:01.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:1f.5
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:1f.6
eth0: Broadcom 4400 10/100BaseT Ethernet 00:0d:56:30:3e:a5
i810 TCO timer, v0.05: timer margin: 30 sec (0x0860) (nowayout=0)
Intel 810 + AC97 Audio, version 0.24, 19:11:35 Sep 27 2003
PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:1f.5
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:1f.6
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 02:01.0
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:1f.5 to 64
i810: Intel ICH4 found at IO 0xcc40 and 0xc800, MEM 0xf6f7f800 and 0xf6f7f400, IRQ 11
i810: Intel ICH4 mmio at 0xe08fb800 and 0xe08fd400
i810_audio: Primary codec has ID 0
i810_audio: Audio Controller supports 6 channels.
i810_audio: Defaulting to base 2 channel mode.
i810_audio: Resetting connection 0
i810_audio: Connection 0 with codec id 0
ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: 0x8384:0x7650 (Unknown)
i810_audio: AC'97 codec 0 supports AMAP, total channels = 2
i810_rng: cannot disable RNG, aborting
i810_rng hardware driver 0.9.8 loaded
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
hda: attached ide-scsi driver.
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Vendor: QSI Model: CDRW/DVD SBW-242 Rev: UD22
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
b44: eth0: Link is down.
b44: eth0: Link is up at 10 Mbps, half duplex.
b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX.
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
b44: eth0: transmit timed out, resetting
b44: eth0: Link is down.
b44: eth0: Link is up at 10 Mbps, half duplex.
b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX.

Thanks for any help.

Ok this is an interesting problem

Can you try the following and get back to me.
First set you card to static ip address and specify the gateway and dns and everything then turn off the computer for 2 minutes and turn it back on. Does the network work now?

What version of the kernel are you running ? "uname -a"
Have you recently updated you kernel ?
What version of debian are you running?
I believe it was 2.6.5-6 that had problems with the broadcom modem
by the way its a broadcom 4400
the module for it is b44
Can you post me the output of lspci
and also "lspci -v" but only give me the part about the ethernet broadcom
and when you try to ping anything when you have a static ip address what happens.
Also run mii-tool and mii-diag and see what they tell you.
And whats your hardware, desktop/laptop brand specs