Redhat 9 ADSL - partial success
 

Hi,
Hope someone can shed some light on a problem. I have Redhat 9 installed on a separate partition of my hard drive (XP occupies the other). I'm having some issues with with accessing the internet via ADSL under Linux. The ADSL modem is a Netcomm NB1300 which I believe is a router with DHCP client/server built in. The connection is via eth0.
After following the simple network config under Linux, my homepage magically comes up, and I am able to access various web sites - for a short time. Frequently, I get the mesage "connection refused" and if I persist by retrying, it eventually gets the job done, but resolving the address seems to take way too long..... !
Accessing the modem set-up is the same hit-and-miss affair.

Interestingly, if I boot into XP first and access the internet (which works fine by the way) then soft boot into Linux, the "connection refused" problem is much less frequent. Conversly, if I boot straight into Linux, the "connection refused" problems appear almost immediately.
Under XP, the ethernet card is set up as auto detect. Can't tell under Linux.

Cheers,
Carl.

Re: Redhat 9 ADSL - partial success
 

Your troubles are odd, because RH is supposed to be especially good at this. (Connecteing to the web via ADSL.

You can check that linux is seeing your ether net card properly with
I take it that only the one computer is using the router/modem? You have configured eth0 to get it's IP adresses automatically by DHCP?

Have you had a talk with your isp technical help? You could be experiencing some problems with verification - isps sometimes keep checking that you are legitimate and if linux dosn't respond in time your connection will get refused - or similar timing issues. Their logs may shed some light on what is happening: just tell them about the "connection refused" thing that keeps coming up and ask what it looks like from their end - give them the time it occurred for you.

Linux cares not a whit what the modem is doing - all it sees is the ethernet connection.

RH autodetects all hardware unless you force something else. When you used the network device control daemon to configure your eth0 service, you should have seen your card there.

Re: Redhat 9 ADSL - partial success
 

Your troubles are odd, because RH is supposed to be especially good at this. (Connecteing to the web via ADSL.

You can check that linux is seeing your ether net card properly with
I take it that only the one computer is using the router/modem? You have configured eth0 to get it's IP adresses automatically by DHCP?

Have you had a talk with your isp technical help? You could be experiencing some problems with verification - isps sometimes keep checking that you are legitimate and if linux dosn't respond in time your connection will get refused - or similar timing issues. Their logs may shed some light on what is happening: just tell them about the "connection refused" thing that keeps coming up and ask what it looks like from their end - give them the time it occurred for you.

Linux cares not a whit what the modem is doing - all it sees is the ethernet connection.

RH autodetects all hardware unless you force something else. When you used the network device control daemon to configure your eth0 service, you should have seen your card there.

Thanks Simon - appreciate your feedback.
Linux definately "sees" my ethernet card. It was auto-detected upon installation. It was subsequently configured to get the IP address via DHCP.
I guess I should have explained the issue with the modem better. It's not so much the modem itself, but rather visibility of the device. The modem has it's own IP address, and an in-built set-up menu that can be accessed via telnet or http from the browser. Some times it sees it, sometimes it doesn't. Ditto for pinging the device from the console. This tends to suggest, to me anyhow, that the issue is probably local.
What I can't tell from Linux is whether the card is set for half-duplex, full-duplex, auto-detect, etc. You can do this under XP. Could it be a lower-layer negotiation issue between eth0 and the modem perhaps?

Carl.

OK - I've been researching your modem. The amnday things are pretty bright and try to do too many things for you without you knowing.

Here's some things to check out:

1. make sure your browzer (in RH - mozilla?) has not any proxy or automatic setting enabled. In mozilla this is in edit > preferences > advanced > proxies and http networking.

2. Your modem may have cached some settings (i.e. due to the XP connection) that is stopping it talking to your linux nic driver properly. Do a factory reset on your modem (by holding in the reset button while the modem is off, turning the modem on and releasing the reset button after 10 seconds). Then re-enter your details via the one page setup page of the modem. Be sure not to try any other connection before you try the linux one.

3. When you set up the modem - make sure you change only the feilds required by the isp. Usually, these are the user and password feilds. The rest should remain at the defaults.

4. Check with the manufacturer of your nic to see if there is a more up to date driver for linux available. You may find that this card has trouble with ultra-modern modems under linux and a fix is available.

I take it you have the filter in the right place and no dialup connections taking precedence?

Simon - again, thanks for your reply!
Your second suggestion seems to do the trick ....
Resetting the modem (it is probably more correct to call it a router) back to factory settings prior to booting RH9 seems to work, and provided I boot into Linux each time, everything is fine.
I guess I now need to find a way to leave the modem in a neutral state (clear any caches, etc) after exiting XP.... I might solicit some input from the manufacturer. See what they have to say.
Thank you once again, your input/advice has been greatly appreciated!

Carl.

OK cool!
That one took more effort than most because it's a windows thing - have you noticed how windows dosn't like to share?

Please press thanks :)