Hi I'm new to Linux OS and I have installed openSuse Linux 10.3 on Ext3 newly formatted partition the first installed OS was Windows XP ,I have installed openSuse over Windows XP.... openSuse seems to know my NIC card but when I run #ipconfig as root ... it doesn't seem to ping anythings ...the blinking green light near the NIC interface is not blinking either which is supposed to be(as far as I know) but anyway
my IP Address configuration should be done automatically by the DHCP server plus in the network setting panel its set to use the DHCP for Ip configuration but it doesn't seem to work at all..... can someone give me a clue what is wrong ????I have a cable connection and I'm using a cable modem(not DSL)....thank you so much for your help

ipconfig is a Windows command. The command you're looking for is ifconfig. On some distributions (been a while since I've used SuSE), you're required to include it's location. Type the command 'sudo /sbin/ifconfig" or 'su -c /sbin/ifconfig' without the quotes and paste the output here.

Additionally, I'm assuming you're using a router. You can also log into your router and look at it's DHCP clients table.

well yeah I actually realized that and I meant ifconfig
anyway I executed both the commands in shell and the result is this :

linux:~ # sudo /sbin/ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1D:7D:A5:B7:C8
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:16 Base address:0xc000

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:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:700 (700.0 b) TX bytes:700 (700.0 b)

linux:~ # su -c /sbin/ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1D:7D:A5:B7:C8
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:16 Base address:0xc000

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:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:700 (700.0 b) TX bytes:700 (700.0 b)


Is it because I should install the drivers for my LAN card but openSuse seems to have installed the drivers for that .... and even if I connect from my cable modem to my PC directly ( and do not connect any router in between) there wont be any sign of internet connection so far .... I have also tried the procedures in the link below

http://www.swerdna.net.au/linhowtonic.html

as you can see in PIC no.1 the IP address and subnet mask is being shown but in my case only the name of my Ethernet card manufacturer is displayed .............thank you so much for your help ........

Okay. It sounds like you're saying your ethernet card is being detected and it's installed, but DHCP isn't assigning an IP address. If this is the case, you can try statically setting the IP. This is my personal preferred method. In the same menus in the above article you linked, there should be options for assigning an IP address manually. Typically, your local IP address will be in the 192.168.1.xxx range, your subnet will be 255.255.255.0, and your gateway will be 192.168.1.1. You will also need to add DNS servers. You can view these in a Linksys router by logging in, clicking 'Status' -> 'Router', and looking at the 'Static DNS' lines. If you don't have a Linksys router (I don't know how in other routers), the 'ipconfig -a' command in a Windows terminal should also report the static DNS used (I think...haven't used Windows in a LONG time).

Also note that I'm not a professional in any way, shape, or form. In fact, the only thing I can diagnose from your ifconfig output is that your network interface isn't properly set up. There might be more information in there to someone else, but that's all I was curious about anyway. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can help.

Note 2: the two commands I listed were identical. Sudo and su serve essentially the same purpose in many cases, but are fundamentally and extremely different.

Thank you so much for your info man ...
I want to ask you two questions here :

1-there are two very small light near to the rj 45 connector on the ethernet card one is blinkin orange color and the other one is green color ...when I start up with xp these lights are on but when i boot up with opensuse they are OFF .... do they have to be on with linux as well or is it because my ethernet card is not installed properly or is it because I have to assign the IP address and DNS servers staticly after that the lights will be on ??? do you have any idea about this matter ??

2-previously I had installed ubuntu but I have some issues with the file system(it was in read-only mode) i couldn't execute any command so far I tried to resolve the problem by FSCK command but afterwards when i reset the os ...ubuntu crashed ( I think I should have booted up with the live cd then executed the command) but anyway ubuntu didn't seem to know my ethernet card but do you think as far as opensuse displays the name of my ethernet card in the 'network settings' window it means that opensue knows my ethernet card .... what I mean is you dont think the problem might be because of some NIC card driver installation issues with opensuse???

again thanks for your help

Both lights should be on. Are they both off, or just one?

I'm assuming you tried statically assigning an IP address. If that didn't work, we're nearing the extent of my limited knowledge and someone more helpful will have to chime in.

Are you sure OpenSuSE is detecting your network card? Do you know for sure what your make and model is, and does it correspond completely with what OpenSuSE is displaying? I'm assuming you're using the most current stable release of OpenSuSE, which is 10.3. If not, you may want to try the newest.

You may also want to try a live CD of Fedora 8. It is generally more "bleeding edge" than other distributions and may do a better job of detecting and configuring your network interface.

It's a shame you're having to run in circles. The migration to Linux shouldn't be this difficult. Once you make it, though, it's a beautiful, beautiful world.

try
ifconfig eth0 192.168.xxx.xx netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.xxx.255