problems with networking
 

Hi,

I’ve got a cable modem that I usually plug directly into my computer. I also have a dlink-704 “Broadband Gateway/Firewall/4-port Switch – with a dhcp server built in that puts out 192.168 addresses.” I only use the dlink when I want to put two computers on the Internet at the same time. Recently, I plugged my computer into the dlink and linux had problems with it (but linux and the dlink always got along in the past.)

The boot process that usually takes 2 minutes from power on to desktop probably took 10 minutes and when I finally did get to the desktop I could not do anything, the mouse would move but things just took too long to do. I finally had to hit the power button.

What could be causing this? When I dual boot to windows everything is fine (i.e. I get a 192.168 address and I can see the internet.) It must have been something that I’ve done because this did work in the past but I don’t recall ever doing anything to the networking side of linux.

I’m not sure how to troubleshoot this. My feeling is that it might have something to do with dhcp but I am able to acquire an ip address when plugged directly into the cable modem.

Thanks,
Al

Sorry I can't help with your problem, I don't have a dlink, but I will suggest that you do NOT just hit the pwr button when things go wrong, that is the windows way of doing things. You could have just hit ctrl-alt-F1(2-3-4-5-6) and shut down properly at the command line. Pressing the power button can severely pooch your system and make it unusable.

If you say that networking runs fine when you plug directly into the modem then the problem is with the Dlink (ie: when dlink not used problem doesn't appear) search the forum for "dlink" and see if someone had the same problem.

Hi bulliver,

Thanks for your response.

>I will suggest that you do NOT just hit the pwr button
Yeah, that’s what I heard but the system would not respond. I the future I'll try your other key combos.


>problem is with the Dlink
No, it works with windows and it used to work with this linux install too. Besides, even if the dlink were malfunctioning it should not cause linux to choke. If linux choked when some other server on the network was not functioning then nobody would use it. It has to be a configuration w/in my linux install and I would like to know how to troubleshoot it.

>search the forum for "dlink" and see if someone had ....
I always do b4 posting. Simply good etiquette. But this time is did not see anything that was close to my problem.

No, I don't mean that the dlink is malfunctioning, I mean that it is the dlink configuration with linux that is the problem.

You need two different network settings, one for when you use the dlink, and one when plugging directly into the cable. Can you not just configure your network with the dlink and leave it that way? Otherwise you may have to run "netconfig" everytime you switch between the two.

Hi bulliver,

I sort of see what you mean now. I booted to linux and did ctrl-alt-f1. That took me to the command prompt where I logged-in. Then I did an ifconfig and I could see that I still had the ip address from the cable modem instead of a 192.168 address that the dlink puts out.

So I did dhcpcd –k and then a dhcpcd –d to release and renew my ip address. This worked because when I did an ifconfig I could see that eth0 now has a 192.168 address.

But when I boot I still experience the same problem i.e. the system is unusable (it takes forever for KDE to finally get the to desktop and when it does get there nothing works because the system does not really respond – the mouse moves but something is chewing on the processor)

I did a man on netconfig but I don’t see what to do with it to fix my system so that it will work with the dlink. Could you tell me what to do with that command?

Thanks,
Al

Hi folks,

I’m moving this thread over to the networking forum because after spending more time with this situation its clear that its really networking issue and not a simple configuration issue as I had previously thought. It’s being posted as “Changing DHCP servers”. In the new posting I give a lot more details about all the steps that I’ve taken in attempting (unsuccessfully) to resolve this problem.

Thanks,
Al

I was just reading this thread and I thought I would link it to the other thread so people don't have to search.


Interesting problem. Too bad there was no real solution other than "it just started working."