newbie: fail to activate eth0

myouch · 10-07-2005, 07:26 PM

I have the question to connect to Internet.

Laptop: Compaq presario R4125CA /CPU2.2GHz / 512M memory
1 wireless network card, 1 regular NIC

OS: Fedora core 2

LAN: DSL modem connects to a Linksys router

Connection: WinXP, Win 98 in other computers and Fedora 2 in another desktop work very well.

Problem in Compaq laptop: Determining IP information for eth0 ... failed.

the status of eth0 shows ok.

All the setup in GUI network configuration (hostname, DNS, DHCP enable)in the Compaq laptop is the same as the Fedora desktop, which works well.

My guess is that my desktop is quite old and Fedora 2 can recognize the devices but my laptop is new and it can't.

I tried: lspci

Code:

Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: unknown device 5950
PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: unknown device 5a3f
...
USB controller: ATI Technologies Inc: unknown device 4377
...
Modem: ATI Technologies Inc: unknown device 4738 (rev 01)
...
Network controller: Broadcom Corporation: ATI Technologies Inc: unknown device 4308 (rev 02)
...
Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

/sbin/ifconfig: (note: I am only listing something seems abnormal)

Code:

eth0		Link encap: Ethernet Hwaddr 00:0F:B0:72:C7: DB
		inet6 addr fe80::20f:b0ff:fe72:c7db/64 Scope:Link
		UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
...
lo 	Link encap: Local Loopback
	inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope: Host
	UP LOOPBACK RUNNING
....

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

Code:

# Realtek|RTL-8139/8139C/8130C+
DEVICE=ETH0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
HWADDR=00:0F:B0:72:C7: DB
ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
USERCTL=yes
PEERDNS=yes
IPV6NIT=yes

I guss it's because Fedora can't recognize those drivers? I have winxp installed in this laptop too and I can find the devices name under Windows. But how can I find the monitor name? In windows, it says it is â€œintegrated monitorâ€.

What can I do now? Thanks a lot!

myouch · 10-07-2005, 07:46 PM

I did as rylan76 and adz suggested in my firt post (I don't know how to describ my situation in that link, please ignore it. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...99#post1889799)

For rylan76's suggestion: I typed in: netstat -r
I got:

Code:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Windows irtt Iface

that's it! no contents any more! And I did it in my desktop which works well, I got:

Code:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags   MSS Window  irtt Iface
192.168.1.0     *               255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 eth0
169.254.0.0     *               255.255.0.0     U         0 0          0 eth0
127.0.0.0       *               255.0.0.0       U         0 0          0 lo
default         192.168.1.1     0.0.0.0         UG        0 0          0 eth0

I typed:
sbin/route add default gw 192.168.1.1 netmask 0.0.0.0 eth0
It says:

Code:

SIOCADDRT: Network is unreachable.

I did as adz suggested:
dhclient eth0

I got:

Code:

sit0: unkonw hardware address type 776
sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
Listening on LPF/eth0/00:0f:b0:72:c7:db
Sending on LPF/eth0/00:0f:b0:72:c7:db
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 16
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
No DHCPDISCOVER received
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping

On my working desktop, I got:

Code:

sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
Listening on LPF/eth0/00:10:dc:25:6c:c9
Sending on   LPF/eth0/00:10:dc:25:6c:c9
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
DHCPOFFER from 192.168.1.1
DHCPREQUEST on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.1.1
bound to 192.168.1.100 -- renewal in 40331 seconds.

----------------

Any further suggestions? Thanks!

adz · 10-07-2005, 10:08 PM

I don't understand why you started another thread. Apart from being against the rules it also makes it more confusing and scattered for us and therefore harder to help you. Any incorrect information could have simply been corrected in the previous thread. But anyway...

Can you bring the eth0 interface down (ifconfig eth0 down) and then bring it up again (ifconfig eth0 up) and post any messages (if any) that get printed?

Also, do you have the 8139too module loaded?

myouch · 10-07-2005, 10:46 PM

Thank adz!
I tried ifconfig eth0 down and ifconfig eth0 up, nothing happened and no message.

Ifconfig eth0

Code:

Link encap: Ethernet Hwaddr 00:0F:B0:72:C7: DB
inet6 addr fe80::20f:b0ff:fe72:c7db/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING 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 byte:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes: 0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:11 Base address: 0Xa000

Compared with former try, it didn¡¯t show ¡°lo ¡± part.

I typed lsmod, got

Code:

Module      Size    Used by
8130too   17792     0

I guess it¡¯s loaded?

Sorry I don¡¯t know the rules here. I started a new thread because the situation changed. In my former post, both of the desktop and laptop couldn¡¯t connect to Internet. But when I was calling the technical support of Linksys to check out what¡¯s going on, my desktop can connect to Internet suddenly. I did nothing on it! I checked the configuration and found out DNS changed. I guessed the router wrote the DNS to the desktop when it requested to establish the connection? So now my desktop is working well, but laptop¡¯s eth0 can¡¯t be activated.

My another concern is that my former post is just some vague description. After browsing some posts here, I realized that I should put some more information on it. And I don¡¯t want the helpers to waste time on my uninformative description, moreover, the problem is changed, so I started the new thread. Should I delete my first thread? Just now I consider it but I am afraid to violate the rules again.

Anyway, thanks for telling me this.

adz · 10-10-2005, 08:04 AM

This kind of sounds like there's no connection. Can you check the cables? Sometimes just unplugging it and plugging it back in can fix the problem. By the way, which interface (wireless or wired) are you trying to use?

Another worthwhile thing to try is a static configuration. Bring the interface down to start afresh. Then bring it up with ifconfig eth0 up <your desired IP address>. Then set up a static route to your local network with route add -net 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev eth0. Try and ping yourself and your router now. Report any results. Then regardless of the result set up a static route to everywhere else by route add default gw <your router's IP>. Then add your nameservers to your /etc/resolv.conf file manually. It should be in the form:

Code:

search
nameserver <your nameserver's IP (probably your router)>

Then try pinging yourself and your router again. If these work then try pinging an external site (such as google) both by name and by IP address. Google's IP address is 66.102.7.99.

Quote:

My another concern is that my former post is just some vague description. After browsing some posts here, I realized that I should put some more information on it. And I don¡¯t want the helpers to waste time on my uninformative description, moreover, the problem is changed, so I started the new thread.

That's OK. It's just generally a good idea to keep it all in one thread.

Quote:

Should I delete my first thread? Just now I consider it but I am afraid to violate the rules again.

I wouldn't worry about it. Just leave it. It's not such a big deal. You wont get publicly flogged or anything.

myouch · 10-30-2005, 08:25 AM

Thanks for reply!

I am very busy these days and didn't have time to touch my troublesome laptop, sorry for late post.

My laptop can connect to Internet suddenly. I did nothing. The trick is I connect a dell mouse, and move the mouse, then the connection is OK. However, if I don't move the mouse, there is no connection! It's so strange! Even I use ssh or scp in console, I have to move my mouse to download the files from remote machine. And it seems that if I move fast, the speed is fast! But if I use touchpad and move my finger, it does't work at all.

Oh, before that, I had to activate eth0 first. The same, when I clicked "activate", I had to move my mouse then the activation was done. If I did't move, the activation failed.

Could anybody kindly tell me how to deal with it?

adz · 10-30-2005, 10:10 PM

Sounds wierd. Can you try updating your kernel to something newer. You don't have to recompile just see if you can get a newer package from the fedora package manager.

myouch · 10-30-2005, 10:20 PM

Thanks adz.

How to update my kernel? I did see an update red icon on the right bottom, but when I clicked it, it stayed in "testing..." and didn't go ahead (oh, does it connect to the Internet at that time? If that so, I guess I should move my mouse to activate the connection).

And another question about the video driver. It's ATI Xpress 200 and there is driver for download in ATI webpage. I downloaded the driver and installer. When I run installer, it says it can't detect X server and failed. How can I find "X server"?

adz · 10-30-2005, 10:29 PM

Quote:

How to update my kernel? I did see an update red icon on the right bottom, but when I clicked it, it stayed in "testing..." and didn't go ahead (oh, does it connect to the Internet at that time? If that so, I guess I should move my mouse to activate the connection).

I would say that it probably connects to the internet. I don't know any of the specifics of Fedora since I run Debian and FreeBSD. Look for "fedora upgrade kernel" (probably without quotes) or something similar on google for info on that.

Quote:

And another question about the video driver. It's ATI Xpress 200 and there is driver for download in ATI webpage. I downloaded the driver and installer. When I run installer, it says it can't detect X server and failed. How can I find "X server"?

That is another matter entirely and should be discussed in a separate thread. Before you start another thread I would search this site and google since it sounds like a question that's been asked before.

myouch · 11-03-2005, 08:23 PM

I have updated my linux kernel. The Internet connection still relies on mouse movement. The only improvement is that when I login as root, eth0 can activate automatically (before, I need to enter "system setting->network" to activate it manually and move my mouse at that same time). But after that, still need mouse movement to get the transfered data. Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot!

adz · 11-03-2005, 10:17 PM

Can you try booting without APIC and/or ACPI (no, they are not the same thing)? I would suggest that APIC is a more likely culprit but I've seen ACPI do all sorts of wierd thing as well.

For a definition of (IO-)APIC, look here, and for ACPI, here.

To disable APIC, add the word "noapic" to the appropriate "kernel" line (you may have more than one) in your /boot/grub/menu.lst file (I'm assuming you're using GRUB not LILO).

To disable ACPI, add the string "acpi=off" to the same line as above.

Try these options separately first and then together to see if there's any improvement. In both cases, you'll have to reboot for settings to take effect.