Apologies in advance for the long post.....

I installed SimplyMEPIS 2004.03 on my multi-boot PC. The installation went OK, but I can't get it to see the local LAN/internet, although it does detect eth0. If I go into the MEPIS Setup and configure eth0 to use DHCP, then it fails getting an address and if I configure it to use a static ip address, then it brings up the interface, but I get something like 88% dropped packets when doing a ping. Loading Mozilla browser and going to Google it tried to go through once and I could see elements of the Google page but it was really struggling.

Tried using netcardconfig but got the same problem. Tried doing it all manually, but still no joy.

I connect via a Draytek Router, and the same hardware, connection, etc work fine when I boot the machine into Mandrake or XP Pro 64 so I know that it is not the hardware. It has to be something in Mepis. Otherwise, everything else seems to work. It is an AMD64, with the VIA chip set, on-board NIC. Displays in lsmod as VIA Rhine II.

Guardog firewall is DISABLED.

I've seen a few problems reported with Mepis but none seem to help in this case.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Here are two tutorials for configuring network in Debian:
http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/n...00000000000000
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/re...tml#s-net-high
You can browse them through and pick up things that seem appropriate for your setup.

If you get your connection to work, posting your solution here might be useful for others, too. And if you don't get your net connection working, you can report what you have already tried, and ask for further advices/suggestions.

Greetings,

Great thread found through "Check for existing threads" ...

I really appreciate the bottom line reality that Dead Parrot expressed -

A long time Mandrake user, when I figured out how to burn an ISO, I tried Mepis Live and Kubuntu. Of the two, I really like Mepis, it now runs my testbed box and my HP900B notebook.

A while ago, I installed Mandrake on my partner's Dell Inspiron 8600 ( a few times ) and the laptop squeels ( annoyingly loud ) in the boot process and halts - I was able to use Rescue CD to configure lilo to default to her Windows 2000 - which she has used for five years or so now.

Anyways, after I installed Mepis 3.3 in the Dell, I found that the D-Link AirPlus DWL-650+ wireless card she uses ( the native intel wireless has never worked ) wasn't recognized ... In the past, I would have spent the hours in boards to find the ingenuity of those who are gods of coding and those that can translate that ingenuity to us the unworthy. After numerous forays into iwconfig and ndiswrapper, I have learned that sometimes it's just easier and cheaper in the longrun to just buy the hardware to make the system work. I check ed shopping-cnet and found an Orinoco Gold card ( has worked on every system I have ever built ) for $34 delivered. Easy choice as it would take a few days of spare time to attempt to make the current setup workable.

While I truly enjoy learning about this wonderful gift of linux, there are times I just want it to work ... It is too cool not to share with all you know ... and if it costs a few bucks to share it, think about the time and energy of those who created it and continue to improve it.