Can't connect to internet- distro: Arch base install
 

I don't know anything about networking. I'm following the Arch Beginners Guide.

First I tried a wired connection:

# dhcpcd eth0

It timed out. So I tried:

# dhcpcd wlan0

Interface not found or invalid.

I couldn't get a wired connection to work. I know DHCP is enabled on my linksys router.


So next I tried a wireless connection. I typed iwconfig, the only interface that seems to be working is wlan0, so:

# ifconfig wlan0 up

SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory

I googled the error code, and came up with this thread, but none of the information in it is helping. What do I need to do? Do I need to find a different Ethernet driver?

Look at the output of "lspci -v" and locate the information for your two devices. At the end of each section, does it indicate which kernel module controls each device? If you have an older version of arch and a newer computer with a GigE nic adaptor, you might not have a kernel module that will work. This is even more likely for wireless. A new wireless controller, especially wireless-N may not be supported by your kernel. On the other hand, you may have kernel module, but you need to load it.

Since wlan0 is showing up, it sounds like it was detected. Does the device itself work, or do you maybe need a firmware blob for the kernel module to function?
Try the iwscan program (wireless tools).
iwscan wlan0 scan

Does your access point show up? If so then the device is working. You can look at authentication (wpa_supplicant) and your network configuration next.

If you only have one computer, you might try booting up with a live distro, such as SuSE, Ubunto or Knoppix. See if either network device works. You may be able to verify that you don't have a problem with the router.

I'm using the latest version of Arch, and I installed all of the optional wireless tools etc. I know that my router is working because I've been using it for over a year. I had several different distros installed on the same computer, and never had any problem connecting to the internet (but then again, they all came with easy to use network managers). I'm posting this reply from a live cd also. I'll try all of your suggestions and post again later.