Hi all,

I'm a linux newbie, and I've just installed fedora core 4 on my pc at home. I can't seem to connect the internet. I have a D-link WiFi router and a DSL modem - everything connects fine in Win XP boot. In linus bash...

If I ping 127.0.0.1 - it works
If I ping 192.168.0.1 (my router) it is "unreachable"

ifconfig tells me this...

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:8F:3F:54:83
inet addr:192.168.0.101 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::213:8fff:fe3f:5483/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:524 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:7 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:7
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:172814 (168.7 KiB) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:19 Base address:0xec00

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:1579 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1579 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1618534 (1.5 MiB) TX bytes:1618534 (1.5 MiB)


The HWaddr is the same as the one for the device in Win XP (I checked). So it seems my network device is working, but I can't even ping my router!

Any suggestions?

Just to make sure, because I don't see anything else : you're not using wifi for that connection ?

Nope, it's a cat-5 cable into the router.

I am a newbie to linux but not networking so I speak from a strictly networking perspective. Usually when you get a destination host unreachable, you are not in the same subnet, i.e. the router IP is 192.168.0.1 and yours is something completely different, is DHCP enabled on the router? Check your network config on your machine and make sure you are close to the IP address of your router or that DHCP is working properly on your machine.

Not to get into a whole thing here, but you can see from the ifconfig output that the computer is on the same subnet as the router ...

To the original poster -- Please post the output of the "route" command. Also try to ping 192.168.0.101. If you can't ping yourself, you certainly can't ping anything else.

It looks like the interface is able to Rx packets, but not Tx them.... Note the errors on the transmit side of the interface, and the fact that it hasn't sent any

Well don't "get into a whole thing then" mr. expert. I was just trying to do some basic troubleshooting. I'm sure you are a Rocket Scientist and Brain Surgeon and have plenty of time in between to state the blatently obvious. One thing I've learned in networking is there is grey areas everywhere. Thought this might be a good forum, guess I was totally wrong. 4th post and already have a know-it-all showing. Don't worry moderators I'll be gone. The router may on be using a block of IP address and not allowing any above or below, filtering. 101 should be a good address but it is not 100% sure.

I'm not going to apologize for stating the obvious. The alternative to leaving is to not be so sensitive and learn from others experience, which is sort of the point of a forum in the first place ...

To be 100% accurate, you're right. The router could be using a different block of IPs than what it's handing out in it's DHCP leases, but one would have to screw that up on purpose. It could also be using a different subnet mask than the leases specify, but that would have to be intentional as well.

The OP said that when booting into windows it works fine, which tells me that it's most likely not a problem with the router as 99 times out of 100 the router give the same IP to the same MAC as it doesn't care what OS you're using.

I don't know it all (and I readily admit it), but I do know a lot about networks

I am a member of plenty of forums and like to help out others with what I know about networking as it is my job. When one assumes that only their line of thinking will help a poster, that is a problem. To view the "obvious" is fine but in networking due to the way the devices interact there is ususally a quite "not so obvious solution" to what appeared to be an obvious one. You have to think outside the box, I know the poster tried to cover every aspect of his or her problem, but that one little thing we do not know has to be discovered. It is called troubleshooting. I don't know everything, but I really like to help people without insulting anyone (especially a newbie to this forum like myself) tact and grace and making someone feel like they too were part of the solution is how I operate.

"stares at little ducks on screen, sighs, and exits to a known friendly forum"

Okay, I've been away for a minute, but now I'm back. Thanks for the suggestions everyone - as 192.168.0.101 is the dhcp ip windows gets, i don't think this is the problem. BTW, I think pointing out the obvious is all part of this process - i know that I need help with obvious things, especially as a linux newbie.

I tried to ping 192.168.0.101 and it DID work, no problem. I still can't ping 192.168.0.1 or connect to the net.

I just tried the route command w/ no arguments, here is what it said...

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.0.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
169.254.0.0 * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
default 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0


these little * concern me, this doesn't seem right!?

I don't know for the route command, but you should try using dhcp to get your IP or pick one that is outside the dhcp range. It can be the router that doesn't recognize your computer if your ip is in the range but has not been attributed by the server.

As a last ditch effort, you should check the speed and duplex that the card is set to. mii-tool will tell you that information (and allow you to change it). The routing table looks reasonable for your setup (pretty much like I expected).

It looks like you have a hardware problem (at least, ifconfig thinks you do). Make sure you have a link lgiht on both ends of the cable and that wiggling the cable doesn't make the connection go out. If that doesn't work, try changing cables.

thanks for the tips guys, I pry won't mess w/ this until tomorrow (got "real" work todo unfortunately).

Re: this being a hardware problem, I am able to connect to the network with the same machine in Win XP boot. wouldn't that all but rule-out a physical problem?

I will try mii-tool tomorrow - what settings would be expected there?

Normally I would say that it working in XP would rule out an issue with hardware, but the software side of things looks good in this case. It may be that there is no hardware issue and Linux's driver for your NIC is garbage (hey, it's not unheard of) or that there really is a hardware problem but XP is able to work around it.

Note: I'm basing all this off the ifconfig output you posted at the start of this thread. This is "normal" ifconfig output (notice the lack of errors and the positive numbers in the Tx fields):

Maybe try 192.168.1.1?

I dont know if a dummie like me dare to get involved in this problem.

If your IP the router has given you the IP address, they evidently have a working contact.
Sigsegv noted that the RX works, but not TX. Could the firewall, as default, block everything outgoing ?