The yellow internet cable plugged into the female connector at the rear of the computer is "hot" and ready to interface with the operating system boot-up. However, I've tried several live distros as well as installed distros, and none made the connection to the live interface.

The last distro installed is a fresh install of CentOS 6. CentOS 6 is the only distro installed, and sadly no internet connection.

When CentOS was installed, I noted a single RED Failed item when the screen zipped past me. I didn't have time to read what item failed, and that brings me to why I'm at this forum!

I recall some years back there was an question which asked "How to access the information on such a screen." Someone offered a Linux command when typed at terminal would access the wanted info.

I'm hoping someone would supply me with such Linux command, and perhaps the noted RED Failure would lead to solution.

Thank you all in advance for your time and energy, I do appreciate it.

Not sure what your problem is without seeing the boot up messages. Is this the first time you’ve used this cable? Is it a patch cable? Those are wired differently than a “normal” CAT-5 cable. Also, you can re-display the messages that scroll by during boot by logging in and executing “dmesg | more” as root. Try that to find the message you saw. It won’t be highlighted in color when you do it this time but most network configuration output will be found in the same section of the output. Hope this helps.

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Welcome to LinuxQuestions.

I assume by hot the LEDs on the ethernet are on and flashing? Is the computer connected to a router?

In a terminal window type command
lspci

There should be a line with something like below. Post that line. If you do not see anything that indicates an Ethernet device post the entire output.

00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 02)

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LEDs flashing - Yes. Computer: Charter Cable Lan connected to Modem. Terminal: lspci reports: Intel Corp 8256EZ 10/100 Ethernet Controller (Rev 2).

Thanks for input, I appreciate your help.

The boot up message noted "Failed to connect at "Interface." The CAT-5 cable is good.

Thanks for your interest, I appreciate your time and effort.

Wayne:

First I am assuming that you have working computers already connected to your router.

Open a terminal and type ifconfig this should show all of your interfaces (wired, wireless and cellular.)It should also show every ip address, both ipv4 and ipv6. IF all you see is inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 and no other information, especially not something similar to:HWaddr 00:247:1D:E1:74 inet addr 192.168.0.3 Bcast 192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 your router is refusing to allow connection. This is usually caused by not having the correct security settings for your router.
A very quick check to determine if this computer is capable of connecting to the internet is to disconnect the wired cable from your service provided modem to your router and plug the router end into the wired connector on your computer. If this does not immediately connect, your problem is in the computer (an ON-OFF switch , a bad wired adapter), (even built in ones have problems), or more likely the Centos Kernel does not recognize your adapter.
If you do not get a connection your Centos menu (bottom left corner) should have a way to access your network connection setup.... usually a software package similar to network manager. When you run this program, it should immediately show your network adapter and ask questions about your network, and assist you in connecting to your service.

If this does not work, remove the cable from your computer and plug it back into your router. This will restore networking to your system.

Merlin2

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The computer is connected to an external Charter Cable Modem. Before receiving your most welcome help. A flash of genius overcame me :-)- ha ha ha.:-) Originally: The modem serviced an HP, and everything worked. Later I resurected the sixteen year old Gateway and sat it next to the hp. In the beginning I loaded Puppy Linux, and trasfered the cat5 cable to the computer that I wanted to run, this worked for awhile, and then didn't. Now to the genius part: Whenever the modem was connected to the hp the modem imprinted itself on the hp, and (apparently) would not reconize the Gateway. I simply reset the modem and WALLA! success. The Gatway is online.

Thanks to all of those who took an interest in this request for help. I've never visited on a forum as helpful as Linuxquestions.org. I truly appreciate your help. Merlin2, your detailed help will certainly go into my Linux help file. Thank you for it.

Typically cable MODEMs save the connected devices MAC in volatile memory and the ISP will not allow anything else to get an IP address until a power cycle.

By default CentOS only allows ssh traffic through the firewall and if you do not need a remote connection you can turn that off too so your protected.

I prefer router to separate my network from the world but I have multiple wireless devices, printers, smart TVs, smart phones etc and it's necessary these days.

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I want to connect MODEM (Output) yellow Cat-5 Cable to router/switch then connect each computer to the router. Will this work? I want to come up with a system that does not require reboot of the MODEM whenever I switch computers. Thanks for your input, I appreciate your advice.

Yes, you need to reboot the MODEM once the new router is in place but then you can connect whatever you want to the LAN (switch) and it does not affect the WAN side (modem).

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Connection setup below worked for a short while. Tried the following: disconnected all cables from Actiontec modem, and reset per Actiontec instructions. Reset returned Actiontec to factory settings. Disconnected power from Surfboard 6141 modem. Powered up Surfboard 6141 modem after 30 seconds. Connected all cat5 cables. Booted both computers. Did not resolve problem.

Connections: Charter Cable Internet Co-axle --> Charter Cable Surfboard 6141 modem --> (1)Cat5 cable--> Actiontec GT704WG modem (4)Ethernet ports --> -->(1)cat5 cable computer(1) and (1)cat5 cable computer(2). I believe this setup requires an signal switch. Does the switch install after the Actiontec router?

Is it acceptable to connect one modem in series to a second modem to access the second modems router functions? I note that you mention LAN (switch.) Does the Actiontec device serve as the signal switch.

Thanks for your help

Merlin2: Both computers are booted. Co-Axel lan is connected to the Charter modem. Charter modem is connected to port(1) of the Actiontec modem/router. Computer(1) connected port(2) of the Actiontec, and Computer(2) is connected to port(3) of the Actiontec modem/router.

Below is centOS ifconfig

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:F1:71:36:3D
inet addr:174.83.143.156 Bcast:174.83.159.255 Mask:255.255.224.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20c:f1ff:fe71:363d/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:112537 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:44090 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:62615350 (59.7 MiB) TX bytes:6367127 (6.0 MiB)

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:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:2424 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2424 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:233020 (227.5 KiB) TX bytes:233020 (227.5 KiB)

Below is the hp ifconfig

enp2s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 174.83.133.150 netmask 255.255.224.0 broadcast 174.83.159.255
inet6 fe80::662e:a1ef:ceb8:8ada prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
inet6 2600:6c4e:7007:0:9c79:328f:1c8:9d93 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x0<global>
ether d4:85:64:16:16:0b txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 160754 bytes 23914388 (23.9 MB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 14073 bytes 2234877 (2.2 MB)
TX errors 8 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 6837 bytes 700588 (700.5 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 6837 bytes 700588 (700.5 KB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

Just to be clear: Both centros and hp individually connect to the internet, However, the individual interface of each computer will not connect to the internet when both are connected to the Actiontec modem/router.

No, the actiontec is a combination DSL MODEM/router. You need just a router.
Connect a cable from the new router WAN port to the surfboard ethernet port then the computers plug into the LAN ports which is a built in switch. Be sure to restart the surfboard.

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Thank you michaelk. I'm on my way to best buy :-)