Hey All,
I'm fairly new to Linux tried Debian woody first now I've Installed FC2. Everything Seems great but I cant activate eth0. I have a cable modem, and I must obtain IP from provider. I can't seem to figure out how to setup this device or the connection to my provider.
Can anyone give me a hand?

ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:BA:5E:85:AE
inet6 addr: fe80::250:baff:fe5e:85ae/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:1 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:23 dropped:0 overruns:27 carrier:27
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:62041 (60.5 Kb) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:9 Base address:0x6800

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:4518 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4518 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:4314254 (4.1 Mb) TX bytes:4314254 (4.1 Mb)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
NOARP MTU:1480 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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

ifcfg-eth0
# 3Com Corporation|3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
HWADDR=00:60:08:AD:81:8D
ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
USERCTL=no
PEERDNS=no
IPV6INIT=no

If you need more info. just let me know.

wolfy; hi same samo, not taking time to go thru howto,s. tsk tsk! ok back to basics,http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX sections networking ,subsection etc,etc. slowly,taking it easyand patiently! this a gentle reprimand (hold my hand do not be afraid) take the step and step by step follow thru.

Checked the site http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX suggested by "penguin4".
No fixes just more questions and or problems trying those possible fixes.

I've got more detailed info. though. FC2 kernel version 2.6.5-1.358smp
3com 3c905-TX 10/100 base TX

dmesg: (from the point of mentioning the NIC card)


3c59x: Donald Becker and others. www.scyld.com/network/vortex.html
0000:02:08.0: 3Com PCI 3c905 Boomerang 100baseTx at 0x6800. Vers LK1.1.19
divert: allocating divert_blk for eth0
eth0: Dropping NETIF_F_SG since no checksum feature.
divert: freeing divert_blk for eth0
ip_tables: (C) 2000-2002 Netfilter core team
ip_conntrack version 2.1 (4096 buckets, 32768 max) - 300 bytes per conntrack
3c59x: Donald Becker and others. www.scyld.com/network/vortex.html
0000:02:08.0: 3Com PCI 3c905 Boomerang 100baseTx at 0x6800. Vers LK1.1.19
divert: allocating divert_blk for eth0
eth0: Dropping NETIF_F_SG since no checksum feature.
eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register d0.
Flags; bus-master 1, dirty 1(1) current 1(1)
Transmit list 00000000 vs. 1bec12a0.
0: @1bec1200 length 8000005a status 8000005a
1: @1bec12a0 length 00000000 status 00000000
2: @1bec1340 length 00000000 status 00000000
3: @1bec13e0 length 00000000 status 00000000
4: @1bec1480 length 00000000 status 00000000
5: @1bec1520 length 00000000 status 00000000
6: @1bec15c0 length 00000000 status 00000000
7: @1bec1660 length 00000000 status 00000000
8: @1bec1700 length 00000000 status 00000000
9: @1bec17a0 length 00000000 status 00000000
10: @1bec1840 length 00000000 status 00000000
11: @1bec18e0 length 00000000 status 00000000
12: @1bec1980 length 00000000 status 00000000
13: @1bec1a20 length 00000000 status 00000000
14: @1bec1ac0 length 00000000 status 00000000
15: @1bec1b60 length 00000000 status 00000000
eth0: no IPv6 routers present
parport0: PC-style at 0x3bc [PCSPP]
lp0: using parport0 (polling).
lp0: console ready

/proc/net/dev

Inter-| Receive | Transmit
face |bytes packets errs drop fifo frame compressed multicast|bytes packets errs drop fifo colls carrier compressed
lo: 9535505 9813 0 0 0 0 0 0 9535505 9813 0 0 0 0 0 0
sit0: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
eth0: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0

/proc/interrupts

CPU0 CPU1
0: 809691 811830 IO-APIC-edge timer
1: 235 213 IO-APIC-edge i8042
2: 0 0 XT-PIC cascade
8: 0 1 IO-APIC-edge rtc
9: 1 1 IO-APIC-level eth0
10: 6869 11804 IO-APIC-level ida0
11: 15 15 IO-APIC-level sym53c8xx
12: 20729 19803 IO-APIC-edge i8042
14: 22518 22022 IO-APIC-edge ide0
15: 15 15 IO-APIC-level sym53c8xx
NMI: 0 0
LOC: 1621338 1621345
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

/proc/ioports

0000-001f : dma1
0020-0021 : pic1
0040-005f : timer
0060-006f : keyboard
0070-0077 : rtc
0080-008f : dma page reg
00a0-00a1 : pic2
00c0-00df : dma2
00f0-00ff : fpu
01f0-01f7 : ide0
02f8-02ff : serial
03bc-03be : parport0
03c0-03df : vga+
03f6-03f6 : ide0
03f8-03ff : serial
0cf8-0cff : PCI conf1
5000-5fff : PCI Bus #01
5000-50ff : 0000:01:00.0
5000-50ff : cpqarray
6000-60ff : 0000:02:04.0
6000-60ff : sym53c8xx
6400-64ff : 0000:02:04.1
6400-64ff : sym53c8xx
6800-683f : 0000:02:08.0
6800-683f : 0000:02:08.0

It appears to have been detected with an IRQ=9 IO=0x6800
now I tried to manually input those numbers into network settings of KDE with the following errors Command failed: /sbin/modprobe 3c59x Fatal error inserting 3c59x(/lib/modules/2.6.5-1.358smp/kernel/drivers/net/3c59x.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter(see dmesg). the dmesg I show here is from the original configuration and not after the error.
I saved and rebooted and it prompted me to remove the card and add a different card (the same slightly different) after login two cards showed up in networking eth0 the original I changed and eth1 that I was prompted to add. I then removed the added and reverted the original to an unknown IRQ and no IO address. Which is the way it was from installation.
During boot in original installation configuration it tries to bring up interface eth0 and then determines IP info. for eth0 which takes longer than other started services, then FAILS and continues on loading also failing smartd services which I do not know if that is related to eth0 or not.

HELP please I'm getting frustrated with this eth0 problem.

wolfy; u r trying to hard. why? I will repeat slow down, take it easy and do
things methodically step by step bit by bit to avoid mistakes,errors. you are doing (not just ok)but good. keep going slowly methodic.

Wolfy, try creating ifcfg-eth0 with:
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes

Then run:
service network restart

As in my first post #1 it is already configured that way.
Do you mean take out;

HWADDR=00:60:08:AD:81:8D

And

TYPE=Ethernet
USERCTL=no
PEERDNS=no
IPV6INIT=no

From the list save and start network?

wolfy -- according to your first comment about how you need "obtain IP from provider", are you saying that you are using a static IP address, or that you need to dynamically retrieve the IP address via DHCP? If it's the former, clearly you would need to know its value in order to configure things correctly. Can you clarify which it is?

Additionally, if you are you are using the 3Com NIC, is the appropriate module loaded (which I believe would be 3c59x)? If not, have you tried loading it with the insmod (or modprobe) command? -- J.W.

Hi,

I was able to get a cable modem autoconnected to the ISP(Comcast) using both of the live evaluation CDs MEPIS and knoppix. I plugged the cable modem into the laptop before booting.

Both of these distros are Debian-based, since you seemed to want to use Debian before. Since they start as live evaluation CDs, if they don't work, nothing is lost, as nothing is written to the hard drive. If they do work, both are relatively easy to install to the hard drive. MEPIS is, in fact, the easiest linux installation I have ever seen.

In your ifcfg-eth0 file, you have specified DHCP, which means you are asking the ISP to provide you with a dynamic IP address. This is fine, and easy. If, as a previous person has posted, you need a static IP address (a specific, fixed address), then the DHCP setting is wrong, and instead you need to enter that static IP address. I also noted that you have a hardware address specified. Is this required by your ISP?

If you are truly using DHCP, then either MEPIS or knoppix should autoconfigure you cable modem and autoconnect to your ISP.

did you try: "ifup eth0"

and I also have cable modem and for dhcp i use small deamon called udhcp, which (strangly) works very fine. I run it at boot time and voila - net is here

Sorry J.W.
I'm still NEW and I did not mean to upset any balance.
I'm just very fustrated at this problem. I thought that it would help to advertise the issue a little but it seems that was the wrong thing to do, I apologize.

to answer your question:
I need to obtain an IP from the dhcp AND I have to use a specific MAC address to do so.
I've been able to spoof my wife's machine which is using WIN$H!T 2000 and and as long as she is plugged in and not me her machine surfs fine.
I've been able to find out how to secifiy an HW for my Linux box but it does not help.
I've disabled obtain at startup to resolve a failure issue when trying to obtain IP info.
that the system does at startup if I don't stop it. If I don't stop it, it FAILS




Secondly, Yes I belive the right driver is being loaded but can't be sure.
It is although correctly naming the hardware componet by itself.
No, I have not tried nsmod (or modprobe) command.
Do you think that will make a difference? Even though though the card is correctly Identified?

As darthtux told me about Debian, every distro has it's problems. I believe him. Though with FC2 I have had only this problem to deal with as of now. I'd like to stick with this distro for now if possible.

As for "ifup eth0" doesn't that just bring up eth0?
I've tried that I think, but just not with that command, am I missing something in the command?

P.S. J.W. I will remove the offending post immediately, sorry again.

if you did configure eth0 and then you did NOT brought it up via (ifup eth0) then everything is meaningless. After configurated eth0 you have to bring it up. Which card do you have and which driver is loaded?

If using FC2 why don't you just go Start --> System Settings --> Network and take a look at your eth0, in this screen you just highlight eth0 and click activate, also you can check under the hardware tab as to what it is calling your network card, plus you may have to put in the dns servers ip address from your isp provider.

Wolfy -- no problems, don't worry about it. The reason we try to keep discussions in a single thread is simply because it's a lot easier to have all the info in one place than it is to have useful answers scattered across multiple threads. Note also that if you've got a post that has not received a response in over 24 hours, it's OK to go ahead a bump your own thread (meaning that you post a reply to it yourself) Because threads in a forum are sorted by the last reply date, this will cause your original thread to regain the same visibility as a brand new thread.

That being said however, if you've got an unanswered post, please do not abuse this privilege and bump the thing every 15 minutes, as that is against the LQ Rules and would be severly frowned upon. Please wait at least 24 hours after the latest timestamp before bumping your own post. -- J.W.

Does: [/sbin/ifconfig eth0 up] do the same thing as [ifup eth0]?
If so than I've been there done that.

And as far as system settings whithin a GUI, I tried that too it was unable to activate the device. I called my cable provider last night and no IP's or DNS names are needed or could be given to me. Their statement was the device should be configured to obtain all information automatically, further they're not able to give support for linux.

I have a few different NIC cards laying around I could try one of those instead.

"frelihm" Where can I get "small deamon called udhcp" and how do install it?