I got a wierd problem connecting to my lan with an Intel pro/100 ve network card & backtrack2 (installed on hd).

>modprobe e100 -loads the drivers ok.

>ifconfig eth0 up - ok

>dhcpcd eth0 -No ip given from the router -router is configured to use dhcp.

>ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.5 netmask 255.255.255.0
then
>ifconfig eth0

Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr "blah"
inet addr:192.168.0.5 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 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:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 Mb)

>route add default gw 192.168.0.1 eth0
>route -n

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0

route -n from my Suse 10 on the same lan has this extra line

169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0

>tail -f /var/log/messages . shows the card is up ok.

The card works ok with suse 10.2 , kubuntu & windoze thru dhcp .

>ping 192.168.0.1 - Destination host unreachable - I can see the router lights flashing , so the card and router are connected , same when I try through dhcp.

I disabled ipv6 in backtrack , no result.
I assigned a fixed ip in the router to the card & disabled dhcp,no result.

I'm completely stumped here , the router is netgear 834dg , BT kernel is 2.6.20-BT-Pwnsauce-NOSMP.

Can anyone give me some idea as to what to try next ?

A few questions:

1. What are your iptables rules (the output of “iptables-save”)?
2. What dhcp client do you use?
3. Why do you do ifup eth0 followed by dhcpd eth0? Most dhcp clients prefer to have the interface initially down.

thanks osor

1. iptables rules are as for new install.
"iptables-save" just returns me to the prompt.-where am I saving to ?
I think with backtrack the firewall is disabled by default , you have to bring it up manually.

2.Dhcp client is my router , configured to allocate addresses with dhcp. -This works ok on the same network card with suse10.2 & xp on this laptop.

3.I tried "dhcpcd eth0" before & after the command "ifconfig eth0 up"
I can see the light flashing on the router for a minute but it's not giving me an ip.

I'm going to try the backtrack live cd on my other box to see if it works with a d-link card.

Edit:
Tried the live cd & dhcp works during the loading of the kernel automatically -so the router works ok.

any ideas appreciated , pulling my hair out here

By “What dhcp client do you use?” I meant which program(s) have you used for a dhcp client. I see you already mentioned dhcpcd. Have you tried dhclient, pump, or udhcpc? Also, with dhcpcd, have you tried the “-d” flag (which should produce debugging output in syslog)? Also, is there any weird stuff in /etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-eth0.cache?

yes I'm using dhcpcd .

dhclient, pump, & udhcpc all give me "command not found" , so I guess they aren't installed .

>dhcpcd -d eth0 -just gives the mac address in the debugging.

>cat /etc/dhcpc/dhpcd-eth0.info
IPADDR=192.168.0.109
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
NETWORK=192.168.0.0
BROADCAST=192.168.0.255
GATEWAY=192.168.0.1
DOMAIN='localdomain'
DNS=192.168.0.1
DHCPSID=192.168.0.1
DHCPGIADDR=0.0.0.0
DHCPSIADDR=0.0.0.0
DHCPCHADDR=00:0D:60:8D:BA:7F # these macs are unknown ,not router
DHCPSHADDR=00:50:04:70:E94 # or pro/100 address ????
DHCPSNAME=''
LEASETIME=7200
RENEWALTIME=3600
REBINDTIME=6300
INTERFACE='eth0'
CLASSID='Linux 2.6.20-BT-PwnSauce_NOSMP i686'
CLIENTID=00:0D:60:8D:BA:7F # UNKNOWN MAC ????#

I don't know where these 2 mac addresses come from , I've checked the router mac , pro/100 mac & the other boxes on the lan .


>cat /var/adm/syslog
may 9 07:13:02 dhcpcd[7202]:timed out waiting for a valid DHCP server response.

Looks like I'm trying to get an ip using the wrong mac address ?

But >ifconfig -a lists the correct mac for eth0 !

I sniffed th DHCP discover packet going to the router , but no reply is sent.

I'm doing these tests with the live cd now so I have a clean os every time.

this is getting more confusing

I upgraded Linux Mint Bianca through the ubuntu repos to 7.04. All was well until the latest kernel upgrade to 2.6.20. Then I started to lose my wifi connection, getting brief "blips" of connectivity until it completely lost connection. Like you, I could detect the wireless access point/router, get an IP, but no data passing through.
This laptop (Dell 510m)using an intelpro 2100 card is on a dual boot with XP. I used xp to check the card. It worked fine. After a LOT of messing around, I did a clean install of the linux mint 2.2 Bianca. It now works perfectly again.
I haven't done anything to check it, but I immediately suspected that latest kernel.

thanks for comments inchcape , 2.6.20 is the default kernel for BT2.
Suse10.2 (2.6.18) , kubuntu 6.10(2.6.17) & knoppix 5.1.1 (2.6.19) all work ok .

So I have to install an older kernel to make this card work ?

Still fairly N00b here , but I'll give it a try if anyone thinks this could work.

Or are there kernel options I can use at boot on the live cd ?

Before you go around getting different kernels, I would suggest some simpler remedies:

• Try deleting /etc/dhcpc/dhpcd-eth0.info and any other files in /etc/dhcpc which contain eth0 in their names.
• Try installing a different dhcp client. I know this is tricky since you don’t have an internet connection to the machine on which you want to install.

In terms of kernel parameters to debug the situation further (to figure out if the problem actually is in the e100 module), you can use the e100’s debug parameter at module loading time. To do this, do something like “sudo modprobe -r e100” to remove the module, and then “sudo modprobe e100 debug=16”. This will give you extra debugging output in dmesg. Now you probably will want to use a number less than 16 (since it might give too much irrelevant output). The default is 3, so you might try experimenting with values in-between 3 and 16 until you get the kind of output you want.

P.S., I still think the problem is outside of the kernel, this is just another desperate attempt to find the problem.

thanks for the suggestions osor , I'll 'borrow' a usb stick tomorrow & put pump, dhclient etc on it & try them out.
I'll Post back when I got anything new .

I found a few bug reports with 2.6.20 kernel & this card (pro/100)with google , I'll be happier if I don't have to mess around changing kernels but if that's the only way to get it working ...

Hello

I know it has been quiet a time but I have the same problem

I can see the card with ifconfig but when I do

I only see my MAC address the my card disappear i.e. when I do ifconfig

I am running BT2. The same card works ok with Ubuntu 7.10. I have dual boot Ubuntu 7.10 and BT2.

Any help?

OOzy