I haven't used Linux since Redhat 7, but I decided to give Fedora Core 4 a try. Installation went fine. The only problem is that I cannot access the network (either my home LAN or the internet). I can ping my machine via LOCALHOST, my ip address or machine name with no problem. I cannot ping my router or anything past it. This same setup works fine under Windows 2000. My nic is a D-Link DFE-530TX+. Below is the output from ifconfig, route and the ping of my router. My machine is 192.168.1.101, my router is 192.168.1.1 and my DNS is correct in /etc/resolve.conf

So you can't connect to the NET with Fedora but can with Windows. I think that your ethernet card has a physical problem or its driver has. Also, the ip you gave are what you see behind the net mask, the world may see a different address for your router which usually begins with 255. I tried to ping the ping 192.168.1.1:
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=254 time=0.540 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=254 time=0.521 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=254 time=0.504 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=254 time=0.504 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=254 time=0.505 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=254 time=0.505 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=254 time=0.504 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=254 time=0.504 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=254 time=0.505 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=254 time=0.503 ms

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9000ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.503/0.509/0.540/0.025 ms, pipe 2

This is surely not the address of your router.

No, 192.168.1.1 is the address of the router (gateway) for my home LAN. The 192.168.x.x is an internat address assignment that is not available for the internet, so every LAN could have that same address.

It's certainly strange that you can't ping the router. You could try running a packet sniffer like tcpdump to see if there is any traffic, but I am not sure what to look for in this situation.

The D-Link linux support page looks a bit ominous:

http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.as...eneral%20Linux

There are two revision versions of your card which seem to need some strange driver. Does 'lspci' give any useful information about the hardware?

I agree that the D-link support page is strange! Anyway, lspci reports the following:
I left off the other devices it reports.

tcpdump says the following:
192.168.1.1 is my default gateway (router) and 192.168.1.101 is my machine.

Any flashing lights to say if data is getting to the router?

Only thing I can think of is that router is set to ignore this IP address for some reason. In range reserved for DHCP clients maybe? You could try some different (widely spaced) IP addresses or set your PC up to use DHCP.

Or check the settings on the router - is this some linksys/netgear/whatever box with a web interface?

Post /etc/resolv.conf
route -n should look something like;
Whats this
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0

The address for the machine and the router are the same as I'm using when running Windows 2000 on it with no problem.

No blinking lights on the router when trying to access it with Linux.

My /etc/resolv.conf shows the correct address for the DNS machines.

I do not know what 169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0 is. I'l try changing it to 127.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 255.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 lo and see what happens, although I have no problem pinging the localhost.

I also wondered about the entry in the routing table, but it looked harmless. Anyway the PC just claims to be broadcasting on the network for 192.168.1.1 and not getting any reply. I can't think of any network config problem that would cause this behaviour.

There are two drivers in the kernel for the Realtek 8139 chip, called 8139 and 8139too. Have you checked which you are using. Maybe try the other instead?

I assume that you set up both linux and w2k to use a static IP address?

Otherwise I am right out of suggestions

How would I check which driver it uses, and go about changing it?

Yes, I am dual booting with GRUB2 and both are set up with the same static addresses.

I have to say THANKS! to everyone here for all the help. Even though the problem has not been solved, I do appreciate the help.

To find out the drivers in use, run 'lsmod'. which shows all loaded modules and dependencies. To try changing ethernet driver first shut down interface (ifdown eth0) then rmmod <module name> to unload a module, then modprobe <module name> to load a new one. Finally 'ifup eth0'.

There may also be an 'alias eth0' line in /etc/modules.conf showing the network driver to be used.

The two 8139 drivers in the current kernel are 8139too and 8139cp. Not really sure what the second one is there for. The old plain 8139 seems to have been discontinued.

You could also try a another distro if you have bandwidth to download a live CD. e.g. Knoppix will configure itself to the network if it can.

I tried swapping the drivers, with the same results. I will try downloading a different distribution and give that a shot. I'll follow up with results of that.

Thanks Again!

I downloaded and tried Knoppix and got the exact same network problem I was getting with Fedora Core 4.

I guess Linux will have to wait until I upgrade my nic, mobo, or whole PC.

Thanks Again for all the help.

Bad luck If you google your lspci output

"D-Link System Inc RTL8139 Ethernet (rev 10)"

you will see lots of reports on this unit, positive and negative. If you have the patience to trawl through you might pick up a hint. Generally I've had a lot of luck with cheapo no-name cards.