Thanks for the welcome, and thank you ever so much for trying to help me out with this dilemma, it is very much appreciated!
Here is my relevant ifconfig output
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0B:CD:46:EB:C8
inet addr:126.1.24.26 Bcast:126.1.24.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20b:cdff:fe46:ebc8/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:105634 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:22104 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:14768912 (14.0 MiB) TX bytes:2795004 (2.6 MiB)
Lo and behold, there IS IPv6 configured. So I tweaked the /etc/modprobe.conf adding the following:
alias net-pf-10 off
alias ipv6 off
Then restarted the whole lot (since I don't really know a better way of making the changes take effect) and as it came up the ifconfig output now shows:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0B:CD:46:EB:C8
inet addr:126.1.24.26 Bcast:126.1.24.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:191 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:142 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:27189 (26.5 KiB) TX bytes:14933 (14.5 KiB)
This seems to have turned IPv6 off for the system (and I don't really need it either so no loss there).
However, the problem with loading certain web pages persists.
The boxes are not all the same and have quite varying hardware, but they all show the same symptoms for the same web pages. I have successfully installed FC4 on one Compaq nx5000 (hp) laptop, a couple of different desktop stations and a couple of my colleagues also run FC4 on their desktop machines (we do some embedded development on an embedded ARM platform so more and more are using FC4 computers).
Let me add some information to the problem description, this is the output of tethereal for one of those pages that do not load properly. It is the "clasohlson "site in sweden so using the http protocol put a "www" in front of it and tack "se" on the end to form the full address (I am hesitant to write the link here as it may be considered spamming).
126.1.24.26 is my machine, but the address used internally is NAT:ed before it reaches the Real World Internet, don't ask why the network guys decided to use this range instead of one of the lan address ranges available.
212.214.0.20 is the webserver hosting the aforementioned site and as we follow the flow of packets back and forth most of it looks pretty normal to me:
2.241107 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57992 > http [FIN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=0 Win=2908 Len=0 TSV=471647 TSER=0
2.241438 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57992 [ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=17519 Len=0
2.249595 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57991 > http [FIN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=0 Win=2908 Len=0 TSV=471656 TSER=0
2.249907 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57991 [ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=17519 Len=0
2.275032 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
2.275085 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57992 > http [RST] Seq=1 Ack=63811959 Win=0 Len=0
2.275096 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57992 [FIN, ACK] Seq=82 Ack=1 Win=17519 Len=0
2.275102 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57992 > http [RST] Seq=1 Ack=63811959 Win=0 Len=0
2.289884 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [SYN] Seq=0 Ack=0 Win=5840 Len=0 MSS=1460 TSV=471696 TSER=0 WS=2
2.291853 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
2.291900 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57991 > http [RST] Seq=1 Ack=3732791686 Win=0 Len=0
2.323317 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57994 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=65535 Len=0 MSS=1460 WS=0 TSV=0 TSER=0
2.323494 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=5840 Len=0 TSV=471730 TSER=0
2.391680 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 HTTP GET / HTTP/1.1
2.392288 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57994 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=474 Win=65062 Len=0
2.478545 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP HTTP/1.1 200 OK (text/html)
2.478725 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [ACK] Seq=474 Ack=1449 Win=8736 Len=0 TSV=471885 TSER=0
2.483021 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
2.483195 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [ACK] Seq=474 Ack=2897 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=471889 TSER=0
2.483209 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
2.483224 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [ACK] Seq=474 Ack=2909 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=471889 TSER=0
2.511358 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [SYN] Seq=0 Ack=0 Win=5840 Len=0 MSS=1460 TSV=471917 TSER=0 WS=2
2.544362 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57995 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=65535 Len=0 MSS=1460 WS=0 TSV=0 TSER=0
2.544542 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=5840 Len=0 TSV=471951 TSER=0
2.545307 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 HTTP GET /shop/include/clasohlson.css HTTP/1.1
2.545856 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57995 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=536 Win=65000 Len=0
2.593433 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP HTTP/1.1 200 OK (text/css)
2.593588 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [ACK] Seq=536 Ack=1449 Win=8736 Len=0 TSV=472000 TSER=0
2.598031 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
2.598136 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [ACK] Seq=536 Ack=2897 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=472004 TSER=0
2.598145 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
2.598155 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [ACK] Seq=536 Ack=2909 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=472004 TSER=0
4.957712 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
4.957784 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [ACK] Seq=474 Ack=2910 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=474364 TSER=0
5.068456 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
5.068525 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [ACK] Seq=536 Ack=2910 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=474475 TSER=0
9.988588 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
9.988648 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [ACK] Seq=474 Ack=2911 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=479396 TSER=0
10.098115 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
10.098183 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [ACK] Seq=536 Ack=2911 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=479505 TSER=0
17.849307 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [FIN, ACK] Seq=536 Ack=2911 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=487258 TSER=0
17.849376 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [FIN, ACK] Seq=474 Ack=2911 Win=11632 Len=0 TSV=487258 TSER=0
17.849569 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57995 [ACK] Seq=2911 Ack=537 Win=65534 Len=0
17.849719 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57994 [ACK] Seq=2911 Ack=475 Win=65534 Len=0
17.883782 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
17.883863 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [RST] Seq=537 Ack=404050813 Win=0 Len=0
17.883872 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 TCP http > 57995 [FIN, ACK] Seq=2992 Ack=537 Win=65534 Len=0
17.883879 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57995 > http [RST] Seq=537 Ack=404050813 Win=0 Len=0
17.891933 212.214.0.20 -> 126.1.24.26 HTTP Continuation or non-HTTP traffic
17.892003 126.1.24.26 -> 212.214.0.20 TCP 57994 > http [RST] Seq=475 Ack=404317655 Win=0 Len=0
(some packets are edited out which are broadcast from windows boxen and other junk not related to this connection)
At this point however the webpage is only loaded to about 33-34% and the rest never arrives.
It is really really strange IMHO.
I would also like to add that every other network service I have tested seems to work fine (with the normal quirks you always end up with when you have NAT between you and the world), it is as far as I can tell only http which behaves this way and only some sites!
My own site, ichimusai with an org tacked on at the end works flawlessly for example. Many other sites do too. I estimate it to be somewhere around 1/5 - 1/3 of the tested commercial sites so far that shows this behaviour, so it is not specific for one server only.
I just can't get my head around what in the world is going on.
The laptop on which I also installed FC4 works perfectly if I bring it home. At home I have a VSDL connection that gives me an assymmetrical 9/12 Mbit connection and I have tried it directly connected to the net and through my NAT+firewall which I use to protect the gaming computers who runs BillOS.
Anything else you might think of which might affect this would be very helpful. I am getting slightly desperate here
Thanks in advance, once more it is very appreciated any help or assitance you may be able to offer in this matter.
Best wishes and thanks,
Ichimusai