System:

    IBM Pentium 3 NetVista Type 6578-G9U

    SpeedStream 5200 ADSL modem
        This is platform independant according to whirlpool.net.au/index.cfm?a=h_view&model_id=395

    Ethernet cards:
        EtherExpress PRO(100) card should be Linux compatible according to leenooks.com/Intel+EtherExpress+Pro+100%252fS
        Realtek RTL-8129 seems to be Linux compatible but I don't know about drivers.

    Mandriva 2006 on a Cheapbytes DVD


History:

    I set this up last year, but have never had internet access.
    This modem works for windows and my ISP won't help with Linux.
    I'm neither a Linux nor an internet expert (i'm a programmer).


Problem:

    At bootup it gives the foll:
        eth0      OK  (EtherExpress PRO(100))
        eth1      OK  (Realtek RTL-8129)
        sit0      OK
        ppp0      This one waits for 5 mins then "tcflush fails with bad file".
    then continues and brings up a normal desktop.

    In the Control Center I set up 2 new internet Connections on eth0 & 1 using PPPoE but neither could connect to the i'net (it didn't try very hard, going by the lack of flashing lites).

    Under Manage Connections it shows:
        adsl (ppp0)
        eth0 (Intel)
        eth1 (Realtek)
        unknown (sit1)


Hope you can help!
Peter

One usually configures an (ethernet) adsl modem using html ... you configure eth0 (say) for DHCP then use a browser to enter the modem's manager - the documentation that comes with your modem should tell you the modem's administration IP - though it is normally postion 1 (i.e. if the IP's are all of form 192.168.0.x ... then x = 1).

So I am a bit puzzled at how you could set up a pppoE connection via the control center. But then, I am also puzzled that you put the entire message into a code box, requiring us all to use the scrollbars to read the longer lines.

Your ethernet cards seem OK - enter "ifconfig" in terminal and post the output.
Configure eth0 for DHCP - plug it to the modem - enter ifup eth0 and show the output.

From the website specs - your modem looks like a nat router, switch, modem combo - which is good. You definitely hook in via DHCP and configure its connection from the speed configuration wizard on it's administration webpage.

From the looks of things, you type 192.168.254.254 into the address-bar in firefox - user = admin, password = admin, and you are away.

Yes, just by putting your text into the box/window provided and using a carriage return/enter at the end of the line. Otherwise it's a complete PITA to read - and consequently you might make someone not bother answering who may be able to provide the appropriate advice.

Anyway, where are you roughly? Because it might be that you are trying to configure wrongly i.e. the UK uses PPPoa, PPPoe is different.

How is the modem (modem/router and/or router) connected to the PC, ethernet or USB ?

Is the device(s) working under windows ?

Do you know if your service provider offer you static or dynamic (DHCP) IP addresses ?

Who is your service provider ? (some of them use specific settings)

All these may be relevant but it should be "doable" - hell I had Mandriva connecting with a Alcatel Speedtouch USB modem and they used to be a complete PITA to configure - they're not so difficult now.

regards

John

Test at edge

I doubt it Peter, you'll probably be looking at the same web page - unless you're using a command line/text browser. You can hit the "preview" button and it should show you how it looks, and you can remove any "code" or "quote" tags so that it will render as standard text as per everyone elses posts. Just don't hit the code, quote, wrap, etc etc icons.

Anyway...........
UK, on the South Coast, about 50 miles south of London.

Also, I know what my kit needs so I'll be guessing (partly "educated" partly hit 'n miss) with yours. It might be a bit more convenient if you had access to a second PC that will connect - otherwise I'd guess that it's a case of booting between windows and the Mandriva - a PITA IMO. I used to have to do that, until I worked out that I had no use for windows and dumped it completely.

Which is good - probably. Your comment below about using Bell Sympatico. I looked them up and found this page. That suggested to me that it (the modem) is probably using DHCP a.k.a. dynamic/changing IP addresses between the modem and the ISP - mine uses static/not changing IP addresses. If you have any documentation that came with the modem, it might have a "gateway" address i.e. an internal IP address for connecting the PC to modem, it might not. If it does, then it may be a case of just setting up the connection with the IP address so that the config knows to send stuff down that - the modem then knows where to send stuff onto. On the other hand, it might not. It may be necessary to "enable DHCP" on your system as well - that I know nothing about as I've always gone with static addressing - and am unfamiliar with how it works over "your side of the pond".
Logically, the cable runs from the modem into the NIC (ethernet card) so if you can access it (the internet that is) under windows then it's working - theres drivers etc for most of NIC's and it should have been detected during the install - sorry you'd have to google for commands to find out that, I know that my system uses the "natsemi" (national semiconductors) NIC driver, but don't recall how I found that out.
Been a while since I used Mandriva, so I don't recall how I managed to configure it, but you earlier alluded to 127.0.0.1 - that'd be the loop address for your system that was allocated during install.

Personally, I know that my router/modem device is already configured for my service, that never changes. On the other hand, on my system, I have to tell it that I want to use a derivative IP address for the NIC, the system tells me that the link is "eth0", it automagically numbers installed ethernet cards from eth0, then eth1, 2, etc etc.

So using that example, I know that my router modem uses, 10.0.0.1 as the gateway address, so I number my PC's and other ethernet peripherals accordingly i.e. the first pc is 10.0.0.2, the second one is 10.0.0.3, my networked printers, are 10.0.0.4 and 10.0.0.5, my music player (Rio Karma which also supports ethernet) is 10.0.0.6 etc etc etc.

Now the ethernet card in my main pc is 10.0.0.2 as mentioned above, it will also need a "netmask" (something to do with networking that I don't follow) which is 255.255.255.0

This all sounds confusing (hell it does to me), but in summary, to config my connection, I tell the system (which, in your case, should have a convenient graphical config interface under "configure my computer" icon) the IP address of my computer (thats the 10.0.0.2 mentioned earlier), the IP address for the gateway (the 10.0.0.1), the netmask (the 255.255.255.0), and finally the DNS (Domain Name Server) addresses for my ISP - that might be the bugger. Yours (well all of the numbers really) will be different - they're needed so that it (the system) knows where to get the DNS information for the connection to work.

That may be with your ISP's information that arrived (by email in my case, I don't know what Bell provide, it could be a book or just email) when you initially set your connection up.

Because of the differences between your and my kit/connection etc. it may be that you just needed to select the "use DHCP" option that is probably available somewhere at the graphical interface. It would be (guessing here) a check box ? so that it knows to get the IP address from the modem ? courtesy of the ISP?

As I say, apart from the "crash course" in static configuration which may or may not help, I'd say look around the Bell Sympatico site, to see if theres anything that might give you a hint, theres also the Mandriva main website that might have something, if the documentation was installed when you installed the distro there might be something there, there might also be something here i.e. distro specific suggestions etc.

Sorry I can't be of more direct assistance, but the national differences and locations preclude that. So I just hope that some of "that lot" point you in the right (or at least better) direction. There may be someone who knows exactly what needs to be done - it just ain't me!

regards

John

John,

Judging by my Windows installation, I don't need to know
any IP addresses. There's some good info here:
http://www.itee.adfa.edu.au/~gfreeman/optus-linux.html

I suspect there's a hardware problem, otherwise why would
ifconfig show eth0 having a blank HWaddr?

And why would http://127.0.0.1 fail in the browser?

Thank again,
Peter

Yes, it made good reading.
Erm no, if the system doesn't know what hardware eth0 is supposed to be then it can't show the HWaddr can it.
Probably for the same reason that I can't make it display in a browser either, but if I try to ping it -
As you can see, it's pinging localhost fine.

Damn....... think........think........think........ right, OK so at the moment your system isn't seeing, as far as you can tell, eth0.

So issue the command after all, your network card is probably a pci device.

Mine shows like this

If it shows something, then the system is seeing the device. Thats where knowing the IP address might come in handy, because it'll either be static or dynamic i.e. DHCP. If you know the static IP address of the modem (in my case modem/router device) then I'd number it accordingly. I'm thinking along the lines that you might have to have DHCP running internally, which would then get the modems IP address, which is probably allocated from your service provider.

If you have the time/bandwidth etc, over night, download the latest Kubuntu (if you're coming from a windows background, and as you're already playing with the mandriva, then the KDE based i.e. the same as the mandriva, Kubuntu might detect and set up automatically - Ubuntu is gnome based and less familiar). It can be burned via a windows based app like nero. I suggest that, because if might well be that your network card is causing the Mandriva to be a little fussy.

regards

John

p.s. Oh and in that link you posted, you can only "connect to the modem" if your system knows what the IP address of it is i.e. if you know (to use their example) that the modem is 10.1.1.1 otherwise your system needs to be running DHCP to get it AFAIK.

This or this or even this might point you in the right direction though the last one is a bit old and generalised - to install the dhcp packages you'd just have to get them via your "configure my computer" facility and they should be found in the software manager, I'm guessing you'd click the packages and it'd tell you to put the install disc in the drive (or which disc it's on if you have more than one - mandriva was originally 3 CD's but I recall you mentioning a DVD. If so the packages would be on that)

regards

John

Hi John,

ping 127.0.0.1 works okay.

so does lspci.

ifup eth0 hangs the system (it shows 3 dots)
it's in a user shell with the modem attached.
ctrl-C or Z don't work.
the mouse isn't working.

I'll wait for a while then power off, which will
just make things worse.

And, of course, I'll check those links, thanks.

Yours,
Peter

Could someone tell me a definitive test to see if the NIC's driver is
properly installed?

Thanks,
Peter

Maybe I should give some context to that.

It looks to be okay with Command Center and lspci works,
but ifup fails and ifconfig shows a HWadddr of zeroes.

I suspect the NIC's driver wasn't installed and want to test for it.

Hope that's better,
Peter

Peter,

You can always try the newbie/windows user "cure all" solution and re-install over the top. I seem to recall that mandriva gives you a nice, easy to follow, summary screen toward the end of the install process - things can be changed/modified from there as well as during the main install proceedure as well as telling you if somethings not right.

regards

John

p.s. erm thats exactly what I used to do - for about my first 3 years of meddling with linux.