Newbie needs help getting Redhat box online
 

I'm an absolute linux newbie (just installed Redhat, in fact). The OS installed fine, but I can't seem to get online. The motherboard I'm using (a K7S5A PRO) has an onboard NIC, and I thought it might not be working, so I put in another NIC I had lying around, but that won't work either. When I open the Network Configuration tool in the GUI, it appears as though Redhat recognizes both NICs, so I would assume it's allready installed the drivers, but I could be wrong.

After looking at several sites and reading as many related posts on this site as I could find, I realized I should try running ifconfig. However, typing 'ifconfig' at the command line returns an error, saying the command does not exist. At the same time, and from the same directory, typing 'man ifconfig' returns info on the ifconfig command. What's with that?

I've tried hooking the system straight up to my cable modem, but that doesn't work, even though the same set up works with my winxp PC. Therefor, I don't think it's a problem with my cable modem or the ethernet cables. Right now both machines are connected to an old 10mb hub, and the XP box connects to the net fine. I don't think the problem is there.

Just in case you need system specs, the Redhat box is a homebrew system with an Athlon XP 1700+, K7S5A PRO mobo, 512mb ddr, 40gb hdd, VooDoo 3000 16mb video card. I installed RedHat 9, using the full install option (the one that takes up something like 4.2gb)

I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer, I've allready tried several sites and looking through back posts on this forum. Just keep in mind that I'm a total linux newbie, so please go into as much detail as you can =) Thanx in advance.

"/sbin/ifconfig" will list all your active network interfaces

What kind of isp do you have?

I use Road Runner, a local Cable ISP. I also have an MSN dial up account I could try if I got really desperate =)

ifconfig seems to be working now, and it tells me I've got eth0 (the NIC I added) and eth1 (the onboard NIC). I've got the LAN cable hooked up to eth1, and ifconfig lists that IP as 127.0.0.1. I tried the command 'ifup eth1' only to have it respond 'Determining IP information for eth1... failed'

Any idea what could be causing this?

Well I'd just focus on one interface and try to get the internet working.

If you can't get it working with the /usr/bin/neat gui, you can also try the /usr/sbin/setup program on the command line.

I never use ifup or ifdown directly. Usually "/sbin/service network restart" is all I need.

Sorry to be inconsistent, but ifconfig seems to list 'eth0, eth1, and lo'. It states that's lo's IP is 127.0.0.1 What is 'lo' ? Is there a tutorial for ifconfig out there somewhere I should be reading? I tried a google search and looked around on some newbie linux sights, but no real results. Thanx in advance for any replies

lo is the virtual loopback interface that the computer can use to talk to itself. Its address is always 127.0.0.1. The Linux Documentation Project has some really good howtos and guides for neworking.

http://tldp.org

This might be a stupid question, but I'm getting kind of desperate... under the DNS tab of the Network Config utility for RedHat's GUI, there are a bunch of servers I can specify (Hostname, Primary DNS, Secondary DNS, etc... ). By default, these were all blank, and they still are. Should I have filled in these fields, and if so, where would I find the information needed?

I also tried the /sbin service network restart from the command line, but once again, the system was unable to 'determine IP information for eth1'

You might not need to fill in anything. Sometimes you can just run "/usr/sbin/setup" and set it up for DHCP and your suddenly on the internet. Your isp should be able to tell you what DNS addresses to use.

If eth0 is working then you can use that

Thank you for the advice ZMedico, but it doesn't seem to be working right now. It's past 3am here now, and i"ve got school in the morning, so I'm going to go to bed... maybe I can get this working tomorrow.

I tried that DHCP thing, but to no avail =( I don't know what DNS info to fill in, and I can't find it under my ISP's crummy website, and I won't be able to call them until tomorrow.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day =) maybe I can get her online then... no one ever said gnu/linux would be easy. Well, acually, a lot of people said that, but I didn't really believe them... what fun would this be if everything worked right away? The best way to learn is by troubleshooting, or so my experience has been.

Background knowledge makes troubleshooting easier.