Two problems after installing Arch Linux. Help!
 

The first problem is that I cannot use the Arch repository. Every time I try to, it brings up a "no address record" error. I have configured my network interface properly and can ping www.google.com and receive a whole load of crap. Definitely working.
Whats wrong?


The second problem is that the boot-up process hangs for a very long time at "Starting Network." This make my boot of Arch just as slow as *buntu! WTF? Whats wrong there?

Aside from that, I am unhappy that my Ethernet card is not detected but thats another question.

The only ting I am pleased with right now is the speed of the system, and the fact that I used 4 different file systems on 7 different partitions without a hitch.

Please help...

Hi,

How is '/etc/resolv.conf' configured?

Nothing much.
Two links to other files, and "Generated by dhcpd." All three are commented.

Did you enable a repository in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist?
There is a step for this in the installer, but I usually do it manually.

You say that the network is working, but that it does not detect your ethernet card-----??

Regardless, I now alwasy use WICD---the wiki gives you all the instructions, including disabling the default network utility in /etc/rc.conf

I have a wireless card as well -- sorry.

I did in the installer. I even commented out that one and tried another, and attempted and update for pacman. No banana.

Right now, I have no way to connect this computer to the Arch one. I would have to overwrite my USB install stick... Is wicd available on the command-line? I thought it was for KDE.

I just pinged Linuxquestions.org and got responses! Whats wrong with pacman? I have tried nearly every mirror for the US!

With some of the other mirrors, the error is "Not Found."

Here's my resolv.conf (also generated by dhcp)
AFAIK, there MUST be at least one (uncommented) nameserver entry. (I don't know how you could ping Google without it)

As to the Ethernet card, what does "lspci" and "ifconfig -a" show?

Pacman and repositories:
Can you ping the repository that you have enabled?
Is /etc/pacman.conf set up something like this?:
This tells pacman which areas of the repo are enabled and then sends pacman to mirrorlist to get the URL.

AND--be sure that only one repo is enabled in mirrorlist....

PS:
WICD runs on any GUI WM or DM---not just KDE

The pacman.conf showed what you have up there.

First, the resolv.conf was accidentally ran with no connection present. After I connected, it updated with 3 name servers and a URL of my ISP.

I could not ping the repository that I have enabled.

Only one repo is uncommented. The newbie guide made this very clear.

lspci showed my network card. It's an Atheros AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter.

And Ifconfig -a didn't see anything, as far as I could tell. (How do you scroll UP in CLI? Page Up doesn't work! Scroll keys don't work!)

The repos worked! I'm not sure how... I think I messed someting editing the pacman.conf. Lol.

But trying to install powerpill it gives the error: "gcc: requires gcc-libs=4.4.1-1"

I tried pacman -S gcc, but it said it was already installed.?

Scrolling in the CLI is typically shift-pageup and shift-pagedown. If you are using a terminal in the GUI, the mouse wheel will do it also.

I think we need to get your repository issue fixed first.......

Try pinging a few things at random---eg Yahoo, Google, LQ, my website http://pixellany.com, and whatever else you can think of. Then try pinging various Arch repos at random. We're looking for any kind of pattern that you can find.

Note: to ping an Arch repo, you want just the URL (no http://) Here's the ping on my system---if this does not work, then try pinging the numerical IP.

Thanks! I followed your above post and edited pacman.conf. Not sure what happened, or how I did it, but the repos are working well now.

Now my problems are with the boot hang and ethernet. I am glad I will be able to install a GUI no problem. (If pacman -Su gcc takes care of above problem in above post)

You posted while I was typing!!! Glad to see the progress.

I just learned the hard way that you are supposed to always do an upgrade before installing new SW. How I got away without doing this for over a year is anyone's guess.

So first do "pacman -Syu" (This will probably result in a long coffee break.....;))

Thanks pixellany! The update really fixed most of the issues I was facing except the Ethernet card. I already added a normal user and configured sudo. The screen resolution was automatically corrected, and the boot hang has stopped. Now the boot blazes through.

As a side note, coming from Ubuntu and it's infamous package manager, I am really pleased with pacman. It is much easier to use and learn then apt-get.

Really the only problem is the Ethernet card.