network/internet problems with Mandrake 9.2
 

Hello,

I have Mandrake 9.2 intalled and eberything works except for the network/internet. I previously had Mandake 9.1 installed and I kad no problems with the network/internet.

I have a cable modem connected to a computer running Smoothwall which is a firewall/dhcp server. The smoothwall machine is then connected to a hub and then my computers are connected to the hub. I know that smoothwall is not the problem because I used it with mandrake 9.1 and I have a windoze machine connected to it and it works just fine.

I have used Mandrakes interent configuration tool more times than I can count and nothing I do works. I have also manually edited the /etc/sysconfig/network and the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 files. I have also edited the /etc/hosts and the /etc/resolv.conf files and input the correct data. Nothing I have done has worked. I have searched online and the only thing that I found is that sometimes windoze xp will prevent a linux comupter from getting on a network using dhcp, although I don't know if that is really true.

I know that the module for my NIC is 1839too and when I type "lsmod" it shows up. Also when I type "ifconfig" all that comes up is lo, but when I type "ifconfig eth0" then eth0 shows up, only it dosn't have an ipaddress, broadcast or netmask.

I don't know if this info will help but it might. My DNS servers are 192.168.100.1 and 192.168.100.2, and my gateway is 192.168.100.1. When I check the logs on my smoothwall machine, there are lines in the log that say that my computer requested an IP and then another line saying that the server tried to give it one, but my computer never gets an IP. I have been trying to figure this out for three days so any help would really be appreciated. Also if more information is needed I will post it as soon as I can.

Thanks

The ifconfig data indicates that for some reason your network card isn't being activated even though the module is loaded. Compare /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-lo. If the line ONBOOT=yes is missing (or =no) for example then the network card won't be brought up at boot. Also check whether /etc/sysconfig/network has NETWORKING=yes (who knows?). Try running "ifup eth0" and see whether that brings the card up. If not then the card is missing configuration of IP address, netmask or something like that. If it does work then Mandrake is configured correctly but is just not bringing the card up at boot. If none of this works then post a copy of your ifcfg-eth0 script here.

Hope this helps - I haven't ever had Mandrake do this to me before.

ok,

sorry it took so long to reply, I has to work last night. Anyway, I checked the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file and it looks like this:

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
ONBOOT=yes
MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=yes
NEEDHOSTNAME=no

I am not sure what the MII_NOT_SUPPORTED means, but everything else seems fine to me. When I tried "ifup eth0" it came up as:

Determining IP information for eth0. . .
/sbin/ifup: line 493: 3790 Hangup
/etc/init.d/tmdns relaod >/dev/null 2>&1

I'm not sure what all that means either but I don't think it's good.

ok, now when I type "ifconfig" I get:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:2c:06:6d:a4
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:586 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0. 0 b) TX bytes:0 (0. 0 b)

eth0:9 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:2c:06:6d:a4
inet addr:127.255.255.255 Bcast:127.255.255.255 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
Interupt:18 Base address:0x2000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:342 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:342 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:26589 (25.9 kb) TX bytes:26589 (25.9 kb)

I'm not sure what the eth0:9 is but this is all confusing me and I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this problem for me.

Thanks

The eth0:9 means that for some reason your network card has been IP aliased to have two IP addresses. My suspicion is that your DHCP client is configured wrong and that is why it fails to obtain a DHCP lease. The DHCP client may well be assigning the 127.255.255.255 to eth0:9 (thereby creating eth0:9) as well. On my Mandrake install the DHCP client stores its configuration in dhclient.conf although this is Mandrake 10 so Mandrake 9.2 may use something else (e.g. dhcpcd.conf). As I don't use DHCP personally I can't think what kind of configuration error would cause this. A further thought: check whether there is any firewall set up ("iptables -L" will list the current rules).

By the way MII (I have no idea what it stands for) is a method whereby certain network cards/kernel modules can have the connection speed, duplex state, etc. set. The MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=yes line is merely to say that this doesn't work with your card and so there is no point in the OS trying. I am sorry I can't be more helpful however I have practically no experience with DHCP.

I got that same issue fixed by booting with an option "noapic"