Hi,

Why the netmask 255.255.0.0 ?

By chance have you checked the cat-5 cable?

Hello,

No I don't think the modem is broken, since it is working right now in Fedora.

The netmask of 255.255.0.0 is straight from the modem information page at 192.168.0.1. It has all the IP information. I have tried entering it in statically, but still nothing.

I am using a CAT 5e Crossover cable between the NIC and the Modem. I tried to use a CAT 5 Straight-Through Cable and still nothing.

Interestingly, I observed the modem lights when pinging, and the activity light blinks each time a ping request is sent, but either is isn't sending a return, or the NIC isn't recieving it.

Did you move the machine or the modem since you last use Fedora? The reason I asked is that I once encountered a problem where I moved my computer and it stop being able to get DHCP or see the router. The router light and the NIC light shows a physical connection, but the OS complain that there's nothing there and cannot get a DHCP address.

The only change was that I move the computer. I eventually got it to work by plugging the computer into a different outlet. I suspect that it had something to do with the bad ground in the electrical outlet. Try plugging the machine into a different outlet and see if it works better.

Paul

Hello,

No I didn't move the computer at all.

I did find something VERY INTERESTING! On a whim, I installed Slackware 10.1 and everything just worked right out of the box. No config at all. I set the netconfig to DHCP and BAM! I have an internet connection.

OK, so what changed between 10.1 and 10.2 to affect the DHCP setup?
I would like to use 10.2 because of some newer software that comes with it, of which immediately Firefox comes to mind. Is there that big of a difference between the two or could I just use 10.1 and install the software I want? Also what difference between the two kernels (I think 2.4.19? in 10.1 and 2.4.31 in 10.2)?

You could try an experiment upgrading 10.1 packages from 10.2 and checking when dhcp stops working. I think it might be kernel issue. Maybe you could use your 2.4.31 kernel from 10.2 to boot 10.1 and check if the problem arises. You may need to upgrade some packages from 10.2 to get the boot successful.

Could be a driver module they have added in 10.2 that is not in 10.1. In any case, I am now having the same problem with my server since I change it to Slackware 10.2 (it used to run Xandros 3.02 OC). I wish I tested the network connection before I made the change, now I am wondering if it's a hardware issue or a OS driver issue.

Paul

Hello,

I am pretty sure now that it is a kernel issue. I installed 10.2 with the test26.s kernel and BAM! I have the internet. So it doesn't seem to be anything with the 10.2 packages but with the 2.4.31 kernel.

Any ideas on what in the kernel is the issue or if it is a bad module? Would it be fixable if I tried to compile the kernel from source?

I wouldn't say it's a kernel issue, just your modem isn't compiled. By all means, recompile 2.4 if you want, but why? 2.6.xx is faster, and it already works. Recompile that instead.

Hello,

What does that mean, modem not compiled? It's an external modem that acts like a router. The only thing that I can think that could need compiled would be the NIC module for the kernel. It is - natsemi.

I think that the module is corrupt in the bare.i kernel. I loaded the bareacpi.i kernel and it works.

I also wonder if it is a kernel issue. I have been using Suse, and I upgraded the kernel 2 days ago (per the Suse update checker) and then shutdown for the night. Then yesterday, when I booted up - I could not connect! I also have the problems described by JMJ_coder. I am not assigned an IP using DHCP, and I am told I am "connected" with a static IP - but I cannot view the router's configuration IP (192.168.1.1). I am going to try a reinstall tonight (with Debian instead of OpenSuse) and see what happens. The kernel was a 2.6.?? before 2 days ago. This is all very frustrating!

Hello,

Well, I am posting this from Slackware!! I ended up just using the bareacpi.i kernel. Either bare.i has a corrupt module(natsemi) or something - or my copy of bare.i is corrupt. Either way, I have a working Slackware distribution. I am very happy to have gotten it working and am pleased with Slackware so far.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I certainly learned alot.

Well, I did have a network problem. The machine could not acquire a DHCP address. I tried to disconnect and reconnect the cable to force a renegotiate. I ran the DHCP command to try to get it to acquire an address. I rebooted the machine. Nothing worked. ifconfig returned the card's MAC, so the driver must be seeing the card. Why, why, why isn't it working. I got frustrated, turned it off, and came back the next day to work on it.

When I booted the machine, I notice that it acquire a DCHP address and everyting worked just fine. May be I didn't sacrifice enough virgins to the dark gods or something.

Unfortunately, my sound still does not work. I'll work on it some more. Next, try to get digikam working. I had tried to install this on my friend's computer so she can get pictures off her camera, but I kept getting dependency error.