Network problems with Slackware 13.1
 

I have currently installed Slackware 13.1 64bit version
on a laptop Acer computer. This computer is connected to
my cable service (comcast) modem via a dlink router. This
computer has linux and Windows 7 dual boot systems installed.
Initially I was able to connect to the internet with either
linux or Windows. Now I cannot get on the internet with
linux, but I can with windows.

I cannot even ping the address of my internet provider,
which I can obtain through windows 7 by running the
program ipconfig. When I ping the address, in linux,
it gives me the message that "network is unreachable"
I can ping it in windows 7. If I run on linux the program
ifconfig, it does not even show an ethernet, like it
does on my other computer connected to this network.

I set the thing up initially with netconfig and used DHCP.
As I said, initially it worked. I did not use this computer
for some time, and now it has the previously described
problems.

Where should I start, trying to run this down?
I have already done everything I can think of,
like powered things off, and reset the cable
modem etc.

Have you tried 'ifconfig eth0 up' ( without the quotes )?

I tried that ifconfig logged in as me then did the su
command and logged in as root, then ran

ifconfig eth0 up

it gave me the error message:
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device.

So I tried it using eth1 in case for some reason the
ether net card was not the first one, knowing that I
only had one network interface anyway. Same error message.

Next I logged all the way out, and logged in as root
and ran:
ifconfig eth0 up
same ERROR message.

What is the output of

?

Please post the output from 'lsmod' this will show the modules that are loaded. lspci should show the ehternet card, chip set etc.

===================================================================
My output from ifconfig -a

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:17:c4:f4:ee:92
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

====================================================================

my ouput of lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge Alternate
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (int gfx)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 41)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 IDE Controller (rev 40)
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:14.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI2 Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Link Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]
01:05.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RS880 Audio Device [Radeon HD 4200]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)
08:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
root@queen:~#
===================================================================

try this:

ifconfig wlan0 up

You have two adapters, it appears your wireless is the one that has a driver loaded. Is this the one you want to use?

ath9k is the driver for most antheros cards. Do you see it in lsmod output?

My output of lsmod:

Module Size Used by
snd_seq_dummy 1487 0
snd_seq_oss 29884 0
snd_seq_midi_event 5620 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 52643 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 5459 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 39907 0
snd_mixer_oss 15975 1 snd_pcm_oss
ipv6 273462 16
pcmcia 30280 0
pcmcia_core 29487 1 pcmcia
cpufreq_ondemand 8453 2
powernow_k8 11244 0
freq_table 2475 2 cpufreq_ondemand,powernow_k8
agpgart 29705 0
lp 10049 0
ppdev 6315 0
parport_pc 21015 0
parport 29923 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
fuse 59927 3
snd_hda_codec_atihdmi 2763 1
joydev 10293 0
ath9k 74463 0
snd_hda_codec_realtek 257813 1
video 18965 0
ath9k_common 2473 1 ath9k
snd_hda_intel 21832 0
mac80211 171226 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
snd_hda_codec 65015 3 snd_hda_codec_atihdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 6420 1 snd_hda_codec
ath9k_hw 219094 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath 8844 2 ath9k,ath9k_hw
uvcvideo 60908 0
videodev 37815 1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat 15120 2 uvcvideo,videodev
processor 29915 1 powernow_k8
psmouse 47158 0
cfg80211 128711 4 ath9k,ath9k_common,mac80211,ath
snd_pcm 71871 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
thermal 12550 0
thermal_sys 14118 3 video,processor,thermal
v4l2_compat_ioctl32 11488 1 videodev
k10temp 2875 0
tg3 123046 0
rfkill 15860 1 cfg80211
shpchp 31508 0
libphy 16825 1 tg3
snd_timer 19466 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 57142 11 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd _hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 5839 1 snd
rtc_cmos 9278 0
i2c_piix4 8664 0
led_class 2785 1 ath9k
snd_page_alloc 7145 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
wmi 6275 0
rtc_core 14766 1 rtc_cmos
ac 3171 0
output 1964 1 video
battery 9884 0
rtc_lib 1922 1 rtc_core
button 4922 0
hwmon 1449 2 thermal_sys,k10temp
i2c_core 18679 2 videodev,i2c_piix4
evdev 9114 7
serio_raw 4654 0
sg 25890 0

You have the driver loaded for your wireless card. What have you done to configure it?

Yes it looks like ath9k 74463 0 was in the list from lsmod

I have done nothing to configure it. I don't have a wireless network,
mine uses cables.

Have a look at this thread.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ollers-767111/

Same Broadcom card, several post in your will see what the user had to do to make it work.

Found another post on this card. To get it going the user did as root:

modprobe -r tg3 (removed tg3)
modprobe broadcom (loaded module broadcom)
modprobe tg3 (loaded module tg3)
ifconfig

Ifconfig should show an ehternet interface at this point. You may need to configure it, try a ifconfig eth0 up and see what happens.

Looking at the loaded modules, lsmod, I see that a bunch
of stuff is listed somehow connected to ath9k, like
this following that was in the list from lsmod.

Module Size Used by
ath9k 74463 0
ath9k_common 2473 1 ath9k
mac80211 171226 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath9k_hw 219094 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath 8844 2 ath9k,ath9k_hw
cfg80211 128711 4 ath9k,ath9k_common,mac80211,ath
led_class 2785 1 ath9k

I don't know which driver/adapter I want to use. I would
guess that I don't want to use a wireless, since I am not
using a wireless network. This all is pretty puzzling
because of the fact that originally I was able to get
on the internet, and apparently I was using the correct
driver and adapter. The puzzling part is I have done
nothing that I know of to change it. The adapter still
works, obviously, because I can still get on the internet
in Windows.