Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

sbellerby12 · 2010-08-16 02:17:02

So I've been trying off and on for a few days on my laptop to try and get a functional Arch installation working with a netinstall image, but for some reason I can't get any connection. The wireless doesn't work out of the box, which I expected, but what I didn't expect is that the wired connection also fails to load at all.

lspci calls the Ethernet controller a 'Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)' and when I did a search, I found something with that same device where it supposedly worked after loading some part of something, there were commands there to do so which I tried (I think it was modprobe b44 and then do something else to activate it) and at one point it pretended to have a connection for a short moment, but by the time I got to the package selection after running /arch/setup it had already stopped.

Currently, if I try to ping anything it just calls whatever I tried to ping an unknown host, worked once as I mentioned but even then not long enough to go through the installation before it stops again.

During my attempt to google a solution to this, I ran into a couple threads that suggested the issue is with a specific version of what I think was dhcpcd that's used on the install disk is to blame, but I can't actually find a way to change that as I'm already unfamiliar with Arch and without internet access of any kind on the laptop I can't actually put anything on it from the live environment, so I'm at a loss for what to do now.

I'm using a different hard drive (take out the one I normally use, put in a different one that's not in use, so only one at a time can be present) to do the installation and Ubuntu 9.10 gets everything done that I *need* to at the moment so no rush, just want something where I can get the latest versions of everything when they come out, instead of waiting for the next version of the entire whichever OS I have on there at the moment.

(also, I noticed in the forums that there are a few places to put this, if anyone can clarify a bit how to tell when it changes from a newbie problem to a standard problem, or if this is the wrong place, or something like that, just having a better understanding of the whole thing would be nice)

ewaller · 2010-08-16 04:27:21

I think you need to figure out whether the device is obtaining an address, and then for some reason loses the connection; or whether you have a connection with an address, but your DNS system is in trouble.

Are you talking through a router?
What is the output of ifconfig eth0 after things stop working?
Can you ping your own IP address (not 127.0.0.1, but rather the one specified by ifconfig)?
Can you ping your router (probably your IP address with the fourth number changed to 1, YMMV)
If you are, indeed not getting an IP address, can you set a static address? (ifconfig eth0 192.168.xxx.yyy)
Can you ping outside sites by address? ping 66.211.214.131 should hit an archlinux server?

If you can ping things by number, check your DNS configuration http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Configuring_Network
Two very reliable DNS server addresses are Google's: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

sbellerby12 · 2010-08-16 22:45:15

Well, when I try to do the network setup step of the installation process it calls the network configured after thinking for a second about it but then when I try to do the package selection it decides that it can't reach the server.

There is a router, but my desktop works fine with wired, another one upstairs uses wireless, and the laptop in question that I'm doing this installation on does fine with both using Ubuntu, and they're all running either an Ubuntu variant or openSUSE so I know the router physically functions and doesn't require anything windows-specific or something crazy like that.

The command ifconfig eth0 gives the following:

Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:C5:AC:30:DA
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:94 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:84 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:18456 (18.0 Kb) TX bytes:10992 (10.7 Kb)
Interrupt:17

I can ping 127.0.0.1, but I didn't see anything that I could tell was an IP address specified by ifconfig to test, though trying to ping the router at all says 'connect: Network is unreachable' so I probably can't ping myself through the router either (I'm thinking the router is 192.168.1.1, same thing I use to access its settings, is that what you meant?)

I tried typing the ifconfig eth0 192.168.xxx.yyy and tried replacing those with .1.110 (from using remote desktop stuff I know that my machines seem to have 192.168.1.10x most of the time, so I figured .110 would be reasonable and likely unused) and still couldn't ping anything outside my machine, including the archlinux server by number. Doing both that, and trying to ping things by address (like www.google.com) result in the same 'connect: Network is unreachable' message again.

Also, on a side note, was dealing with a few things simultaneously while trying to make the last post, I have a couple years experience with Linux Distros but never before anything this demanding in user knowledge on the setup just to get it running so I'm familiar with some basic command stuff but mostly if it isn't graphical there's a fair chance that it's somewhat if not completely new to me. (I'm sure that detail will be relevant at some point in what I do/don't need instructions on and stuff)

ewaller · 2010-08-16 23:21:23

Okay, the interface is up; but it does not have an IP address.

What happens if you, as root, do a dhcpcd eth0 ?

If nothing interesting happens, lets go back to the static IP. Your choice of 192.168.1.110 seems reasonable. Try it again and verify the address is set using ifconfig eth0 with no other parameters. Then look at the output of route If there are no gateways, try adding one using route add default gw 192.168.1.0

I know this seems esoteric, but I am trying to figure out what is happening. Once we do, the solution will be straightforward (i hope).

sbellerby12 · 2010-08-17 18:00:33

From the arch iso, I've been using root the entire time (in case that becomes relevant) just to point out.

The output of dhcpcd eth0 is as follows:

dhcpcd: version 5.2.2 starting
dhcpcd: eth0: broadcasting for a lease
dhcpcd: eth0: offered 192.168.1.100 from 192.168.1.1
dhcpcd: eth0: acknowledged 192.168.1.100 from 192.168.1.1
dhcpcd: eth0: checking for 192.168.1.100
dhcpcd: eth0: leased 192.168.1.100 for 86400 seconds
dhcpcd: eth0: MTU set to 576
dhcpcd: forking to background

That's without having done the modprobe b44 thing from before. Attempting to ping www.google.com took a second longer than usual this time before giving the output 'ping: unknown host www.google.com' this time, attempting to ping 66.211.214.131 after that gave the old 'connect: Network is unreachable' output again.

Running 'ifconfig eth0' gave what at a few seconds glance seems to be identical to the previous output, except the number of packets and bytes changed slightly.

'route' gave the following:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface

Attempting to add 192.168.1.0 gave the output 'SIOCADDRT: No such process' when I tried to do that.

(On a brighter note esoteric might not be the right word; I can make sense of roughly what is being done, just not well enough to know how to attempt the same thing entirely on my own. Actually feels like right around where I am with a couple coding languages, I can read some of it but I can't recreate nearly as much as I can read, if that makes more sense than the first statement.)

perbh · 2010-08-17 18:12:41

So - your router is obviously 192.168.1.1 (which probably means a 'linksys').
Default for linksys is that dynamic ip's start at 192.168.1.100.
If you are using static addresses, 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.99 would be a good bet.
One thing that will stop every attempt is if you haven't got a nameserver.

Usually, you can use your router as a nameserver (192.168.1.1) as it will probably have dynamic ip at the 'other' end (where it is communicating with your modem). If this is not the case, use Google's nameservers. If you haven't got a valied nameserver, then there is nothing that will translate a 'name' (www.google.com) into an ip-address.

ewaller · 2010-08-17 21:02:28

Weird, Clearly you are being offered a valid IP address, and you accept that address for 86400 seconds; then -poof- the address is gone. Without a valid IP address, anything that uses TCP or UDP is moot (like DNS).

I think it time to look at the tail end of /var/log/everything.log for clues.

Also, is it possible some "invisible hand" is at play here? Is there anything running in the background like other DHCP daemons, wicd, networkmanager, or perhaps even wpa_supplicant?

Also, you have two network cards and are fighting with the b44 module. That module has to do with a Brodcom Wireless chipset. Are you sure we are dealing with the wired connection ??? It is possible that the wireless is mapping itself to eth0. This would make some of what you are experiencing make sense.

To prove this try a iwconfig and make sure eth0 reports "no wireless extensions". You might find that your wired adapter is actually on eth1. If that is true, the really strange part is that the system can arbitrarily assign them at boot time causing them to "swap" assignments. If so, there is a configuration for that too...

sbellerby12 · 2010-08-18 01:05:29

I can't think of anything else that can be running in the background, at least not on the laptop. It's off the live environment that boots to install Arch on the netinstall, so the stuff that runs by default off that is really all that is running.

As for use of the b44, I tried that when I ran into a thread that mentioned use of that for the wired Broadcom BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX thing that's supposed to deal with the ethernet stuff. I only used it once before making a post, and then I believe once more after the first reply. Hadn't used it for my most recent post's information.

As for the response to iwconfig, both lo and eth0 report 'no wireless extensions' while wlan0 reports the following (before attempting to enable any connections)

IEEE 802.11abg Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-associated
Tx-Power=0 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off

There's no mention anywhere of an eth1, so if it's there it's not showing itself. Other OSes have always called it eth0 to the best of my knowledge, though there is also another port that looks similar but is smaller (I'm guessing phone cord?) but it doesn't seem like that would be mapped as an Ethernet port.

As for checking everything.log, quite frankly there's a lot of stuff in there. Is there any way to narrow it down to stuff relevant to networking, or maybe a way to save it to a thumb drive or something at least?

hokasch · 2010-08-18 02:56:06

sbellerby12 wrote:

a specific version of what I think was dhcpcd that's used on the install disk is to blame

What about this? Did you follow up on it? While dhcpcd did not report any error, it obviously wasn't very successful - there is no default route. Run ifconfig to check if it really got you an IP.

Best thing you could try is setting up a static ip, to see if you have a problem with dhcpd or your network card.

edit: just mount your usb stick somewhere and copy over the log files.

Last edited by hokasch (2010-08-18 02:56:45)

ewaller · 2010-08-18 15:32:53

Sorry, I am just about out of ideas. I do want to take a look at your log though; it might yield some clues.

You say you use Ubuntu without issue. Are you using wired or wireless with Ubuntu? The reason I ask is that at this point I usually suggest replacing the cable. But, if the Cat 5 cable is working with Ubuntu, I won't.

However, If you are using Ubuntu with the wired interface, take a look at the output of lsmod on Ubuntu and compare it to that on Arch. Maybe we could even compare the logs (Although Ubuntu won't have an everything.log. I think their stuff will be in syslog.log and kernel.log)

sbellerby12 · 2010-08-19 14:58:30

Ubuntu works fine with both wired and wireless, even when booting off the live cd (before installing it) on this hardware, that's why I'm quite confused with how it's having so much trouble with even the wired on Arch. I understand the whole "user needs to have control, and therefore should configure it themselves so they know what they're doing" approach, but I'm guessing that doesn't usually mean people should have this much trouble with eth0 (and between what I've read and what people have said here, I'm guessing I'm on an unusual machine here)

Unfortunately, I'm checking right before I have to go somewhere for a little while and getting Ubuntu up, posting results, switching hard drives, putting in the live cd, checking that, exporting it, moving it to the desktop which I would need because Arch doesn't do Internet on my laptop, etc. would make me late. By my time (currently 07:55 or so) I'll be back mid-late afternoonish, at which point I can totally get all that information up and we'll see if anything interesting happens.

Is there anything in particular I should re-attempt from the live Arch iso *before* I get the contents of everything.log? Also, will it fit in a post here, or will I need to put it elsewhere then link to it?

Also, I can move and delete things by command line, but a copy command would be really helpful for those logs.

Again (at least, I hope I remembered to say this earlier) thanks for the help. Looking forward to upstream KDE (and everything else, for that matter) that isn't perpetually ~1-2 versions behind. :-)

hokasch · 2010-08-19 15:31:09

I'm a bit confused, do you have arch installed already? If so, you can easily copy over data to an usb stick (the command is called cp) and transfer to your desktop where you have internet. Or if you have no other pc around, boot up Ubuntu from a livecd/usb and go online there.

Again, I would try static IP in your situation. It goes a bit like this (adjust IP/Router addresses):

#set IP
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255
#set gateway
route add default gw 192.168.0.1
#add nameserver to /etc/resolv.conf, e.g. "nameserver 8.8.8.8" for google's

p.s.: full lspci might also be of help

Last edited by hokasch (2010-08-19 15:32:43)

ewaller · 2010-08-19 15:44:49

Which version of the kernel are you using ?
uname -a
pacman -Qi kernel26

according to https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=102256, all may not be pretty with the 2.6.34.2 kernel. That kernel caused issues with my Broadcom wireless card. It didn't impact my non-Broadcom wired connection. The linked thread seems to indicate it might impact your card.

Of course, without connectivity, you will need to bring the files in using "Plan B" (A USB thumb drive maybe?)

Again (at least, I hope I remembered to say this earlier) thanks for the help.

Hey, you are most welcome. I enjoy it and make a hobby of it. Is "Pacific Coast, United States" near the Los Angeles area?

sbellerby12 · 2010-08-19 23:51:08

uname -a gave me a reading of:
Linux archiso 2.6.33-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu May 13 12:06:25 CEST 2010 i686 Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2050 @ 1.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

After that, the other command there gave the following:
Name : kernel26
Version : 2.6.33.4-1
URL : http://www.kernel.org
Liscenses : GPL2
Groups : base
Provides : None
Depends On : coreutils kernel26-firmware>=2.6.33 module-init-tools mkinitcpio>=0.5.20
Optional Deps : crda: to set the correct wireless channels of your country
Required By : aufs2 ndiswrapper tiacx
Conflicts With : None
Replaces : kernel23 kernel23-scsi kernel26-scsi alsa-driver ieee80211 hostap-driver26 pwc nforce squashfs unionfs ivtv zd1211 kmv-modules iwlwifi rt2x00-cus gspcav1 atl2 wlan-ng26 rt2500
Installed Size : 83516.00 K
Packager : Thomas Bachler <thomas@archlinux.org> (side note, the 'a' in 'Bachler' had a sideways ':' over it, can't quite reproduce that on my keyboard)
Architecture : i686
Build Date : Thu 13 May 2010 10:09:33 AM UTC
Install Date : Sun 16 May 2010 01:49:13 PM UTC
Install Reason : Explicitly installed
Install Script : Yes
Description : The Linux Kernel and modules

So it looks like it's not 2.6.34.x, but still with the connectivity issues, I've got a 4GB Thumb Drive and Parted Magic to put it in whatever filesystem Arch will best read and if there's a functional way to put in enough to get to a working environment (graphical would be lovely, but anything that can connect is fine) then I can do that.

As for Los Angeles, that's more than a couple hours away from where I am, but same time zone and all that. Glad to encounter someone who makes a hobby of this. I do something similar (as in helping with technical issues, but in my case ones I actually know how to resolve) myself, but I tend to do this better in person rather than over a forum.

On the bright side, got enough old parts from a friend to piece together a mostly functional desktop, looking forward to getting that to work here. (if the CPU is too old or something, since I noticed Arch only comes in i686, I've always got a dozen other distros to try out on it too, basically going to use it when my laptop won't do something so I stop taking up the desktop in the living room like I am right now to post)

sbellerby12 · 2010-08-23 00:29:26

Huh, was all worried that being gone a couple days I might've missed something. Then again, on the bright side, at least I didn't leave anyone waiting.

Hoping to have a response eventually, I suppose. As I'm sure I've mentioned, got a drive with a functional OS already, so I'm not rushed, just wanting to eventually have a working install of Arch where it all works.

hokasch · 2010-08-23 00:33:07

I thought you were still fetching that log files ewaller asked about
How did the static IP work out?

sbellerby12 · 2010-08-24 23:23:52

Right, logs...knew I'd managed to not do something during that time, guess I know what it was now.

There are multiple kern.log and syslog files, though I'm guessing since the ones with higher numbers are zipped that maybe the lower numbers are the more recent? (that's Ubuntu ones) That being said, I tried to copy them into the reply box, but they won't paste here. Then there's the everything.log, which I found just fine...thing is, I can't quite seem to find my thumb drive there. Typically it puts itself in /media/ but the only things there are cd, dvd, and fl (none of which are the name of my thumb drive) there.

As for that static IP thing, I'm not really getting anywhere trying to do that. I don't think any of my machines have ever needed to do anything with a static IP, they typically just figure out their own IPs as they connect so far as I'm aware. I'm not even sure if I'm setting it up right, those commands are giving no feedback on their own, but ping still fails so I'm still not succeeding there.

On the bright side, other than the everything.log, I do in fact have all of them (I'd honestly forgotten to do that part while I was gone for a few days, was fairly busy) available, just can't get them to post. I'm guessing that had something to do with the one I tried to copy first being over 2,000 lines...only a single log file seems to be over 300KB, so if there's somewhere they can be posted then I could do that.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-08-16 02:17:02

Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#2 2010-08-16 04:27:21

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#3 2010-08-16 22:45:15

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#4 2010-08-16 23:21:23

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#5 2010-08-17 18:00:33

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#6 2010-08-17 18:12:41

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#7 2010-08-17 21:02:28

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#8 2010-08-18 01:05:29

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#9 2010-08-18 02:56:06

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#10 2010-08-18 15:32:53

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#11 2010-08-19 14:58:30

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#12 2010-08-19 15:31:09

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#13 2010-08-19 15:44:49

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#14 2010-08-19 23:51:08

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#15 2010-08-23 00:29:26

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#16 2010-08-23 00:33:07

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

#17 2010-08-24 23:23:52

Re: Arch Install image can't keep eth0 working on Inspiron E1505

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