Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

dmadenski · 2008-04-30 16:44:23

I just installed Arch Linux on an old Inspiron 8200 laptop. The install was smooth and painless up to a point, but I can't for the life of me connect to my home network. Pinging www.google.com gets me:

ping: unknown host www.google.com

Pinging my gateway gets this:

connect: Network is unreachable

I've tried setting up rc.conf according to the Beginner's Guide, so this is what I've got:

HOSTNAME="yggdrasil"
lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(lo eth0)
gateway="default gw 192.168.1.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)

For /etc/hosts I have the following:

127.0.0.1     localhost.localdomain     localhost     yggdrasil

"lspci | grep Ethernet" gives the following:

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78)

I noticed that using "ifconfig eth0" gets me 0 packets received or transmitted. All this makes me think that I'm not connecting to my router at all, so perhaps it's a driver problem? At the same time, it seems that my network card is recognized just fine.

I'm definitely missing something but I'm not quite able to wrap my brain around what it is, possibly due to a bad case of noobitis. Could anyone point me in the right direction? Any help is appreciated!

ghostHack · 2008-04-30 16:55:12

You don't need to set up the lo in rc.conf anymore, its done elsewhere in the initscripts so you can remove that interface, (also it should have been lo="127.0.0.1", not lo="lo 127.0.0.1"). Everything else looks like it should work.

Do you have 'network' in the DAEMONS() array?

What happens if you try to bring the interface up manually by running:

ifconfig eth0 up
dhdpcd eth0

Last edited by ghostHack (2008-04-30 16:56:50)

dmadenski · 2008-04-30 19:29:27

Thanks for the prompt reply! Greatly appreciated. I'll try commenting out that "lo="127.0.0.1" bit and see how it works. As for DAEMONS(), "network" is in there. Would it help to make it "@network"? I can't see how it would, but it's the only thing I can think of to change (in regards to daemons).

I'm not at my own computer at the moment but I'll be sure to try manually bringing up the interface once I get off work, and I'll post whatever comes about. Thanks again!

Sigi · 2008-04-30 19:40:17

Starting it in the background (and that's what @ does) doesn't help you here. I hope that you'll get more info by running it manually once you make it home

dmadenski · 2008-05-01 17:14:30

So I tried manually starting this sucker up and got these results:

# ifconfig eth0 up
# dhcpcd eth0
Error, eth0 dhcpcd already running on pid 4810 (/var/run/dhcpcd-eth0.pid)

I tried killing dhcpcd and restarting it, and that got me nowhere:

# kill 4810
# dhcpcd eth0
Error, eth0: timed out

Hmm... I've also double-checked my router and ethernet cable. They both work fine.

One thing has changed though. Previously "route" gave me no results at all, and now I get this:

# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway     Genmask        Flags     Metric     Ref     Use     Iface
169.254.0.0     *           255.255.0.0    U         0          0       0       eth0

No gateway. Am I not connecting to the router at all or what? ?

bender02 · 2008-05-01 17:31:14

Well, "Error, eth0: timed out" from dhcpcd means that dhcpcd did not manage to get a DHCP lease from your router - that it, you didn't get an IP address assigned from the router.

So - you're not connecting to router.

What may help to see where the problem is: have a look at 'dmesg' output, look for stuff which relates to network (eg. lines starting with eth0:) - to see if the card initalizes correctly. Are you sure eth0 is the correct network interface (ie you don't have more than one card?). Is the correct driver being loaded?

jackrat · 2008-05-01 18:04:43

I had a similar problem with the same error message while attempting this Arch install, (which is not working). I thought I had the correct gateway, 192.168.1.1, but when I got on my wife's windows machine I found out that it was 192.168.1.254 ?? I fixed that and it still wouldn't connect me, so I checked my IP and found that Arch had put in a 192.168.0.2. When I changed that to 192.168.1.2 I was able to connect to the internet. I hope this might help someone, if possible. If I don't get this install working pretty soon, I'm going to pack it in for Arch and go back to Debian Sid. Jackrat

dmadenski · 2008-05-01 18:14:50

I tried "dmesg | grep eth0" and all I got was the following:

eth0: setting half-duplex.

To my untrained eye it appears that my card isn't initializing at all. I'm pretty sure eth0 is the correct interface, as my computer only has the one network card.

I've looked around but to be honest I'm not sure how to determine with 100% certainty whether or not the correct driver is being loaded. I looked in rc.conf and noticed this:

MODULES=(3c59x mii slhc ...)

... and a number of other modules are listed after that. I'm assuming that 3c59x refers to my NIC, a 3Com 3c905C. Then again, I'm quite the greenhorn with all this and the previous is just an assumption. Anything I could do (or resources I could read through) that would push my knowledge farther ahead here?

Sjoden · 2008-05-01 22:16:58

I'm not sure what could be going on, but your interface definitely shouldn't be running at half duplex.

You could try this, I have to do similar when i connect with my intel wireless 4965 card.
killal dhcpcd
ifconfig eth0 up
rm /var/run/dhcpcd-eth0.pid
dhcpcd eth0

dmadenski · 2008-05-02 05:35:21

Tried the above, but here's what I got:

# killal dhcpcd
# ifconfig eth0 up
# rm /var/run/dhcpcd-eth0.pid
rm: cannot remove '/var/run/dhcpcd-eth0.pid': No such file or directory

And then:

# dhcpcd eth0
Error, eth0: timed out

Same as last time I tried "dhcpcd eth0". Thanks for the tip though!

dmadenski · 2008-05-02 05:50:56

I did some research and it appears that there are two drivers that could work with my NIC, the 3c59x driver and the 3c90x driver. Even in the the official documentation it's not clear which to use:

    The 3C90x driver for Linux supports the "B" and "C" models of the 
    EtherLink 3C90x NIC family (see the supported NICs listed above).  
    
    Support for older 3C905, 3C900 and 3C59x NICs, as well as many current 
    3Com NICs, is provided by the 3C59x driver in Linux.

(from ftp://ftp.3com.com/pub/nic/linux/readme.txt)

Note that the above is for an earlier version of the driver in question than what I'd use, but I imagine it holds true for later versions as well. The above being true, I'm not sure if the 3c59x driver (which is already installed on my computer, and loaded in MODULES=() ) is compatible with my NIC. Sounds like the 3c90x will work as well, so I'll try installing it and seeing what happens. Can't get any worse, in terms of network access.

dmadenski · 2008-05-02 06:31:04

Downloaded and copied the 3c90x driver over to my computer and it turns out it's only supported for kernels 2.0.x-2.4.2. Unsurprisingly, it won't compile.

faelar · 2008-05-02 09:59:16

gateway="default gw 192.168.1.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)

Remove the "!" :
ROUTES=(gateway)
Not sure it will help

bender02 · 2008-05-02 14:38:41

faelar wrote:

gateway="default gw 192.168.1.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
Remove the "!" :
ROUTES=(gateway)
Not sure it will help

This setting is for static IP configuration. dmadenski has DHCP setup (right?) and gateway IP is supposed to be received from the router on succesfull DHCP.

@dmadenski: Could you please nopaste your dmesg output?

dmadenski · 2008-05-04 19:36:09

Sorry for the tardy post here but I've managed to solve my problem, sort of. I figured that some physical part of my NIC might be broken so I decided to try connecting through an old LinkSys PCMCIA Ethernet card and that worked great. I've got everything I want installed (still working on making xmonad get up and dance though...) and am currently typing from my righteous new Arch system. Huzzah!

So basically problem solved. I've posted my dmesg output below in case anyone is interested in this as a sort of network configuration oddity. Thanks everyone for all your help, it's greatly appreciated!

dmesg output : http://rafb.net/p/tI0bp051.html

bender02 · 2008-05-05 02:06:36

Well - in your dmesg, your card is called 'eth1' and not 'eth0' - is the dmesg from the time when you already had the PCMCIA card plugged in?

dmadenski · 2008-05-05 06:36:20

Yes, this dmesg is from when my card was plugged in. I easily unplug the card, restart and throw down with "dmesg -> some.file.name" if you want to see what happens then.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-04-30 16:44:23

Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#2 2008-04-30 16:55:12

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#3 2008-04-30 19:29:27

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#4 2008-04-30 19:40:17

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#5 2008-05-01 17:14:30

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#6 2008-05-01 17:31:14

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#7 2008-05-01 18:04:43

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#8 2008-05-01 18:14:50

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#9 2008-05-01 22:16:58

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#10 2008-05-02 05:35:21

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#11 2008-05-02 05:50:56

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#12 2008-05-02 06:31:04

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#13 2008-05-02 09:59:16

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#14 2008-05-02 14:38:41

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#15 2008-05-04 19:36:09

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#16 2008-05-05 02:06:36

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

#17 2008-05-05 06:36:20

Re: Arch install hitting a wall at network configuration.

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