Arch Linux

dedalus42

Member

Registered: 2013-08-09

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] Connection Refused to Mirrors

I am trying to do a fresh Arch installation, but I am having a problem when I issue "pacstrap -i /mnt base"

I get the following: "error: failed retrieving file 'core.db' from <mirrorname> : Failed connect to <mirrorname>; Connection refused" (i.e. I get that message for each mirror on the mirror list). I set up my internet connection, and I can ping Google. I tried pinging the top mirror on the list (which is in the my country, the US, and has one of the best or the best scores), but it didn't work. Upon the suggestion of one forum thread I was able to find, I tried disabling IPv6, but that didn't help.

I used wifi-menu to connect to the wireless network, and it shows me as having an active connection. At this point, I'm at a loss. Please help?

EDIT: I got around this by just plugging into a wired connection, but I'm still very curious if anyone might know why this was happening. Perhaps it has to do with some sort of weird restrictions on the "guest" network at my school (which I was using because I didn't want to hassle with connecting to the student network until I finished the installation because it's a real pain on distros other than Ubuntu). However, I have used it to install arch packages before, and it worked fine.

EDIT(1): This has been figured out; read the replies if you're curious.

Last edited by dedalus42 (2013-08-09 18:28:20)

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Connection Refused to Mirrors

See: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 9#p1309069

...does that fix the problem?

dedalus42

Member

Registered: 2013-08-09

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Connection Refused to Mirrors

I just tried this, and when I tried to ping Google it loaded for a long time, and I eventually just terminated it. I then tried pinging the mirror, and after a while of loading, it failed, giving me the usual unknown host message. I ended up just plugging into a wired connection, and now it's working fine. I am still curious about why the problem was occurring, though. Hm. Perhaps it is because I was using the "guest" network at my school (because the official one is a real pain to set up in linux that's not Ubuntu, and I didn't want to deal with it until after I completed the installation) - maybe it has some sort of restrictions on it. Although, I do remember using it to install packages on arch in the past....

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Connection Refused to Mirrors

Perhaps it is because I was using the "guest" network at my school

Ooh, I don't know about your school, but that makes me think of guest access in places like hotels:

You can ping "www.google.com", but when you actually go there it loads the hotel terms and services until you click the "Accept" button.

That would explain the "ping" but "no access" to websites. A wired connection wouldn't have that problem.

dedalus42

Member

Registered: 2013-08-09

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] Connection Refused to Mirrors

Ahhh, you're right. Thanks for your help; I didn't realize that guest networks would allow you to ping Google but not access websites. Turns out you actually need a guest login to use the guest network. That makes total sense, but it's strange because I could swear I remember using it to browse the web and download/install packages using Pacman. Perhaps I just thought I was connected to it and was connected to something else, or I created a false memory. I'll have to see what happens when I try using it after the install's been completed.