Arch Linux

shapirotechnics

Member

Registered: 2009-07-15

Posts: 3

ifconfig: cannot assign requested address

Ok, so I've been using linux for about 2 months now, (I absolutely love Arch,) and am pretty comfortable with using wpa_supplicant/iwconfig and dhcpcd to connect to networks (ethernet and/or wireless through my laptop).

I've decided to try and install Arch on a laptop that's been sitting around for a while (broken graphics card) so I can use it as a server. I can't seem to connect to my network, through ethernet or wirelessly.

ifconfig -a returns:

eth0    Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
          BROADCAST MULTICAST NTU: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)
          Interrupt:20 Base address:0xe000
lo        ...

wlan0  Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:90:4B:9E:23:E6
          BROADCAST MULTICAST NTU: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)
          Interrupt:20 Base address:0xe000

wmaster0 ...

From the looks of it, Arch isn't recognizing my ethernet port (unless FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF is a valid address, which I doubt).
Using an ethernet cable that I know connects when used with my working laptop, dhcpcd eth0 returns:

eth0: dhcpcd 4.0.10 starting
eth0: read_interface: Cannot assign requested address

ifconfig eth0 up returns:

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Cannot assign requested address

My goal is to use the ethernet port, but I figured I'd try wireless connection over wlan0 just to see if I could.
ifconfig wlan0 up gives:

SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory

similarly,
wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa.conf (this file contains settings I know work for my network) gives:

SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
Could not set interface 'wlan0' UP
l2_packet_recieve - recvfrom: Network is down
ioctl [SIOCSIWSCAN]: Network is down
Failed to initiate AP scan

So neither of these work, I have tried everything I can find but nothing seems to be helping. This is becoming very frustrating. I had similar problems when I tried booting with Gentoo and openSUSE. The ethernet port worked with Ubuntu, however I'd much rather use Arch if at all possible.

I think the problem may have to do with the button that turns wireless activity on and off on the laptop, as when I push the same button on the laptop that works I get similar problems with wlan0, however pushing the button on the broken laptop does nothing (in fact the light on the button does not even go on at all.)

Still, the priority for me is getting the ethernet port working.

Thanks for any and all help!

derelict

Member

Registered: 2006-07-25

Posts: 81

Re: ifconfig: cannot assign requested address

This could be a number of things...
I would suggest that you start off by running

dmesg | grep eth0

Verify that the system is recognizing and initializing the devices correctly. Then do the same for wlan0.
Are the correct drivers / firmwares installed?
Are the device modules loaded in the correct order? I have to manually load my network drivers to make sure that eth0 is always pointing to the correct device.