HELP!! Network problems in Ubuntu

[Stan_Lite]

As the title suggests, I'm having a little bother with an Ubuntu 6.10 (64 bit) install.

I've installed it on 5 of my Folding rigs with little problem but the latest build won't connect to the network.

All of the others automagically connected with no problems but this new one sees the device (i.e. it shows eth0 and eth1 in the networking window) but won't connect. I've tried automatically and manually connecting but to no avail.

I'm wondering if it's my hardware - it's quite a new motherboard (Asus P5N32-E SLi nForce 680) and I wondered if it was too new to be recognised by Ubuntu.

Anyone know what I can try? (There are Linux drivers on the drivers disc but none for Ubuntu).

Stan :)

[Dr. Z]

when you say wont connect, is your switch showing a link light or is it a different problem?

If you type


lspci | grep Eth


does it show what you think is the right card?

What does ifconfig say?

[Stan_Lite]

It's the onboard lan on the motherboard that's the problem.

I tried what you asked and got the following:

bigstan@Quimby:~$ lspci | grep Eth
00:11.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:12.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
bigstan@Quimby:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:92:66:11:D5
inet6 addr: fe80::21a:92ff:fe66:11d5/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:54 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:58 Base address:0xa000

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:92:66:1D:72
UP 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)
Interrupt:66 Base address:0xc000

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:1803 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1803 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:91241 (89.1 KiB) TX bytes:91241 (89.1 KiB)

bigstan@Quimby:~$

Looks like it can see it fine but won't connect - any ideas?

I've had a look around and the only method of installing new ethernet drivers involves compiling a kernel. I would have a go at this, following the instructions but it involves quite a bit of downloading which will make things difficult to say the least without a working internet connection.

I'm a complete Linux noob btw :embarassed:

Stan :)

[Richard Slater]

Stupid question... do you have a DHCP Client installed will be called something like "dhcpcd". My Ubuntu box went down, so can't be of much more use I am afraid?

[Dr. Z]

So there is no link light on the mobo/switch?

If there isnt then right now I cant think of what it could be (but I could be missing something obvious!)

Have you tried adding an IP?

ip addr add <a free IP address on your subnet>/subnet mask dev eth0

so on my lan if I wasnt using DHCP I would type:

ip addr add 192.168.2.49/24 dev eth0

and then to see your internet connection:

ip route add default via <ip of your router> dev eth0

and then finally add your DNS server IP to /etc/resolv.conf

That should get things going IF you have a link - if you dont (which you should because the links are up according to ifconfig) then there must be some other problem.

I am assuming that you have the network cable plugged into eth0 here by the way :)

[Dr. Z]

Stupid question... do you have a DHCP Client installed will be called something like "dhcpcd". My Ubuntu box went down, so can't be of much more use I am afraid?

Ubuntu comes as default with dhclient3 but I perhaps stupidly assumed it would have looked for an IP when it brought the interfaces up on boot...

try:

dhclient3 eth0

[Stan_Lite]

So there is no link light on the mobo/switch?

If there isnt then right now I cant think of what it could be (but I could be missing something obvious!)

Have you tried adding an IP?

ip addr add <a free IP address on your subnet>/subnet mask dev eth0

so on my lan if I wasnt using DHCP I would type:

ip addr add 192.168.2.49/24 dev eth0

and then to see your internet connection:

ip route add default via <ip of your router> dev eth0

and then finally add your DNS server IP to /etc/resolv.conf

That should get things going IF you have a link - if you dont (which you should because the links are up according to ifconfig) then there must be some other problem.

I am assuming that you have the network cable plugged into eth0 here by the way :)

Yeh, cable is in eth0.

I tried the above. No problems with first command but when I input the second command I get the reply:

"RTNETLINK: answers: Network is unreachable"

Really appreciating your help so far guys :)

Stan :)

[Stan_Lite]

try:

dhclient3 eth0

Tried that and got:

root@Quimby:/home/bigstan# dhclient3 eth0
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4
Copyright 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/eth0/00:1a:92:66:11:d5
Sending on LPF/eth0/00:1a:92:66:11:d5
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 15
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
root@Quimby:/home/bigstan#

Not looking too promising to my untutored eye :(

Stan :)

[Dr. Z]

All that 2nd part means is that it cant get an IP address from DHCP - not a problem if its not running?

Its a bit odd that you cant see the rest of your lan really.

[Stan_Lite]

Update.

I decided to try another distro to see if it was only Ubuntu that had a problem so I downloaded and installed Suse 10.2. Installed ok but exactly the same problem :(

I'll try Windows on it when I get back (off to Aberdeen tonight as my parents are down for the weekend).

I will be installing Vista on this rig when it's up to full spec (gonna be my uber gaming rig - Q6600, PC8000 RAM, dual 8800GTX in SLi, striped Raptors etc). At the moment, it's a sort of bodged setup with some of the bits mixed with bits and pieces lying around, the rest of the bits will be ordered and the final build constructed after my next trip away.

I wanted to get it Folding since I had enough bits to get it running but I'd prefer not to have to install Vista until it's all together.

Stan :)

[Daz]

Does the motherboard have 2 NIC's or have I missed something?

[Stan_Lite]

Does the motherboard have 2 NIC's or have I missed something?

It does.

I've been doing a bit of research (I bought Linux Format magazine to read on the bus back today :embarassed: ) and apparently current distros are a bit lacking in support for the 680 chipset - especially regarding the dual-linked ethernet ports. The magazine's advice, have a PCI ethernet card handy.

Apparently the only fix at the moment is to download the latest kernel and manually compile it. That's well past my capabilities. The next batch of distros will have better support so it's in with the trusty old D-Link until the rig is finished and Vista is installed.

Stan :)

[Stan_Lite]

Well, that worked a treat. D-Link card didn't work but I had an old scabby looking NIC card that did work. Everything up and running now and Folding away nicely :D

Thanks for your efforts guys - they were very much appreciated :)

Stan :)

[Richard Slater]

Glad you got it work, just as a note of encouragement though compiling the kernel isn't almost as hard as it sounds (or as some people like to make out) there are hundreds of great guides out there and hundreds of thousands of people who are ready to help.

Just a couple from a Google search.

http://www.howtoforge.com/kernel_compilation_ubuntu
http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Kernel_Compilation_Dapper

[Mark]

Not to mention a few people around here with kernel compiling experience. I complied enough of 'em recently thanks to a stupid driver bug (caused by an oversight by a kernel developer and took all of deleting five lines of code to fix)