Massive networking issues [SOLVED]

[Kellwolf]

Okay, so I switched to Mandrake 10.1 because I really didn't feel like shelling out the fee to install XP on another computer. I've wanted to switch to Linux (or at least try it for a while), and I figured now was as good a time as any. The only problem is my first experiences with Linux have left me more or less hating the OS more than Windows.....

 

Here's my situation: I have an IBM Thinkpad T20 with a PIII 700 Mhz processor and 128 meg of RAM. It's also got a 3Com (I think) miniPCI combo card. Mandrake recognizes it on install, but eth0 fails during startup, and I can't get it working under KDE either. As far as I know, the modem (Lucent I'm pretty sure) isn't even showing up. I think I might have found a driver for that, but I'm not entirely certain how to install it. The instructions say to use the "make install" command from the root account in the shell, but that didn't work. I also bought a wireless PCMCIA card, and that's not working either. I did do the bonehead thing and buy a 802.11a/b/g card (D-Link DWL-G630), so there may or may not be drivers that work for that. I've heard of the madwifi driver and the ndiswrapper utility, but I run into the same problem of having no clue on installation.

 

Here's what I get off of ifconfig for eth0:

 

eth0

Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:86:44:14:66

inet6 addr: fe80::200:86ff:fe44:146/64 Scope:Link

UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1

RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

TX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:5

collisions:0 txqueuelen: 1000

RX bytes:0 (0.0 b ) TX bytes:378 (378.0 b )

Interrupt:11 Base address:0x1800

 

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:118 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

TX packets:118 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

RX bytes:7666 (7.4 b ) TX bytes:7666 (7.4 b )

 

I've tried plugging the cable modem (using RoadRunner) straight into the card, I've tried running through a router, and I've tried everything else cable wise I can think of. I know the cable connection works since when I plug it into my desktop running Windows, I can do everything just fine. So, I'm pretty sure it's a configuration issue on the laptop.

 

Now for the wireless card. Here's what cardctl info gives me:

 

PRODID_1=" "

PRODID_2=" "

PRODID_3=" "

PRODID_4=" "

MANFID=0000,0000

FUNCID=255

PRODID_1=" "

PRODID_2=" "

PRODID_3=" "

PRODID_4=" "

MANFID=0000,0000

FUNCID=255

 

The card is plugged in since the power light comes on, so I know it's at least getting power. I don't know if it's the specific card or the PCMCIA interface in the computer. I don't have any other PCMCIA devices to check out the interface ports.

 

Oh, I almost forgot. I get a myriad of different errors when trying to play DVDs with Kaffeine. I've read that problem may be solved by downloading patches due to some open source copyright issues. I wasn't too clear since it was 4 am at the time.

 

Normally, I'm not this clueless, but the Linux OS has me bufuddled. Add in the three FAA exams I've been studying for, and my brain is kinda fried. Any help would be appreciated, and I don't mind checking web sites, books or other resources to get started if any of you have recommendations on those.

 

Thanks,

Steve

Edited February 11, 2005 by Kellwolf

[Steve Scrimpshire]

Let's start with the 3Com card. In a console, type:

 

lspci -v

 

and see the relevent model name associated with that card and post it here. You'll see it called Ethernet controller. See also if you have a file called /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and post the contents of that here, too. Also, tell me how you'd like to have the comptuer connected. To the router using dhcp?

Edited February 12, 2005 by Steve Scrimpshire

[Kellwolf]

Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c556b Card Bus [tornado] (rev 20)

 

There's a second ethernet controller, which I think is the wireless card: Atheros Communications, Inc. Unknown Device 001a (rev 01)

 

The contents of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0:

DEVICE=eth0

BOOTPROTO=dhcp

IPADDR=192.168.0.3

NETMASK=255.255.255.255

NETWORK=192.168.0.3

BROADCAST=192.168.0.3

ONBOOT=yes

HWADDR=00:00:86:44:14:66

METRIC=10

MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=no

NEEDHOSTNAME=yes

 

I'd like to have it connected to the router via wireless, but will accept dhcp as at least a starting point, since nothing is working just yet. :)

 

Thanks for the response, and thanks in advance.

[frosterrj]

you should add a line:

essid=any or youressid (no quotes)

for the wireless.

Maybe get rid of all the ip addresses since you're using dhcp it will get one from the router, no need to assign, or change bootproto to static. Just make sure your router is set to assign to those ip ranges.

 

Here is my ifcfg for a Dlink (realtek) card which I connect to a Linksys wireless router, set to dpcp:

DEVICE=eth0

BOOTPROTO=dhcp

ONBOOT=yes

ESSID=myssid

HWADDR=00:05:5d:98:1d:32

MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=yes

WIRELESS_ENC_KEY=""

NEEDHOSTNAME=yes

DHCLIENT_MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF='yes'

DHCLIENT_SET_DEFAULT_ROUTE='yes'

 

Good luck.

[Steve Scrimpshire]

Yes, Atheros should be the wireless card. Unfortunately, Atheros cards are not as easy to set up as just following frosterrj's suggestion. No offense intended.

 

That ifcfg-eth0 file is for the wired ethernet card, so let's fix it first and see if we can get you on the net in linux. Then we'll work on the wireless.

 

 

DEVICE=eth0

BOOTPROTO=dhcp

IPADDR=192.168.0.3

NETMASK=255.255.255.0 <- I changed this

NETWORK=192.168.0.0 <- I changed this

BROADCAST=192.168.0.255 <- this one too

ONBOOT=yes

HWADDR=00:00:86:44:14:66

METRIC=10

MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=no <- this should not be important to wired ethernet, but ya never know

NEEDHOSTNAME=yes <- if you have problems, try 'no' here

 

service network restart

should get you up and running here.

Edited February 12, 2005 by Steve Scrimpshire

[Kellwolf]

Ok, changed that file. First try, eth0 wasn't brought up during startup (bringing up interface eth0 ----> failed). So I changed the last two items in the cfg file to:

 

MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=yes

NEEDHOSTNAME=no

 

Then after rebooting it go this:

 

Bringing up interface eth0

zcip[2585] found IP address 127.255.255.255 for eth0:9 (or something to that affect)

zcip[2585] starting probe 1 on 127.255.255.255

zcip[2585] starting probe 3 on 127.255.255.255

claiming ownership of address 127.255.255.255

watching for collisions

[OK]

 

 

Before it does any of that, it hangs on the "bringing up interface eth0" prompt for about a minute or 90 seconds. I got the same thing twice, but another time it was zcip[2571] instead of zcip[2585]. Not sure of the EXACT wording, but I think I got it pretty close. When going into the KDE desktop however, Konqueror doesn't access the web, and I still get the icon on the bottom right telling me that I need to configure the network on eth0 (little plug with a red X and another orange cirlce with an X in the middle).

 

Not sure if this is progress or not, but at least eth0 isn't FAILING everytime on startup. Not sure if this would accomplish the samething, but I wasn't sure what "service network restart" was, so I restarted the whole system after editing the ifcfg-eth0 file everytime.

 

 

Edit: after doing some more tinkering, it does this with NO cable connected, so I guess it's not really progress. I think I've also determined it's b/c of the MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=yes setting.

Edited February 12, 2005 by Kellwolf

[Steve Scrimpshire]

Ok, it is progress, believe it or not. But, also, you can't really trust

 

Bringing up eth0....failed

 

Someitmes it says that even when it doesn't fail. Change the MII_NOT_SUPPORTED back to what you had originally first. I think we have other things to deal with. Make sure you have.

 

alias eth0 3c59x

 

in /etc/modprobe.conf

 

And when you get in (even after a 'FAILED' message), open a console and su to root and do

 

lsmod

 

(see if the 3c59x module is loaded). If it's not:

 

modprobe 3c59x

ifup eth0

 

Whether that works or not, edit /etc/lilo.conf as root and change or add:

acpi=off

in all the append lines and save the file. Then run:

lilo -v

and reboot.

 

Edit: Also make sure PnP is turned off in the BIOS.

Edited February 12, 2005 by Steve Scrimpshire

[Kellwolf]

Make sure you have.

 

alias eth0  3c59x

 

in /etc/modprobe.conf

 

It's there.

 

modprobe 3c59x

ifup eth0

 

Look like 3c59x is running according to lsmod. Here's what it has to say about 3/4 of the way down the list:

 

3c59x 35240 0

 

Here's what I got from ifup eth0:

 

Deteriming IP information for eth0.... done.

/sbin/ifup: line 466: 4307 Hangup /etc/init.d/tmdns reload >/dev/null 2>&1

 

 

Whether that works or not, edit /etc/lilo.conf as root and change or add:

acpi=off

in all the append lines and save the file. Then run:

lilo -v

and reboot.

 

Only two appends in the lilo.conf that I could see, and both now have "acpi=off"

 

Also make sure PnP is turned off in the BIOS.

 

This Thinkpad is so old, I couldn't even find a PnP option in the BIOS settings. Not sure if it's even an option.

 

 

BTW, I really appreciate all the help. I'm starting to learn how to navigate Linux at least. :)

[Steve Scrimpshire]

It looks like you either have some conflicting pkgs or something else is going on. Try running, as root, from a console:

 

drakconnect

 

and choose LAN. And make sure you set up everything. Try with and without trying to give it a default ipaddress. Also, look in /etc/sysconfig/network and add lines that say:

 

GATEWAY=192.168.0.1 (assuming that's the ip of your router)

GATEWAYDEV=eth0

 

 

(yw...it's nice to feel appreciated every once in a while :D)

Edited February 12, 2005 by Steve Scrimpshire

[Kellwolf]

I think now I know how Dr. Frankenstein felt when his monster starting moving on the table. IT'S ALIVE! :)

 

Internet is now working through the wired ethernet port. Thank you SO much!

 

Not one to rest on my laurels, what step should I take to start working on the wireless connection?

[Steve Scrimpshire]

I'm pretty sure we are going to have to use madwifi. Find instructions on how to grab it from cvs here:

http://www.mattfoster.clara.co.uk/madwifi-2.htm#4

 

More FAQs:

http://www.mattfoster.clara.co.uk/madwifi-faq.htm

[Kellwolf]

Cool. Off to try that. :) Thank you again for all your help, and I'll post my progress in case this can help anyone else.

[Steve Scrimpshire]

yw. And thanks for keeping us updated on your progress. It can be aggravating when you're trying to help someone and they never come back and say "Well, that worked, thanks." I wouldn't even mind no 'thanks' if I just knew that it worked. LOL.

Threads like this with feedback also help others, even if you run into a problem that was easy to fix, it helps to say:

"Well, I did what you said, but I did something <<insert mistake or something the advice left out here>>, but I found this solution: <<insert solution here>>."

Edited February 13, 2005 by Steve Scrimpshire

[Kellwolf]

Ok, I have MadWifi 20050212, but I don't know what I'm doing beyond that. I'm not exactly sure how to build the driver, and I don't know how to check and see if I have the following in my kernel:

 

wireless extensions ver 14 or later

sysctl support

crypto API support

 

Current kernel is 2.6.8.

 

Edit from The Wife: Kell is taking a break. I've found the How Tos on Madwifi.net, so I'm working on those while he relaxes for a bit. Again, major thank yous for all your help so far.

Edited February 13, 2005 by Kellwolf

[Steve Scrimpshire]

If you're using a Mandrake kernel, you have the support. Before you can build the driver, you need the kernel source installed:

 

urpmi kernel-source-2.6

 

cd madwifi

make

cp ath/ath_pci.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless

cp ath_hal/ath_hal.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless

cp net/80211/* /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless

depmod -a

modprobe ath_pci

 

Read the README file in the madwifi directory for more help that you should be able to follow.