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504T, USB drive, and PS2 mouse [solved]


Guest pompeyjohn
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Guest pompeyjohn

sincere apologies if this is in the wrong section.

 

As the description says its been a long night, and I really hope someone can help. I have been trying all day to install and run a linux distro on my machine. So far today I have tried Ubuntu (at least three times) FC3 once, and now Mandriva. I currently have a couple of other distros (very slowly) downloading in torrent form.

 

The main problem with ubunu was a display issue (the resolution would be stuck). I followed all the advice I could find but got nowhere. FC failed to recognise a lot of my hardware so got booted. Between each attempt I have had to go back to xp to get online for advice, instructions and post mortem information. I am now shattered.

 

The install for this one went very smoothly. I feel like I am closer now than ever before to having a fully working linux system! But there are on or two problems;

 

1. I have a dlink 504t router which is making use of British Telecoms dubious adsl service. Try as I might I cant get this to work. On the router admin it says the connection is pppoe but thats the routers connection right, the mandrake connection to the router should be simple lan? I am getting a timeout when trying 192.168.1.1. Can someone put how to set this up in simple terms for me please. I have worked with computers for years, but I am new to Linux. Many thanks in advance.

 

2. I have an external usb drive - its western digital 120gb. All other distros have picked it up, but not this one. Any advice? Is there a way of updating the search for new hardware tool, or even just running it again?

 

3. And this is the last one, but as I'm sure you may agree, it's the most infurating. I have a (belkin) wireless keyboard and mouse The wireless base for these plugs into a jack which has a usb and PS2 port, and then that plugs into a usb port on my system. The mouse runs through the PS2 port, and worked during the installation, but not anymore!

 

So there you go. It's twenty to two in the morning now, and I am going to stay up a little later in the hope that someone on here is online now, and can help.

 

One final question, is it possible to resinstall the system using the ISO discs without removing it from the hard drive first. Ie overwrite it? If not, what is the best way of removing the system? I could just delete the partition, but whats the best way to recover the mbr?

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

John

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Final question first: You want to install the windows boot-loader? Just use the windows install disc. It will overwrite lilo (the boot-loader Mandriva uses).

 

You can reinstall using the Cd's. During the Mandriva install you will be asked what partitions to use. Choose 'existing ones' and let it format / (/=root). Don't format /home. In it are all your data and configs (settings)

 

1: yes. If it is really a router your nic is connected to it should be lan. Go to the Mandriva Control Center, internet connection, remove connection and make new connection.

 

2: It should be picked up no problem. Just plug it in and an icon on the desktop will pop up. If not post your /etc/fstab when not plugged in and when plugged in. (an extra line should appear)

 

3: ? So it's not a wireless mouse if it plugs into the PS/2 port? What protocol are you using (look in /etc/X11/xorg.conf)

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Hi pompeyjohn, and welcome to the forum.

 

As devries said, you can boot from your XP installation CD, and choose an option here to reset the bootloader, so that XP will boot, but this will mean no Linux installation would be to boot thereafter. You can within Linux, also type lilo -u which will remove it (sometimes you need lilo -U) the uppercase U for forcing removal. Sometimes this doesn't always work, especially if the MBR has been overwritten a number of times. If it's only been overwritten once with one install of Linux, then it would work. I have done this successfully on one machine, and not on others, so you always have the XP CD as well to reset it.

 

With regards to your router, the connection for your ethernet card, should be LAN - again as devries pointed out. This is because, in effect, it is a LAN connection, even though you use it for the internet. Did you give Linux a static IP address, or was it DHCP assigned by the router?

 

If you gave a static IP address, you need to also ensure that the subnet mask is correct, and the default gateway has been supplied. Also, you need to give DNS server addresses - BT supplied ones are fine, although your router may be acting as a DNS proxy, by passing them to BT's servers. An example of static IP config below:

 

IP - 192.168.1.2 (this is the IP of your PC)

Subnet - 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway - 192.168.1.1 (always the D-Link router IP in your case)

 

The differences now come for DNS. Your DNS could be 192.168.1.1. This would mean the router then acts as a proxy and passes the DNS requests to BT's servers. This means you don't have to worry about remembering what BT's servers are (although you can login to the router and find out which ones it is using). The best method I find is to use BT's servers directly, rather than the router, as this can sometimes cause problems, so just cut out the middle man sorting it out for you. I have PM'd you the DNS Servers for BT, as I don't think I can include them here! :P

 

When you enter the DNS, there will be options for hostname, DNS Servers, Search Domain and so on. Complete the hostname (whatever you want your machine to be across the network - eg johnlinux), then supply BT's DNS Servers - normally only for entries one and two. Leave the search domain blank. Continue to the next screen and leave zeroconf blank as well. You don't need this.

 

In relation to your USB hard drive, I too have one, I only plugged it in after installation, and it worked fine. You can mount from the prompt, typing mount /dev/sda1 and you should be able to see it. If not, check in System/Configuration/Configure Your Computer and then System/Services and check that HardDrake is enabled. I find that my USB won't connect if this isn't running.

 

Hope all that helps :D

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Guest pompeyjohn

Thank you both for your replies. It is very heartwarming and encouraging. Here is an update;

 

The mouse is now working! Although on one reboot it wasnt - it would only move up or down the screen. It's a LOT easier to try and work through this all with a mouse :D So that is big good news.

 

With regards to the windows boot-loader question. I cant use the windows install disc as I dont have one - my laptop came with a 'recovery disc' that creates xp and the default image. Very frustrating not being able to use the recovery console. To clear the mbr in the past I have been using program called Bootit NG. I install it, which overwrites the MBR, then immediately remove it which empties the mbr. The program is shareware (30 day funtionality) and does a load more. I dont 'use' it but it has been my fallback when trying to clear the mbr.

 

The format /-root tip is a good one - noted. (I am back to paper and pen at the moment.)

 

I cant post the /etc/fstab contents ..... unless I transcribe it all to paper and then type it up. What should I be looking for in there?

 

The mouse is part of a wireless desktop kit from belkin. There is a base unit that transmits to the wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. The base unit has as standard a usb and ps2 connection. This then connects to a usb and ps2 to usb unit. Convoluted I know, but it does work. Flawlessly in xp. I was all set to edit the XFConfig file but I didnt know how to get a root permission in the editor, so could only open it as readonly. Strangely it is working now. I'm not going to question it until I have a working internet connection, then I'll be able to post here, and mangle at the same time.

 

Thanks for the tip on lilo -u (sometimes U) - very handy to know.

 

I have tried both a static and dynamic connection. I am not getting very far with either. (btw I am rebooting after each reconfig - is this necessary?). Thanks for the bt info - very much appreciated. Cant reach 192.168.1.1

 

This is the info from my router (reached via xp)......

 

DHCP Configuration

DHCP Server is enabled

Start IP: 192.168.1.2

End IP: 192.168.1.254

Primary DNS: 192.168.1.1

 

DNS Configuration

DNS Relay Selection Use auto discovered DNS server only

Preferred DNS Server 139.175.55.224

Alternate DNS Server (blank)

 

Management IP

IP address 192.168.1.1

NetMask 255.255.255.0

def gateway 217.47.206.250

hostname mygateway

Domainname ar7

 

UPnP is not enabled..........should it be?

 

I have tried jiggling with the USB hard drive - plugging it in after the boot has finished. Is does bring up an icon to the desktop. It does seem that every other rebook it appears. Thanks for the mount syntax, that too is now noted, and I'll try it next. I'll also check out disabling HardDrake.

 

Thanks very much for all your help. Determined to get this working!! :D

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To acces the linux partitions when in windows: http://www.asiatica.org/~ludo/archive/2003...Stuff_ext2.html

 

No need to use a pen. :)

 

Acces files as root: Open a console, log in as root (type: su <enter> password <enter>), type vi (that's the editor) /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Hit 'i' for insert, 'esc' for exit insert mode and ':x' for save and exit.

 

Internet: make it a lan connection and let mandriva set it up for you.

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Guest pompeyjohn
No need to use a pen. :)

 

I could kiss you !!

 

This is the contents of fstab whilst in xp

 

# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
/dev/hda5 / ext3 noatime 1 1
/dev/hda7 /home ext3 noatime 1 2
/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom iso9660 user,iocharset=iso8859-15,noauto,ro,exec 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows ntfs umask=0,nls=iso8859-15,ro 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda6 swap swap defaults 0 0

 

I am going to boot back now, and have another go at getting this lan connection to work. Just setting it as lan and leaving it to work itself is sadly not working :wall:

 

Thanks again for all your help?

 

Is there a similar program to the above for viewing ntfs from linux? or am I best just creating a shared fat32 partition?

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UPnP doesn't need to be enabled, as it's only there for devices that would use it.

 

With NTFS, you can view it from Linux, you just can't change anything. If you want to share data, and change it, the partition would need to be FAT32. Windows won't be able to see Linux partitions.

 

Let us know how you get on with the network config. What issues are you experiencing?

 

From a CLI, type su and supply root password, then type ifconfig, and post back the details.

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Guest pompeyjohn
Let us know how you get on with the network config.  What issues are you experiencing?

 

From a CLI, type su and supply root password, then type ifconfig, and post back the details.

 

have setup as lan connection and let mandriva do the rest. Still cant reach router. Here is the results of ifconfig;

 

[root@localhost ~]# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:08:0D:CC:7E:C4
         inet addr:192.168.1.3  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
         inet6 addr: fe80::208:dff:fecc:7ec4/64 Scope:Link
         UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         RX packets:272 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:297 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
         RX bytes:33413 (32.6 Kb)  TX bytes:28822 (28.1 Kb)
         Interrupt:11

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:13 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:13 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
         RX bytes:911 (911.0 b)  TX bytes:911 (911.0 b)

sit0      Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
         inet6 addr: ::127.0.0.1/96 Scope:Unknown
         inet6 addr: ::192.168.1.3/96 Scope:Compat
         UP RUNNING NOARP  MTU:1480  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:0
         RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

[root@localhost ~]#

 

Hope that helps :D

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OK, your network card is up, so we don't have to worry about that.

 

For the network card, did you set the subnet to 255.255.255.0? Did you set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1?

 

Also, do you have a link light from the network card, to show that it's connected to the router? Have you tried different ethernet cables in case it's a cable problem?

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if you are using firefox as browser, don't forget to disable ipv6 there. in order to do this, open firefox, type in the browserbar

 

about:config

 

a new searchbar will be shown. there you type "ipv" and there should be only two results now. select the first one (disable ipv6) and double click on the entry saying "false" in order to set it to "true". now you should be able to access the web without mayor problems.

 

if there are more problems, just ask us. :)

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