Arrrgghhh! ICS - no help files are helping!

[Guest Roknrol]

 

Ok...I'm sure y'all are thinking to yourselves, "One more idiot that can't RTFM..."

 

Well, I've read it - and I'm still stuck. First off, allow me to say that ASCII art is not my strong point (nor is Linux Networking, but you're figuring that out...)

 

My current setup:

 

Cable Modem --->> NetGear Router --->> Mandriva 2006 --->> Windows XP Pro

 

My Cable Modem is set up for DHCP, however I have assigned a static IP to the Linux box (among other PC's...don't ask) of 192.242.220.10. The "Internal" LAN currently is using 192.168.3.x, although "using" is a misnomer, because it's not doing much.

 

I have one on-board NIC, and one Sun Ethernet card on the Linux Server. The Sun Card has 4 Ethernet ports, named eth0-eth3, respectively, and the on-board NIC is eth4.

 

I can (and have consistantly been able to) connect to the Internet via the Server without any conflicts. (Ok, that's a lie, but they've all been stupid little mistakes on my part, and very brief :) ). I can "see" the Server from every machine that's plugged into the Netgear Router and the Server can see all of them.

 

The Windows XP box (plugged into the onboard eth4) cannot see anything. It can't see the network, it can't see the router, it can't see the other PC's, and it can't see the server. Most of the time it tells me that "Network Cable is Unplugged", however I'm using a functional Crossover cable between the two NIC cards.

 

I have followed almost every wizard and help file that I've come across to no avail :(

 

The hardware appears to be functioning properly. I have gotten all 5 ethernet ports connected directly to the internet with very little hassle.

 

Currently, the Windows XP box *thinks* that it's connected to the network (it still can't see anything), and on the Linux Server it's telling me that the "Network is down on interface eth4." I have configured, reconfigured, yelled, screamed, lost sleep, and nearly cried. Now, in pure-form for a knowledgeless geek, I'm asking for help.

 

Any takers?

 

TIA!

James

Roknrol

[ianw1974]

First, welcome to the board

 

Is there a particular reason the Windows XP machine is connected to the Linux box and not the router? I presume no more available ports, which is why you've done it. If not, it would be better to connect it directly to the router to save the hassle.

 

If, there are no ports, then if you've connected the two machines together via a crossover cable, you should have lights? Do you have lights? If not, I would hazard a guess that the cable is faulty, which would explain why the link is down, or, it's not a crossover cable.

 

What you can then do, if you've not already is this:

 

urpmi drakwizard

 

and then this will install a load of wizards. Then you can go into System/Configuration/Configure Your Computer or also known as mcc, and see if there is a wizard for internet connection sharing. There should be, I do remember seeing one in the past.

 

If you're using Mandriva 2006, you'll need to set up all your urpmi sources before you do this, else you'll not get the wizards installed correctly. There is a link at the top of this page called easyurpmi.

[Guest Roknrol]

First, welcome to the board

Thanks ;)

 

Is there a particular reason the Windows XP machine is connected to the Linux box and not the router? I presume no more available ports, which is why you've done it. If not, it would be better to connect it directly to the router to save the hassle.

Well, it's kind of a long story - I'll try to be brief. Our cable box in our apartment is in our bedroom, my wife has her computer plugged into the router. I have a 50 foot CAT5 cable running around our baseboards out to my computer (we don't have room for another machine in the bedroom). My son recently got a computer (which is next to mine) and the hub that I have is a piece of garbage...whenever one of us is connected, the other crawls. Plus, I got a dual processor Athalon Server from work for free and I figured I could use that to host my FTP as well as MP3s and stuff for everyone...that way it doesn't kill the system that I more frequently use :)

 

If, there are no ports, then if you've connected the two machines together via a crossover cable, you should have lights? Do you have lights? If not, I would hazard a guess that the cable is faulty, which would explain why the link is down, or, it's not a crossover cable.

The crossover cable is good and I'm getting lights on both sides. I've verified the crossover with a tester that I have at work, and I have tried multiple cables as well, so it's probably not that.

 

What you can then do, if you've not already is this:

 

urpmi drakwizard

 

and then this will install a load of wizards. Then you can go into System/Configuration/Configure Your Computer or also known as mcc, and see if there is a wizard for internet connection sharing. There should be, I do remember seeing one in the past.

That was actually the first thing I tried. Although, I will go through it again...just in case :) I did go through the help-files that are stickied here as well...

 

If you're using Mandriva 2006, you'll need to set up all your urpmi sources before you do this, else you'll not get the wizards installed correctly. There is a link at the top of this page called easyurpmi.

Thanks! I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

Oh...and my coworkers think I'm an idiot for not going out and getting a switch. Yeah, that may be, but I *do* actually plan on learning something along the way ;)

Edited May 6, 2006 by Roknrol

[Guest Roknrol]

Nope...just went through the Wizard again and I'm getting the same problem.

 

The Windows box thinks it's connected, but it can only ping it's own IP address - it can't even ping the card that it's attached to.

 

The Server can ping everything *EXCEPT* for the Windows XP box.

 

Linux says that the link is broken, Windows says it's not. For some reason the two cards are not talking to each other.

 

*sigh*...well...should I just get a friggen switch then?

[tyme]

Which one of your ethernet ports is connected to the internet? I would highly suggest using the Sun NIC for all the systems to connect to, and using the onboard NIC to connect to the internet. This is really for simplicities sake and there's not real technical reason that this could fix any of your issues but...sometimes the things that wouldn't logically work - do ;)

 

Now, if all of your systems are running through the server machine and only the server machine is connected to the router then...why are you using the router? Remove it so we can make the system simpler. Connect the server straight to the cable modem. Again, just simplifying the set up to remove any anamolies.

 

Now, to the XP problem...can you run:

ipconfig /all

on the XP machine and post the output? Let's see what it's got in there. From what you're saying, I don't think this is a problem with your Mandriva set up, but rather a problem with XP - unless of course none of the machines connected into the server can get to the internet? If that's the case, my suggestions of removing the router may help - because right now you're basically doing double NAT, once at the router and again at the server, and that can get kinda messy.

[Guest Roknrol]

Which one of your ethernet ports is connected to the internet? I would highly suggest using the Sun NIC for all the systems to connect to, and using the onboard NIC to connect to the internet. This is really for simplicities sake and there's not real technical reason that this could fix any of your issues but...sometimes the things that wouldn't logically work - do ;)

I'll swap 'em back. That was how I had it originally set up, but I was having a helluva time figuring out which of the 4 ports I was connected to :) Now that I know which port is eth3 I can swap 'em, but I figured I should figure out how to get 'em to work beforehand. Regardless, now that I know I can swap 'em...who knows...maybe it'll work ;)

 

Now, if all of your systems are running through the server machine and only the server machine is connected to the router then...why are you using the router?

Because my wife's machine isn't going to go through the Server - it's too far away. It's kind of complicated to explain, so lets just say I'm doing it this way so I only need *one* 50 foot CAT5 cable :)

 

Remove it so we can make the system simpler. Connect the server straight to the cable modem. Again, just simplifying the set up to remove any anamolies.

I can give that a shot temporarily, but for the "final" setup I'll have to throw the router back in place for my wife's computer. Believe me...I'd rather be in a house so I can cable the place how I like (and tear into walls and stuff) rather than fighing a bunch of cables and a lack of space :)

 

Now, to the XP problem...can you run:

ipconfig /all

on the XP machine and post the output?

Certainly :)

Windows IP Configuration
  Hostname:  Ivan
  Primary DNS Suffix:
  Node Type: Unknown
  IP Routing Enabled: No
  WINS Proxy Enabled: No
Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection
  Connection Specific DNS Suffix:
  Description: VIA RHINE II Fast Ethernet Adapter
  Physical Address: 00:0f:ea:37:78:a1
  DHCP Enabled: No
  IP Address: 192.168.3.2
  Subnet Mask:  255.255.255.0
  Default Gateway:  192.168.3.1
  DNS Servers: 68.111.16.25
						  68.111.16.30

 

Let's see what it's got in there. From what you're saying, I don't think this is a problem with your Mandriva set up, but rather a problem with XP - unless of course none of the machines connected into the server can get to the internet?

Right now it's only the XP box that's connected to the server. My personal PC is still connected to a hub (once again, long story) along with the server. I figured I'd rather troubleshoot one machine than 3 :)

 

If that's the case, my suggestions of removing the router may help - because right now you're basically doing double NAT, once at the router and again at the server, and that can get kinda messy.

I'll give it a shot...as long as my wife doesn't kill me for trying :)

Edited May 6, 2006 by Roknrol

[Guest Roknrol]

<We now return you to the continuing saga of "Idiot Boy"...>

 

Well, I yanked the router and now Linux isn't connecting to the internet at all. Things are on hold until I can get that working properly...

 

Since I've been fiddling with all of the different network scripts and stuff, I think I may be better off doing a reinstall and letting it detect everything fresh again - just gotta find my disc ;)

[tyme]

whatever is connected to the cable modem has to be set up to do DHCP, keep that in mind.