[vox-tech] Network Configuration

[ME]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2002, Eric C. Moloy wrote:
> # ifconifg
> # ifconfig eth0

Yes, this is what I wanted. :-)   (See below)

> THE FOLLOWING IS OUTPUT FROM THE COMMAND SHELL IN ROOT:
> 
> [root@penguin /root]# ifconfig
> lo	Link encap:Local Loopback
> 	inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
> 	UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
> 	RX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> 	TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> 	collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

(Please dont think I am being condescending here. I try to target
information for not the the informed but the uninformed who might also be
reading along with you.)

Note the above is missing the "eth0" interface?

In many x86 Linux systems, ifconfig will report all activated (up)
interfaces when you run it without arguements. The above suggests that
"eth0" is not really activated at all. (One of the reasons I suggest these
commands be run.) (lo is a loopback interface, or a pseudo interface to
allow the computer to "talk to itself" over a network without sending any
network traffic to a wire. As a side note, you can ping 127.0.0.1 and see
responses even though those pings are not going to a real netowr wire.)

> [root@penguin /root]# ifconfig eth0
> eth0: error fetching interface information: Device not found

Ah. An explicit call to ifconfig this interface produces these
results. This strongly suggests that the ethernet card has not been
recognized at all by Linux. Either the driver has not been loaded, the
driver loaded for the card has problems or, the card does not work with
Linux with your currect configuration of kernel and drivers.
(I am sure there are other possible reasons, but these include about 96%
by experience.)

Now it appears to be a driver problem. (Good start to identification)

Who makes your ethernet card?
What is the model?
What IRQ and IO ports does it use?
Is it PCI, EISA, ISA, or?

(If you need help with the above, we can prompt you with more specific
information on the questions. Acronyms and abbrevions used can sometimes
be foreign when you are unfamiliar with them.)

If you have Windows running on this box, you can try booting into windows
and seeing what the name and model of the ethernet card windows says you
have as well as IRQ and IO ports.

Look at the originbal computer information to see what model ethernet card
you have.

If it is a PCI based Ethernet card, you can copy and past the results of
# lspci
and we might be able to find out answers to the above.

Knowing the model, vendor, IO ports and IRQ are some key things that many
of us can likely use to help you get the card recognized. (Sometimes they
are needed to tell Linux where to find the device for which the driver is
being loaded.)

Once eth0 is recognized, we can proceed with the rest of the items (that
will likely just "work" with very little more work.)

Another thing you can try (if you want) is this:

# dmesg | grep eth
If you just see another:
#
Then that suggests no eth interfaces were found by the starting
kernel. (What I expect you would see.) 

If you see a result that includes the word "eth" followed by a number
grater than or equal to zero (e.g. eth0, eth1, eth2) then we have a very
interresting problem indeed.

If after getting your hardware to be recognized there are stil problems,
we can look to ipchains or network filters or physical wiring errors.

-ME

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS/CM$/IT$/LS$/S/O$ !d--(++) !s !a+++(-----) C++$(++++) U++++$(+$) P+$>+++ 
L+++$(++) E W+++$(+) N+ o K w+$>++>+++ O-@ M+$ V-$>- !PS !PE Y+ !PGP
t@-(++) 5+@ X@ R- tv- b++ DI+++ D+ G--@ e+>++>++++ h(++)>+ r*>? z?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
decode: http://www.ebb.org/ungeek/ about: http://www.geekcode.com/geek.html