[vox-tech] at my wit's end

[Ted Deppner]

On Wed, Nov 01, 2006 at 11:18:14PM -0800, Norm Matloff wrote:
> I just bought a new machine, an HP with an Athlon 64-bit CPU.  I
> tried to install Fedora Core 5, then Mandriva and even Knoppix.
> The problem is my Ethernet connection.
> 
> I have an unusual situation at home, since we use Powerline (i.e.
> connection through the household electric grid) as our LAN, and that

Ugh.  But since you're persistent I'll throw in a few thoughts of my own.

I would guess that your older computers had 100mbit ethernet cards and
your new one has a 1gig ethernet card.

You might try limiting your new ethernet card to 10mbit/half duplex or
100mbit/half duplex, (or other permutations).

This can be trivially accomlished by using the mii-* tools typically.
mii-tool or mii-diag.  They have different options and behaviors so check
your system for which you have and then "man" up (that is read the man
page).

Next, it is *possible* that you won't find a combination that works.  I
have seen combinations of networking equipment that just will not work.
In that case, you may want to explore a cheap and inexpensive switch or
hub to act as a go between.

Lastly, if a physical cable works, then there's no need to try another
distribution... your issue is cabling (powerline or otherwise), so you can
avoid that expense of time of reinstalling and not go down that road
again.

Hope that helps.

-- 
Ted Deppner
http://www.deppner.us/