# [Solved] "network interface eth0 does not exist" Please help

## Moonpanther

Ok, so I've been a couple of days trying to get my Gentoo system working from my HD, and that's finally working, but now I can't connect to the internet.

On startup I get the message

```

     network interface eth0 does not exist

     Please verify hardware or kernel module (driver)

ERROR: cannot start netmount as net.eth0 could not start

```

I tried looking in my kernel config and checked to make sure the drivers for my Realtek ethernet card were compiled into the kernel (8139cp and 8139too), but it doesn't seem to help at all. Any ideas? Any code I need to publish here?Last edited by Moonpanther on Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:31 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## vaguy02

Did it work on the LiveCD? If so, reboot using the livecd and do an lsmod and check to make sure you have the same drives compiled into the new kernel.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> Did it work on the LiveCD? If so, reboot using the livecd and do an lsmod and check to make sure you have the same drives compiled into the new kernel.

 

Yea, I actually have no idea if they match up. This is what I have from lsmod:

```

Module                  Size  Used by

ipv6                  239204  8 

bridge                 51992  0 

llc                     9524  1 bridge

radeon                116000  2 

drm                    76596  3 radeon

snd_seq_midi           10048  0 

snd_emu10k1_synth       8896  0 

snd_emux_synth         33376  1 snd_emu10k1_synth

snd_seq_virmidi         8768  1 snd_emux_synth

snd_seq_midi_emul       7904  1 snd_emux_synth

snd_seq_oss            31808  0 

snd_seq_midi_event      8992  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss

snd_seq                49104  8 snd_seq_midi,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event

snd_pcm_oss            38208  0 

snd_mixer_oss          17504  1 snd_pcm_oss

dock                   12336  0 

video                  20752  0 

backlight               7172  1 video

output                  5696  1 video

ac                      8132  0 

battery                15652  0 

fan                     6756  0 

snd_emu10k1           128288  2 snd_emu10k1_synth

snd_rawmidi            24768  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1

snd_ac97_codec         96164  1 snd_emu10k1

ac97_bus                4096  1 snd_ac97_codec

snd_pcm                69252  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec

snd_seq_device          9804  7 snd_seq_midi,snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi

snd_timer              23300  3 snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm

snd_page_alloc         12040  2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm

snd_util_mem            6560  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1

snd_hwdep              10820  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1

snd                    51268  15 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer,snd_hwdep

soundcore               9600  1 snd

8139too                27552  0 

8139cp                 23776  0 

mii                     7264  2 8139too,8139cp

emu10k1_gp              5760  0 

parport_pc             39780  0 

parport                36392  1 parport_pc

usblp                  16000  0 

analog                 13472  0 

gameport               16520  3 emu10k1_gp,analog

floppy                 56452  0 

pcspkr                  5152  0 

shpchp                 33204  0 

pci_hotplug            29792  1 shpchp

i2c_nforce2             8448  0 

i2c_core               24384  1 i2c_nforce2

nvidia_agp             10364  1 

agpgart                33864  2 drm,nvidia_agp

button                 10416  0 

thermal                18108  0 

processor              39560  1 thermal

tg3                   106244  0 

e1000                 114368  0 

raid10                 24512  0 

raid456               124176  0 

async_memcpy            4736  1 raid456

async_xor               5984  1 raid456

xor                    16456  2 raid456,async_xor

async_tx                9836  3 raid456,async_memcpy,async_xor

raid1                  24608  0 

raid0                  10112  0 

dm_bbr                 14080  0 

dm_snapshot            19172  0 

dm_mirror              23744  0 

dm_mod                 58116  3 dm_bbr,dm_snapshot,dm_mirror

sbp2                   23912  0 

ohci1394               32592  0 

ieee1394               87384  2 sbp2,ohci1394

sl811_hcd              14048  0 

usbhid                 30272  0 

ohci_hcd               26724  0 

ssb                    33092  1 ohci_hcd

uhci_hcd               25520  0 

usb_storage            79904  0 

ehci_hcd               34572  0 

usbcore               136300  8 usblp,sl811_hcd,usbhid,ohci_hcd,uhci_hcd,usb_storage,ehci_hcd

lpfc                  215952  0 

qla2xxx               163524  0 

megaraid_sas           29712  0 

megaraid_mbox          32400  0 

megaraid_mm            12512  1 megaraid_mbox

megaraid               38856  0 

aacraid                64036  0 

sx8                    19660  0 

DAC960                 68168  0 

cciss                  36772  0 

cpqarray               22148  0 

3w_9xxx                33476  0 

3w_xxxx                27040  0 

mptsas                 37448  0 

scsi_transport_sas     31584  1 mptsas

mptfc                  19940  0 

scsi_transport_fc      43556  3 lpfc,qla2xxx,mptfc

mptspi                 22056  0 

mptscsih               35360  3 mptsas,mptfc,mptspi

mptbase                72836  4 mptsas,mptfc,mptspi,mptscsih

atp870u                29632  0 

dc395x                 33612  0 

qla1280               117868  0 

dmx3191d               14176  0 

sym53c8xx              72244  0 

qlogicfas408            8896  0 

aha152x                36720  0 

advansys               79200  0 

initio                 19044  0 

BusLogic               67284  0 

arcmsr                 24256  0 

aic7xxx               158872  0 

aic79xx               234808  0 

scsi_transport_spi     24928  6 mptspi,dmx3191d,sym53c8xx,aha152x,aic7xxx,aic79xx

sg                     35088  0 

pdc_adma               11652  0 

sata_inic162x          14180  0 

sata_mv                22984  0 

ahci                   28324  0 

sata_qstor             11908  0 

sata_vsc               10660  0 

sata_uli                9508  0 

sata_sis               10660  0 

sata_sx4               14564  0 

sata_nv                27208  0 

sata_via               13476  0 

sata_svw                9732  0 

sata_sil24             18052  0 

sata_sil               13000  0 

sata_promise           15076  0 

scsi_wait_scan          3360  0 

pata_pcmcia            15616  0 

pcmcia                 39308  2 ssb,pata_pcmcia

b1                     25024  0 

kernelcapi             40340  1 b1

pcmcia_core            39348  2 pata_pcmcia,pcmcia

firmware_class         11264  3 snd_emu10k1,qla2xxx,pcmcia

```

I recognize the 8139c and 8139too as related to my ethernet card, and mii (Generic Media Independent Interface device support) is also compiled into the kernel, but I otherwise don't really know what I'm looking at.

Moonpanther

----------

## vaguy02

The one that sticks out at me is the e1000 driver. That's an Intel Ethernet (helps if I spell it right) device driver. My recommendation would be to check if your current kernel has that enabled. It's a shot in the dark, but I can't think of anything else atm.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> The one that sticks out at me is the e1000 driver. That's an Intel Ethernet (helps if I spell it right) device driver. My recommendation would be to check if your current kernel has that enabled. It's a shot in the dark, but I can't think of anything else atm.

 

That got net.eth0 to start, so thanks there. Still not getting any internet, though. Any suggestions on how to get that going?

----------

## vaguy02

So, net.eth0 now starts. Progress is being made. Can you post 

```
ifconfig
```

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> So, net.eth0 now starts. Progress is being made. Can you post 
> 
> ```
> ifconfig
> ```
> ...

 

```

eth0  Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0D:61:04:0D:B7

        inet addr: 192.168.0.2  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

        inet6 addr: fe80::20d:61ff:fe04:db7/64  Scope:Link

        UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

        RX packets:21  errors:0  dropped:0  overruns:0  frame:0

        TX packets:8  errors:0  dropped:0  overruns:0  carrier:0

        collisions:0  txqueuelen:1000

        RX bytes:2955  (2.8 Kb)  TX bytes:588 (588.0 b)

        Interrupt:16  Base address:0xc800

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:40  errors:0  dropped:0  overruns:0  frame:0

        TX packets:40  errors:0  dropped:0  overruns:0  carrier:0

        collisions:0  txqueuelen:1000

        RX bytes:3408  (3.3 Kb)  TX bytes:3408 (3.3 Kb)

```

Had to type that out my hand, but I proofread it.

----------

## vaguy02

Is the IP static or pulled from DHCP?

If it's pulled from DHCP, since it did get an IP, it looks like it's working properly. 

Try this:

```
ping 209.131.36.158
```

Then try

```
ping www.yahoo.com
```

This will test to see if the DNS resolves the ip correctly or not.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> Is the IP static or pulled from DHCP?
> 
> If it's pulled from DHCP, since it did get an IP, it looks like it's working properly. 
> 
> Try this:
> ...

 

I believe the IP is pulled from DHCP.

When I try pinging the first it keeps coming up as "Destination Host Unreachable" When I stop it from pinging uselessly, I get:

```

22 packets transmitted, 0 received, +15 errors, 100% packet loss, time 21031ms, pipe 3

```

When I try pinging Yahoo, it comes up as "unknown host www.yahoo.com"

EDIT: This is also from the first ping (the IP address)

```
PING 209.131.36.158 (209.131.36.158) 56(84) bytes of data.

From 192.168.0.2 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
```

And then it continues just changing the number after "icmp_seq="

When I looked I thought that might be the important part.Last edited by Moonpanther on Fri Aug 01, 2008 2:38 am; edited 1 time in total

----------

## vaguy02

Are you sure the router is working correctly?

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> Are you sure the router is working correctly?

 

I'm using the router to write this post on a wireless connection to my laptop. And I have an internet connection from the LiveCD.

----------

## vaguy02

Are the entries in /etc/resolv.conf correct? They should be pointing to your router.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> Are the entries in /etc/resolv.conf correct? They should be pointing to your router.

 

I have no entries in /etc/resolv.conf other than my domain, which is entirely arbitrarily made up. How do I point it to my router?

----------

## vaguy02

it should look something like this

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> nameserver <<router ip>>
> 
> 

 

This tells gentoo how to process DNS entries and part of the install is to copy the resolv.conf from the livecd to the new environment.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> it should look something like this
> 
>  *Quote:*   
> 
> nameserver <<router ip>>
> ...

 

How do I find my router ip?

----------

## Moonpanther

Also, is there anything I need to do once that's been added properly?

----------

## vaguy02

Try this instead. Boot the livecd, then do 

```
nano /etc/resolv.conf
```

Write down the config, boot your environment and put that into your environments 

```
nano /etc/resolv.conf
```

That way you know it's correct. I don't think it will solve all our problems but I think it's a step in the right direction.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> Try this instead. Boot the livecd, then do 
> 
> ```
> nano /etc/resolv.conf
> ```
> ...

 

It has the exact same thing on the LiveCD as it does in my own environment. Actually, if I don't chroot into it, it has nothing, then when I do it's the same thing.

----------

## vaguy02

I'm assuming you are writting post on another computer. Is it windows or Mac or what?

If Windows: Start >> Run >> "CMD"

```
ipconfig /all
```

This will tell us the router IP as well as your DNS settings from a working internet computer.

Also, can you post your network topology. Meaning the internet comes in here, then I have this, then it hooks into that, etc.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> I'm assuming you are writting post on another computer. Is it windows or Mac or what?
> 
> If Windows: Start >> Run >> "CMD"
> 
> ```
> ...

 

It is a Windows machine. I'm guessing the selection under "IP Address" is the router IP? 192.168.1.100, if so.

DNS servers: 72.0.102.11

                    72.0.102.12

The internet comes from a shared network I have at my apartment. It starts with a network plug in the wall, then it goes into a Linksys Wireless router. The router connects wirelessly to my laptop and has a hardwired connection to my new Linux box (used to run XP on it, but got sick of it). Is that what you were looking for?

----------

## vaguy02

actually 1.100 is your ip for your laptop. The "Default Gateway" is the router ip. 

That's strange though, if your router is giving you 192.168.1.* ip addresses, why does your gentoo box have 192.168.0.2

Do you have anything in :

/etc/conf.d/net

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> actually 1.100 is your ip for your laptop. The "Default Gateway" is the router ip. 
> 
> That's strange though, if your router is giving you 192.168.1.* ip addresses, why does your gentoo box have 192.168.0.2
> 
> Do you have anything in :
> ...

 

Ok, so Default Gateway is 192.168.1.1

I have the following in /etc/conf.d/net:

```
dns_domain_lo="Verse"

config_eth0=( "192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 brd 192.168.2.255" )

routes_eth0=( "default via 192.168.0.1" )
```

I think the IP was, once again, from the install and I just copied what was in the Handbook for code as it said it wasn't important.

----------

## vaguy02

There's the problem!!  :Smile: 

Just delete the config and routes lines from the net script, save it. and restart. It will assume DHCP if not found in net, and it should fix your issues.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> There's the problem!! 
> 
> Just delete the config and routes lines from the net script, save it. and restart. It will assume DHCP if not found in net, and it should fix your issues.

 

Now it says 

```

   No DHCP client installed

ERROR: cannot start netmount as net.eth0 could not start

```

Was I supposed to get rid of the whole line, or just the IPs?

----------

## vaguy02

The whole line. 

Did you install the dhcpcd client like the install doc said for dynamic addresses?

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> The whole line. 
> 
> Did you install the dhcpcd client like the install doc said for dynamic addresses?

 

I honestly don't remember. How would I go about that?

----------

## vaguy02

Well.....

You would need to boot the livecd, mount the drives, chroot to the environment, update the profiles, then do an emerge dhcpcd.

Then, you would be able to shutdown and reboot into your new environment and you should be able to get an address.

I have to get to bed, it's nearly midnight and I have to get up for work at 6:30, maybe someone else can walk you through it tonight, if not, I can probably do it in the morning.

----------

## Moonpanther

Thank you so much for your help. I'll try that out, then post here one way or the other. I appreciate everything you've done.

----------

## pappy_mcfae

I'm here to take over, if you're interested.

Blessed be!

Pappy

----------

## vaguy02

I got an idea when I was getting ready this morning.

change your /etc/conf.d/net to:

```

config_eth0=( "192.168.1.200 netmask 255.255.255.0 brd 192.168.2.255" ) 

routes_eth0=( "default via 192.168.1.1" )

```

Then restart the interface

```

/etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart

```

As long as the router is not too intelligent, that should work and give you internet. Then you will be able to

```
emerge dhcpcd
```

Without having to do all the steps listed above. Then I would recommend removing the lines again, to allow the dynamic address from the router to take over.

Let me know.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *vaguy02 wrote:*   

> I got an idea when I was getting ready this morning.
> 
> change your /etc/conf.d/net to:
> 
> ```
> ...

 

No luck on this one. Guess the router is more intelligent than we thought. Somebody brought up in this thread: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-5169947.html#5169947 that I should copy the /etc/resolv.conf from the host system into the chroot environment. How do I go about doing that? I can emerge from the LiveCD, so that might be a good step in the right direction.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *pappy_mcfae wrote:*   

> I'm here to take over, if you're interested.
> 
> Blessed be!
> 
> Pappy

 

Thanks, Pappy. I appreciate the offer.

----------

## vaguy02

We already tried that in a previous thread. The problem is not the resolv which takes the name and converts it to the ip address the problem is that the gentoo box isn't talking to the router correctly. 

Okay, lets go through the steps that you need to do in order to get your environment from the livecd to install dhcpcd. This would probably be easier over AIM or something, but whatever. Here we go.

Start the livecd.

then mount the drives  ie. 

```

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo

```

then copy your resolv.conf file (just because we didn't do it before, might be safer for later

```

cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/

```

Then mount the proc and bind

```

 mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc

 mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev

```

Then change to the new environment

```

 chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash

 env-update

 source /etc/profile

 export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"

```

now that you are in your environment from the gentoo livecd, try

```

emerge dhcpcd

```

Give that a try and let me know.

----------

## Moonpanther

Ok, so it emerged this time in the chrooted environment. I'm about to go out of town until Sunday, so I won't know if it's worked until I get back, but I appreciate the help and will let you know as soon as I get back.

----------

## Moonpanther

 *Moonpanther wrote:*   

> Ok, so it emerged this time in the chrooted environment. I'm about to go out of town until Sunday, so I won't know if it's worked until I get back, but I appreciate the help and will let you know as soon as I get back.

 

Back in town. Here's the update.

I tried just before leaving to use Portage, but it was giving me basically the same problem as before that it couldn't communicate with anything. I tried pinging gentoo.org with no luck, but it pinged an IP fine with no problems. I went out of town disappointed.

However, while I was out of town it occured to me what the problem was. I never changed my /etc/conf.d/net back from the attempted shortcut we tried. So, when I got home this morning, I erased the extranious lines then tried to emerge lynx so I'd at least have some ability to browse. And it works now!

I'm writing this in lynx since I have a lesson to teach in a few and haven't had time to get a GUI on here, but I'm now working with a mostly functional Gentoo machine. Thank you so much for all the help and I hope not to have to come back here for more in the reasonably near future, or at least have Firefox when I do.

Moonpanther

----------

## pappy_mcfae

Awesome!

Blessed be!

Pappy

----------

## vaguy02

No problem. Glad to help.

----------

## cpeters

I was doing a google search and came across this post which has answered a lot of my question so far but i am still having the same problem as moonpanther.

***I am a little confused and i think my problem may lie in the way i configured my kernel.***

I have completed the install and when i boot gentoo it gives me the following error:

* Starting eth0

*   Bringing up eth0

*     dhcp

*       network interface eth0 does not exist

*       Please verify hardware or kernel module (driver) 

Right now i'm booted into the cd and chrooted into my environment.  When i run the command ifconfig it brings up an eth0, eth1 and lo.  The eth0 shows the ip address of my router: 192.168.1.7 (not sure because the router is 192.168.1.1).  So i assume that eth0 is the one should use.

when i go into my /etc/resolv.conf it shows: nameserver 192.168.1.1 (which looks right to me)

**I think my problem my lie in the /etc/conf.d/net file which i set up following the handbook:

config_eth0=( "dhcp" )

dhcp_eth0="nodns nontp nonis"

I've been searching both the gentoo forums and google and this is the best thread i've found but i just can't seem to find the answer even though we have the same problem.  There also wasn't really a conclusion and final answer.  Moonpanther just said he installed lynx and it worked.  If you could take a look and help me solve this i would greatly appreciate it.

I thought i was doing extremely well.  I followed the handbook and got through the installation without any problems and then i can't seem to figure out how to setup the network.  Thanks

----------

## FrankRizz0

Try as root dhcpcd eth0

----------

## cpeters

after i am logged in as root, do you mean just enter the command dhcpcd eth0?

this is the result of dhcpcd eth0:

err,  eth0: ioctl SIOCGIFHWADDR: No such device

**should i just post a new thread since this one is already marked as solved?**

----------

## pappy_mcfae

Yes, please do. 

Thanks.

Blessed be!

Pappy

----------

## vaguy02

I think it's probably a driver issue like the original post. 

1.)Do an lsmod in the livecd environment and post the drivers it loads, we can probably pick out your network driver from that.

2.)If the driver is correct, it's possible it wasn't loaded into the kernel properly, so the next step would be to determine if the driver is loaded as a module or compiled in?

Either way, lets start at the beginning and do number 1.

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## cpeters

Thanks.  I started a new post since this one was already marked as solved.  I did fix the problem though but thanks anyway.

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