# Connection Problems

## neosenate

Hi,

I'm having a lot of problems connecting to the internet, both with my ethernet connection and through wireless (using ndiswrapper).

Hardware:

Advent 6117 Laptop

Netgear MA521 PCMCIA wireless card / Ethernet cable

Belkin ADSL wireless router/modem (Model No. F5D7630-4A)

Software:

VLOS 1.2

Ndiswrapper ndis5x-8180(173).zip (Driver for the Netgear card)

My router is using PPPoA to connect to my network provider but I have the DHCP Server enabled.

If I connect the router to my laptop by ethernet cable, I wait a couple of seconds and then everything freezes. I don't have any mouse or keyboard control. I've left the system for an hour or two just to make sure it wasn't processing anything and come back to find it exactly the way I left it. The only thing I can do is restart the system.

As ndiswrapper was already emerged by VLOS 1.2 on install, I haven't needed to install it. I downloaded the driver for my card and went through the installation instructions. When I get to the instructions:

```

# iwconfig wlan0 key restricted XXXXXXXX

# iwconfig wlan0 essid ESSID

```

At this point the link light on my PCMCIA card comes on (as it would if I am connected to the router) and then everything freezes again. I have to restart to gain control of the system.

I read that the driver I am trying to use can be unstable, but I have as yet not been able to download the driver suggested in in this installation guide

I can't understand what the problem is. I'm pretty sure it's not a problem with the kernel, as I had this same problem with VLOS 1.1. I'd prefer wireless access of course (as I've paid for the bloody hardware!) but any kind of connection would be nice!

Any help would be much appreciated.

With thanks

N.

----------

## LoDown

It sounds to be like it is a DHCP problem.  Perhaps dis-able how your NIC's are calling DHCP, and set the IP address, route, and nameservers manually, just to test if this is the case.

To set ip

```
ifconfig eth0 down

ifconfig eth0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

ifconfig eth0 up
```

To set name servers

```
cp /etc/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf.old

cat "nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" > /etc/resolv.conf

```

To set the route

```
route add default gw xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx eth0
```

 where that IP address is the IP of your router.

Replace eth0 with whatever interface you are using.

----------

## neosenate

Thanks for the reply.

I got up to this command:

```

ifconfig eth0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

```

and the system has frozen again.  

Cheers

N

----------

## neosenate

I've just been talking to belkin support who have told me the router operates independently of the OS on the network node.  Does anyone else know of anything else I can try?

Cheers

N

----------

## funkyrikg

Initially I'd agree with LoDown, it sounds like a DHCP problem.  However, I also had some major issues with ndiswrapper and the driver for my Wireless card, and the symptoms I had were very much like yours, system freezes ya da ya da.

I would suggest the following to get you started, some connection is better than none.

1) Edit the /etc/conf.d/net such that eth0 has a hard-wired IP addy 

```
iface_eth0="192.168.1.5 broadcast 192.168.1.255 netmask 255.255.255.0"
```

2) Remove the wireless card from startup (if its there) 

```
rc-update del net.wlan0
```

3) Try restarting your eth0 interface.

```
/etc/init.d/net.eth0 stop; /etc/init.d/net.eth0 start
```

Once you have your kit up and running it should be a lot easier to start making changes to determine where the problem lies.  I would ensure that you can get DHCP working for at least your ethernet card.  If DHCP works fine for the ethernet card, we can rule that out, therefore the underlying problem may be with your Wireless kit.

I believe the underlying problem I had my wireless card was the version of the driver.  The chipset of my card was minor revision 3, the driver was minor revision 1.  Window$ didn't care but ndiswrapper seemed sensitive.  So perhaps check that the driver is definately correct for your card (check for updates with your vendor).

As I said at the top of this post, I upgraded the kernel 2.6 following the handy guide http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/migration-to-2.6.xml and since doing so I have had no pain at all with Wireless.  Not sure which Kernel your using or how its compiled, but it may be worth a crack if you have a free weekend.

----------

## neosenate

Thanks for the last post.  

I got upto command number 3 and the system froze again.  

I edited conf.d/net to use a static IP address and then instead of starting and stopping the system then, I restarted with the new file.

The system froze when started eth0.

Could this be a problem with genkernel not loading the apropriate module for my ethernet?

I don't understand how both my ethernet AND wireless can be freezing the system. 

Any help up till this point and further help is appreciated

Cheers

----------

## funkyrikg

I think if your having issues with your ethernet card too then perhaps you have more serious problems, though I'm not yet convinced that they are unrelated to your wireless card.  

How did you compile your kernel?  Manually or using genkernel?  It may be  worthwhile taking some time to go back over that phase of your installation, compile your kernel manually following the instructions in the Gentoo docs.  

Initially I would remove support for wireless, see if you can get your system stable with just your ethernet card.  Once you have a stable system getting wireless to work may be easier.

To be honest I didn't get stability until I upgraded my system to the latest stable kernel version.  I then emerge'd system and world.  Maybet it would be worth your while doing this.

----------

## neosenate

Ok the status of things right now are....I've reinstalled Gentoo with the new 2005.1 CD.  The system boots up fine without the ethernet cable in. 

When the ethernet cable is in the system says

```

Starting eth0

        Bringing up eth0

        dhcp

              Running dhcpcd....

```

Now the system doesn't freeze anymore as the cursor is still blinking.  The light on my router is blinking which would suggest there is some communication going on but I've left the system for an hour and it's still running dhcpcd.

The same symptoms occur when I let the system boot without the ethernet cable in and then start eth0 manually.

I've also tried setting the router to use a Static IP addy and setting the address in gentoo myself - still with the same result as above.

Thanks for any help

----------

## funkyrikg

Hi neosenate,

Can you please post your /etc/conf.d/net configuration.

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## neosenate

yeah sure this is the configuration:

```

#config_eth0=( "192.168.2.5 netmask 255.255.255.0" )

#routes_eth0=( "default gw 192.168.2.1" )

config_eth0=( "dhcp" )

dhcp_eth0="nontp  nonis"

```

The first two lines are commented out.  I left them in there so u can see how I attempted to set the connection without DHCP.

EDIT: If I comment out the dhcp_eth0="nontp nonis" line I get a !! on boot and netmount isn't started.  If I leave it in it says 'Running dhcpcd...' and that's where it stays.

In my /etc/conf.d/domainname file I have DNSDOMAIN="Belkin"

and my /etc/conf.d/hostname HOSTNAME="tux".

my /etc/hosts file looks like this...

```

127.0.0.1 localhost tux

#192.168.2.2 k.Belkin k

#192.168.2.3 DESKTOP.Belkin DESKTOP

#192.168.2.4 tux.Belkin tux

# IPV6 versions of localhost and co

::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback

fe00::0 ip6-localnet

ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix

ff02::1 ip6-allnodes

ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

```

the specific network nodes are commented out as I didn't want to confuse the problem.

Thanks for all the help

N

----------

## neosenate

*shameless shameless bump*

If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it.  We're building a new system and if I can't get this working on the laptop there ain't no way I'll be allowed to try and put this on it!  

Cheers

----------

## neosenate

ok I set my /etc/conf.d/net file to the following to see if I can manually set the IP etc

```
config_eth0=( "192.168.2.4 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.2.100" )

routes_eth0=( "default via 192.168.2.1" )

```

I then run 

```
/etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart
```

I get this:

```
Stopping eth0

  Bringing down eth0

    Shutting down eth0 ...

Starting eth0

  Bringing up eth0

    192.168.2.4

  Adding routes

    default gw 192.168.2.1

```

If I try and ping my router I get 100% packet loss.

Interestingly enough if I run route -n I get the following

```

Kernel IP routing table

Destination Gateway     Genmask         Flags   Metric   Ref   Use   Iface

192.168.2.0 0.0.0.0     255.255.255.0    U       0        0    0     eth0

127.0.0.0   127.0.0.1   255.0.0.0        U       0        0    0     lo

0.0.0.0     192.168.2.1 0.0.0.0          UG      0        0    0     eth0

```

Now I obviously don't know much about much but I didn't think eth0 should be there twice with two different gateways and two different destinations.

Cheers

----------

## j0nnyr0773n

Were you ever able to get your wireless working?  I have the exact same wireless card MA521 and I cannot get it up either.  I was able to get the drivers installed and everything, but everytime I type

 *Quote:*   

> dhcpcd wlan0

 

the system freezes for good, and I have to shut the power off.  Same thing if I boot with the card in.  It's supposedly in the list of compatible cards, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.  To make things worse, I do not have any other way to connect with the laptop, as it has no ethernet ports on it.  

-=j0nnyr0773n=-

----------

## neosenate

No I never got the wireless or the ethernet working at all.  After trying the new versions of Gentoo and VLOS, I tried SUSE, Ubuntu and Mandrake.  I still haven't managed to fix the problem.  The same problem occurs on every version of linux I put on the laptop - the system just freezes when I plug in the ethernet cable or try to connect with the wireless card.  

I posted on my uni newsgroups and someone there said it sounds like a problem with the kernel but I have absolutely NO idea how to diagnose the problem let alone fix it!  It's really annoying as well because it basically means I have a laptop that is sat there.  I know it's possible to use it without the internet but even simple things like installing new software becomes an absolute pita!

If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.

Cheers

----------

