# [SOLVED] dhcpcd: open_control: Connection refused

## boobzilla

Hi everyone,

Circled around through some of the other distros for a few years and eventually came back to the one I like best. Headaches notwithstanding.

I built a computer (my first), finished my install, and had everything up and running pretty well for a few days. Yesterday I was finishing up some configuration tweaks and trying to get the slim display manager going, and my ethernet started flaking out mid-emerge. First I could get internet access but I couldn't download packages from the georgia tech mirror. Then I couldn't download packages at all. Then the internet was gone.

here's the output of '# lspci -k'

```
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)

   Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 83a3

   Kernel driver in use: r8169

   Kernel modules: r8169
```

What happens when I do '# /etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart'? This:

```
 * Starting eth0

 *   Bringing up eth0

 *     dhcp

 *       Running dhcpcd ...

dhcpcd[4810]: open_control: Connection refused

dhcpcd[4810]: version 5.2.8 starting

dhcpcd[4810]: eth0: waiting for carrier

dhcpcd[4810]: timed out

dhcpcd[4810]: allowing 8 seconds for IPv4LL timeout

dhcpcd[4810]: timed out                                                   [ !! ]
```

Here's a snippet from /var/log/daemon.log

 *Quote:*   

> Feb 28 19:40:59 localhost init: Switching to runlevel: 6
> 
> Feb 28 19:41:02 localhost dhcpcd[3543]: received SIGTERM, stopping
> 
> Feb 28 19:41:02 localhost dhcpcd[3543]: eth0: removing interface
> ...

 

I'm getting to the end of my tether here. Am I getting jammed up by an admin? Is there some weird configuration thing that I'm doing that is screwing with my lease renewal? I have tried everything, from just checking the LAN cables, to rebooting, to modifying /etc/rc.conf, to recompiling the kernel (which, incidentally, really screwed up my framebuffer). I feel like there must be something fundamental that I'm missing, but nothing seems to be wrong except that I can't get an IP. Thanks in advance.Last edited by boobzilla on Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## gerdesj

Start from the beginning and work up the stack.

You've checked the cabling

You have a module running

I am not taking the piss with the following.  If your results differ then please post back - eg you see traffic with tcpdump.

If you have ethtool, tcpdump installed:

```

#ethtool eth0

Settings for eth0:

        Supported ports: [ TP ]

        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 

                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full 

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 

                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full 

        Advertised pause frame use: No

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Speed: Unknown!

        Duplex: Unknown! (255)

        Port: Twisted Pair

        PHYAD: 1

        Transceiver: internal

        Auto-negotiation: on

        MDI-X: Unknown

        Supports Wake-on: g

        Wake-on: g

        Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)

                               drv probe link timer ifdown ifup rx_err tx_err

        Link detected: no

```

Ok, so my eth0 is not plugged in (I'm using Wifi)

```

#ip a

....

2: eth0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN qlen 1000

    link/ether 00:22:19:e2:d2:fe brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

....

```

eth0 is not working on mine either - its not plugged in but I see eth0 listed.  If I use ifconfig instead (soooooo 1990's!)

```

#ifconfig

.....

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:22:19:e2:d2:fe  

          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

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

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

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

          Interrupt:17

.....

```

The UP is rubbish and actually just means there is an interface and not that its working.

```

#tcpdump -i eth0

tcpdump: WARNING: eth0: no IPv4 address assigned

tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode

listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes

```

Nothing, its not plugged in.  Note that you do not need an IP address to see network traffic with tcpdump - you just need a working NIC, despite the warning.

If instead ip a shows STATE-UP then your NIC is working but dhcp isn't.

You mention "an admin".  Are you able to set a static IP address and use that?

Cheers

Jon

----------

## boobzilla

Hi Jon, thanks for getting back on this.

I got tcpdump, libpcap, and ethtool installed, and something is definitely fishy.

```
# /usr/local/sbin/ethtool eth0

Settings for eth0:

   Supported ports: [ TP MII ]

   Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 

                           100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 

                           1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full 

   Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

   Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 

                           100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 

                           1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full 

   Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

   Speed: 10Mb/s

   Duplex: Half

   Port: MII

   PHYAD: 0

   Transceiver: internal

   Auto-negotiation: on

   Supports Wake-on: pumbg

   Wake-on: g

   Current message level: 0x00000033 (51)

   Link detected: no
```

I'm not really an IT guy so I don't know what 3/4 of this stuff means, but there are some differences between mine and yours. The fact that there's no link detected is sort of expected, but it works when I plug the cable into my eeepc.

I am wary of new things, so I did

```
# ifconfig eth0

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 48:5b:39:c0:49:5c  

          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

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

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

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

          Interrupt:43 Base address:0xe000
```

As you say, not all that informative. There is an interface. Based on the previous 'lspci -k', I know that there is also a driver for the interface and that it should work.

```
# /usr/local/sbin/tcpdump -i eth0

tcpdump: eth0: That device is not up
```

Even if I ask it to be verbose, 'tcpdump' has nothing more to add.

----------

## boobzilla

Oh, yeah, by the way: I'm working in a university. They are usually pretty good about allowing traffic in and out except for file sharing. I could probably get a static IP if I filled out a stack of forms. First thing's first though, I just need my connection back.

----------

## boobzilla

Don't know why I didn't try this earlier, but I had ubuntu set up on a separate partition, so I just booted into that instead. Turns out that there is no network connection identified there either, so that suggests faulty hardware. I'll post an update when I've set up a new ethernet interface.

----------

## totally

For what it's worth, I get the same error message. After booting is complete there's no internet connection so I just run

# dhcpcd

by hand. It works. 

In the meantime, every time I reboot, the  /etc/resolv.conf  file is lost and a usable new one isn't generated by dhcpcd during boot. It does generate an unusable one that only contains comments, but no nameservers. I suppose this is the expected behavior although I've never seen it before when diagnosing network problems. After running dhcpcd by hand the file is back to normal.

good luck!

totally

----------

## atmosx

I get the same error but right after the error dhcpcd grabs an IP address from the lease and everything is fine. The error appear somewhat suddenly and I don't know how to make it stop:

```

amilo ~ # /etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart

 * Unmounting network filesystems ...                                                                                                     [ ok ]

 * Stopping eth0

 *   Bringing down eth0

 *     Stopping dhcpcd on eth0 ...                                                                                                        [ ok ]

 *     Shutting down eth0 ...                                                                                                             [ ok ]

 * Starting eth0

 *   Bringing up eth0

 *     dhcp

 *       Running dhcpcd ...

[b]dhcpcd[23462]: open_control: Connection refused[/b]

dhcpcd[23462]: version 5.2.12 starting

dhcpcd[23462]: eth0: rebinding lease of 192.168.3.118

dhcpcd[23462]: eth0: acknowledged 192.168.3.118 from 192.168.3.6

dhcpcd[23462]: eth0: checking for 192.168.3.118

dhcpcd[23462]: eth0: leased 192.168.3.118 for 21600 seconds

dhcpcd[23462]: forked to background, child pid 23491                                                                                      [ ok ]

 *       eth0 received address 192.168.3.118/24

 * Mounting network filesystems ...                           

```

Apparently the error is not affecting me in any way, it's annoying however, if someone knows what to look out for... Network driver is build-in the kernel and everything works smoothly via wired connections.

I'm configuring WiFi right now, but I don't know if has anything to do with this.

regards

----------

