# Crazy unknown networking problems?

## Kas_

So, I've been having a lot of problems with gentoo in general. I'll just post my networking problems here though. 

So first, the cupsd stopped working and i believe this is a networking problem more than a configuration problem because i configured it the same way as i did on my laptop which is running gentoo and it works on my laptop but stopped working on gentoo. 

Second, I tried to configure a static ip address on gentoo via /etc/conf.d/net file and it used to work but now it gives me an error that says : RTNETLINK answers: invalid argument. It gives me this error when i restart net.eth0. 

Third, I'm now using a dhcp connection that used to work yesterday and just completely stopped working.  I cannot ping to google but the DNS servers are fine because google's ip address is showing up. i can ping to my router and my laptop works so i'm pretty certain it is not my router's fault. 

Everything else on my network is compeltely fine. I think I might have configured stuff wrong for my kernel when i first was setting things up and now that stuff is catching up with me...i don't know. I really have no idea what's happening. Please help.Last edited by Kas_ on Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## NeddySeagoon

Kas_,

Lets start with checking out your kernel.   Post the output of lspci, so we can see what network modules you need.

We only need the lines relevant to networking but please don't copy type it unless thats all you can do.

A photo on a free photo site will be better than typos.

Also show us the interfaces you have in 

```
ifconfig -a
```

Provided you have an eth0 there, post the content of /etc/conf.d/net and /etc/resolv.

If eth0 is missing, the content of those files does not matter.  You have to get the kernel to show the interface before you can configure it.

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## Kas_

Ok, so internet is now working and i have no idea why but it works now. Everything else still does not work. 

ifconfig -a

http://bpaste.net/show/82795

lspci

http://bpaste.net/show/82796

/etc/conf.d/net

http://bpaste.net/show/82797

/etc/resolv.conf

http://bpaste.net/show/82798

dmesg

http://bpaste.net/show/82799

Thanks so much for this.

Oh, maybe I should mention this but I'm not sure how relevant this is. I connect to a vpn from time to time and that seems to mess with my networking a lot. I think i don't disconnect properly or whatever. normally i can ctrl-c out of it but sometimes that does not work so i'll just exit the terminal and that could mess stuff up. But most likely, i think things happen because i don't know a lot about hardware so i kinda just wing the custom kernel part.

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## NeddySeagoon

Kas_,

You should use your ISPs nameservers unless they are really badly broken. They are much closer to you, in network terms than Google.

Your router probably keeps a caching DNS server too, that should be first in your nameserver list, then your ISP nameserver(s). You are allowed three.

If you can't reach your ISP, you probably can't get to Google either  :)

Ouch!

```
[   11.488003] r8168 Gigabit Ethernet driver 8.032.00-NAPI loaded

[   11.488133] r8168 0000:02:00.0: irq 41 for MSI/MSI-X

[   11.488388] eth%d: RTL8168D/8111D at 0xffffc9000060c000, 6c:62:6d:83:df:46, IRQ 41

[   11.560812] r8168: This product is covered by one or more of the following patents: US5,307,459, US5,434,872, US5,732,094, US6,570,884, US6,115,776, and US6,327,625.

[   11.560814] eth0: Identified chip type is 'RTL8168D/8111D'.

[   11.560816] r8168  Copyright (C) 2012  Realtek NIC software team <nicfae@realtek.com> 
```

Realtek are not noted for maintaining their linux software.  You should use the r8169 driver from your kernel.

Everything else looks OK.

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## Kas_

i would normally use my ISP's nameservers but I probably incorrectly configure my VPN which causes DNS leaking...or whatever it is that shows up on dnsleaktest.com. Normally I use Commodo's public dns servers though. 

And r8169 did not work. i actually had to change it to r8168 because of some problem with PCI that i can't remember.

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## Kas_

So the problem is happening again. And I kinda think it's a router problem but maybe not. Neither the wifi on my iphone nor my computer computer is connecting to the internet however, my laptop is. 

I have two monitors and sometimes the taskbar extends to my second monitor and sometimes it doesn't. The times that it does extend are the times that it takes longer for startx to load everything and bring up the GUI. 

Conveniently, those are also the times that I get this problem with eth0. I still have a problem with setting a static IP address. When I restart eth0, I get the RTNETLINK error.

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