# Time out waiting for dhcp server at boot-up

## 0ver.bi+e

 :Confused:  Hello all.

Here is my quandary. I had connected to the internet via a 4-port router and then a cable modem over the summer. Everything was cool...until I returned to school, alone, and without the need for the router.

Now, I am not receiving a link/act light on my NIC. And, when I checked my current /var/logs, I found the following message as the last listing when boot-up attempted to bring up eth0:

"Setting full-duplex based on MII#1 link partner capability of 41e1"

I have perused several forums (beowulf.org, etc.) and can't pinpoint a direct course of action. (Some say newer Tulip drivers, some say configuration script modification, some say both)

Any suggestions?  :Confused:   :Confused: 

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## pjp

Does the new driver work?

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## 0ver.bi+e

I have not built the new driver, yet. But, more importantly, the old driver worked. (making me suspect something other than the driver)

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## Plaz

Can you describe the equipment connections in more detail?  It sounds like the NIC used to be connected into a 4-port router and now isn't.  Are you trying to connect it directly to the same cable modem as before or are you going through a different switch of some sort.  If the former, you switched to a crossover cable, right?  Does the link at the far end of the cable show a link light?  Does any other computer equipment hook up to the same connection point without trouble.

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## Xor

well I assume you had:

PC - Router - Modem

and now you have:

PC - Modem

you might want to use a crossover cable....

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## 0ver.bi+e

To answer the former question first. Yes, I can establish an internet connection with my Windows Xp box, using the same cable. However, I am not getting a link light on the NIC when the cord is plugged in to the NIC in my linux box.

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## 0ver.bi+e

 :Confused: 

I am also receiving an error message in the boot-up diagnostic after timing out waiting for the dhcp server:

"Failed to bring up services:

       netmount could not be run."

or something to that extent.

I have yet to find the source of this error and have been to numerous newsgroups with little results. I would appreciate any and all assistance. Thanks.

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## btg308

I'm no expert on the way Linux handles NICs, but it seems to me if the interface isn't up before dhcpcd has gotten a reply from the dhcp server, it's possible the light won't go on either. Yes, this sounds far-fetched, but I have seen things you humans wouldn't believe. C beams glittering... Oh. Sorry, wrong movie. 

Anyway, try to set a reasonable IP address and netmask manually on the card (check what the XP box got) and see if you can bring the card up and get a connection that way. Not as a permanent solution, but as a way of troubleshooting - is it something to do with the dhcp request/reply or is it the card drivers?

And, it's also possible the NIC in the XP box has some kind of alien crossover cable detection technology - see if you can switch the modem's connector between Uplink and Normal (or other names for the different modes).

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