Linux problem - no network connectivity
 

Here's the scoop...

I've installed three different flavors of Linux (Mandrake 9, RedHat 9, and Knoppix 3.2) and none of them will connect to the network. I can't ping my local hosts nor can I get to the Internet.

When I ping, I get the error "destination host is unreachable."

I am using static IPs, proper mask, gateway, and DNS.

I have replaced the network card to no avail.

I have set system security to "no firewall."

I have stopped the iptables service.

I have swapped cables.

I have swapped ports on the switch.

I have looked at hosts.deny and hosts.allow which were empty (comments only).

I have read numerous Google pages about this error and most point to static routing issues. What doesn't make any sense is why I can't even ping a local host (ie: 192.168.1.1).

I used to have Windows 2000 running on the same box without any problems.

I'm stumped. It shouldn't be this difficult. Part of me wonders if it is a hardware issue, but I've already replaced the hardware.

Any ideas?

sounds like you don't have a default gateway.
Drunk now. Try google.

Good luck.

do the boot logs give any clues about failures on boot ?
is the network card compatible ?

I've set the default gateway within the GUI. Are there other conf files I should modify as well?

I looked at the logs in /logs and nothing seems to a problem.

It usually isn't this difficult to get working is it?

Start at the lowest level. Do you get a link light on the switch and the card?

Go to a shell as root, do a:
tail -f /var/log/messages

Pull the network cable. Wait 15 seconds, then replace it. Do you see any messages pertaining to link up or down? Ctrl-C to bail out of the tail.

hosts.deny/allow won't affect ICMP (ping).

Do:
iptables -F
iptables -F -t nat
iptables -X
to make sure that all of the possible iptables rules are gone. The iptables service is really just a script that runs at start up to set the rules.

do:
ifconfig -a
and
netstat -nr
and post the results.

If eth0 doesn't show up in the output, Linux isn't finding your card.

The output should tell you what interfaces are up, and their IP if they have one.

Are you running DHCP or static addressing?

tired now, but it sees the network. host unreachable. not network unreachable. personally, i never use the gui....seems to always screw something. use netconfig and ifconfig. looks like settings...host unreachable. in any case here's some more ideas.

maybe the arp cache is screwed.

try two cards. something could have mangled (gui) eth0 settings.

check the network settings in the /etc/sysconfig....to see if they're actually right.

are you sure the network service is starting (ntsysv) and staying up?

Looks like I found the problem...network card incompatibility. The card was showing up OK in the system, but must not have been fully compatbile.

I discovered that many of the new, popular, LAN cards (notably from D-Link and Netgear) don't have proper driver support in the 2.4 kernel. I couldn't get the new drivers from Sycld to compile so I printed out the compatbility list and shopped around retail until I found a compatible card.

The Netgear FA311 wouldn't work in Knoppix 3.2, RedHat 9, or Mandrake 9. I am now using an SMC EZ Fast Ethernet card (1244TX) which is also identified as a Linksys.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

I honesty don't know where but you should attempt to let some developers know that your card is not compatible. If no one knows it might never get fixed. :-/

are you sure?.. im using the Netgear FA311 in mandrake 9.1 and it works peachy keen for me. Hell even my sound card (PSC604) works fine with a base install of 'drake and it wont even work under windows for me.

wow i've thrown everycard under the sun at linux (netgear,d-link,linksys,smc,unbranded)...never had a problem....lspci should let you know if you have compat issues in the future.

As a follow up for anyone interested...

The Redhat compatibility database doesn't list much of anything for RH9, however it does mention the SMC EZCard is compatible with RH8.

Off to CompUSA I went to buy two SMC EZCards - viola! - works just fine.

Yean, I've only ever seen PCMCIA cards not work in linux....

If you're ever wondering what route your packets are taking while going to (or not going to!) a certain host, try the "traceroute" command. It's "tracert" in Windows. It'll tell you the routers in between you and the host.