I tried the Ubuntu thing and failed

C

Corvette

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 12, 2002
Messages
1,271
I need help getting the internet working.

I have tried installing Ubuntu Edgy 6.10 on 2 different computers and swapped 1 NiC to try to get the internet working. I did turn off the onboard network device. Is the internet supposed to work from the LiveCD, it has not on all 3 network interface devices? Is there something to do after the install to help Linux get me there?

When I read the [H]ardOCP article I assumed that Ubuntu would recognize and install drivers for my NiC (actually on-board) and I could be on the internet learning about Linux from my Linux system, but that does not seem to be the case.

I will be trying to reburn the CD since I had some issues with the disk and installs, but they all seemed to work themselves out. I admit it was an old CD-RW.

Are there PCI, NIC, or other drivers I need? I don't remember the NICard brand, but the onboard chips are on a MSI NForce2 board and a Gigabyte DS3 board.

Is it a software setup thing? I looked around, and if I found anything it all appeared to be "post internet access" types of intructions. My issue may just be so increadibly basic that nobody thought people like me would have a problem.

Thanks for any input. I read a forum or two that suggested the DS3 was just plain incompatible, but I was hoping the older hardware (the NIC is off a PIII 800) would work smoothly.

I have checked that the modem, cable, and other external features were functional as well ;)
 
Thanks for the quick response.

I will have to try that if I don't get any other suggestions here, but I have never used irc and don't enjoy putting software on my fresh Windows install :( That's what the Linux box was supposed to be for. If I must, I must, but hope to avoid it.
 
So what, you just like to stare at the Windows desktop? :p I'm just joshing ya, but really, you're bound to slap a bunch of extra software into a Windows install, fresh or not.

Anyway, since you're using Edgy, it contains an older kernel (2.6.17, can anyone confirm?) that doesn't support some of the newer hardware on a Gigabyte DS3 motherboard (i.e. the Marvell LAN controller). Ubuntu 7/Feisty has the 2.6.20 kernel that supports newer Marvell LAN controllers like the one on the DS3 and DQ6 (I think). Final Feisty release is scheduled for end of the week.

As for the other add-in NIC cards - what brand is it? Does the LiveCD detect its existence?
 
I have two Linux boxes beside me right now that have the DS3 board in them. They work fine except for the Marvell Yukon2 network interface, which uses the sky2 driver. The latest patches for sky2 still don't fix the issues with that controller. I get frequent connection drops and network hangs every time I test it.

I've been using Intel pro1000 nics in these boxes instead of the onboard interfaces. What nics have you tried? Quite a few of the newer nics I've seen use the Marvell Yukon2 controller, and those would obviously have the same issues as the onboard ones.
 
I have noticed a strange issue on my windows machine. When I start the computer in the morning webpages show up as unavailable, but if I get on World of Warcraft and then close the launcher my internet works. There may be some kind of issue with the modem (I do not have a router) that could be causing the issue on the potential Linux box.
 
Get yourself a cheap router and see if that solves your problem. Besides you should have a router anyway to protect open ports and so on.Its a good ide to get.... Are you using DSL or cable?

If DSL them you'll need to set up a PPPoe client, if Cable then you'll need to set up a DHCP client... If you use a router it will do these things for you automatically.
 
I am using cable and the lack of a router is temporary as I will have a roomate soon that does have one. Is there a way to set up a DHCP client w/out a router?

I hate networking :( It just does not give me the same good feelings as the hardware stuff.
 
When you're running the 6.10 and don't have internet, can you post the ifconfig results? Make sure the LAN adapter is showing the "UP" tag like mine is: Keep in mind, I am on wireless:

Code: 
carlos@lptp:~$ sudo ifconfig eth1
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr xxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
          inet addr:10.1.1.111  Bcast:10.1.1.255  Mask:255.0.0.0
          [B]UP[/B] BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:113833 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:59192 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:149870523 (142.9 MiB)  TX bytes:4330474 (4.1 MiB)
          Interrupt:209 Base address:0xa000 Memory:dfcff000-dfcfffff

As you can see when I run the ifconfig command on my wireless adapter, I can see the "UP" status of the adapter. Have you tried running "dhclient" command to force a valid IP?
 
I actually downgraded to 6.06 (Dapper) last night because Edgy was giving me so many problems. Its the most stable and reliable version, and seeing how canonical keeps pushing out new versions every few months, its not like you'd be far behind by just using Dapper.

To be honest I wish they would cut the constant new version thing and just focus on getting the current versions working to their full potential.
 
Grathrax said:
I actually downgraded to 6.06 (Dapper) last night because Edgy was giving me so many problems. Its the most stable and reliable version, and seeing how canonical keeps pushing out new versions every few months, its not like you'd be far behind by just using Dapper.

To be honest I wish they would cut the constant new version thing and just focus on getting the current versions working to their full potential.
Click to expand...

The release schedule is fine. 6 months of stability for a release is plenty in my opinion. Not to mention I or anyone I have known has had any issues getting it to run at their full potential.

7.04 is on mirrors now, the torrents were generated a few hours ago.

http://fi.releases.ubuntu.com/7.04/
Click to expand...

Those are not final.
 
Hi.

There seems to be quite big differences in the way Ubuntu handles NIC etc in the startup in different releases.

Keywords:
old laptop
Ubuntu 5.10
Ubuntu 6.06.1
Ubuntu 7.04
Installation problem caused by network
Boot problem caused by network

Have installed Ubuntu on an old Dell Latitude CPiR 400 GT laptop, PII 400 MHz and 256 MB RAM. Either with PCCard Interlink III NIC or with built-in NIC in docking station. Gave me some hard hours.

Version 5.10 no problem.

Version 6.06.1 - problem. If a LAN cable was connected to the PCCard or to the docking station at start you had trouble to install the system and, when installed, it was impossible to start the machine with the cable connected. It got stuck in the startup, normally when the boot reported ”Loading hardware drivers”. But after a successful install you could start the machine without LAN cable, connect the cable after login and manually config and activate the interface.

Version 7.04. Up and running. You can install and start the machine with LAN connected. Note that the installation procedure at some points seems to do nothing for long periods and also reports that expected hardware is missing (In my case among others: no floppy. That was correct.). Also note that networking seem to be deactivated after installation. I had a hard time before I had it working and am not sure how I succeeded. But once configured and activated it seem stable. The default seem to be wireless network, not wired.

Possible problem causes in 6.06.1:
something with startup of network interfaces, network controllers etc. The units may be starting slower than the startup procedures expect? Too long time from from order to activate interface until they report ”up”?

Haven't tried 6.10.
If it is more like 7.04 than 6.06.1 the trouble might be that it is tricky to activate network traffic and to get the interfaces up.
If it is more like 6.06.1 it might be a timing or sequencing problem when running different startup scripts involving network functions.

An idea would be to try a version earlier than 6.x. I had no problem with 5.10 on this machine when I tried that version instead of 6.06.1 before I found out the trick with the LAN cable. Less optimized start scripts?

Are your to machines identical?

One of the kids have a desktop running 6.06 without problem. Assembled from used parts from different machines. Orginally installed 5.10 and online upgraded to 6.06. Although quite old it is younger than the laptop and much faster. Athlon 1200 CPU, 512 MB RAM. And also no PCMCIA handling, no battery administration etc. NIC probably of much later type.


I installed 6.06.1 from scratch in an old Dell Latitude. First attempt from power off failed, second install (after warm reboot) succeeded. Might depend on being lucky that time? But after reboot in installation the machine was hanging in the boot when loading different modules. Obviously the is some problems in handling NICs and network services.

Installed 5.10. No problems at all. Thought it was a bad installation 6.06.1 CD. When online I updated my system from 5.10 to 6.06.1. After restart: the same problem as before. Testing different ways to start and found that when the ethernet cable was disconnected during boot the system came alive.

Made a totally clean installation from 7.04 CD. Got worried when the installation process some times seemed frozen but after a while it continued. Difficulties to activate network traffic and wired LAN but it now works.

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I stayed one day with 6.06.1 on the laptop and acted this way:
disconnected ethernet cable while booting! Also when installing. That way my machine started. After startup manually configured the nic to accept DHCP and make it active.

For people not used to Ubuntu/Linux: How to configure the interface and make it active after start?
(Field names translated from swedish version, might differ from your version):
After login you connect the LAN-cable
In the menu choose System -> Administration -> Network
(Here the system ask you to type your password. Do it. Otherwise you won't have permission to make the necessary operations)
A window will show you the network interfaces. (Network manager application?)
E. g. one ethernet-if and one modem-if.
Both with status DOWN. (NOTE! This application will always show status down when you start it even if the NICs are working! But immediately after startup and login they should be down if the cable wasn't connected during start).
Click on the symbol for the ethernet-if to select it.
Click on the button PROPERTIES
Check the field Activate this connection
Change "Static IP address" to "DHCP"
Click OK to close the config window
Don't forget to connect the ethernet cable if you haven't done it already!
Now you can click the button ACTIVATE (below the PROPERTIES button)
The system will now activate the interface

Check if the interface really is ready:
In the menu choose System -> Administration -> Network Tools
Properties for the loopback interface is shown
Scroll to Ethernet-interface (eth1) (or what number your interface has)
If you are alive on the LAN and a DHCP server have given you an address you will see it here.
In this application you could also ping other units.

Another way to check if the interface is OK is of course to use your internet browser and connect to a destination on the web.

And again:
the network manager (?) will always tell you that the interfaces aren't configured when you start the application!
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