Wireless networking - Windows works, Linux doesn't. Why?

[Sasquash]

Hey guys

We've had this wireless LAN at home for a while, and we recently got a new ADSL Modem-Router to replace the Modem we had (thereby making a Linux box we were using as a Router redundant).

The router is connected to a new hub we got, to which is then connected a few computers and a wireless access point. The AP is the same we've been using the whole time.

The Modem-Router is, of course, configured to share its internet connection using NAT and DHCP for the internal clients. It seems that Windows computers are able to connect to the internet flawlessly (nice and fast yum yum) whereas Linux computers are not.

Linux computers are able to see the router, for some reason, but whenever any connection attempt is made to external servers, it fails.

When I try to, say, ping www.google.com.au from a terminal, the response is

ping: network unreachable

In a browser, the response is usually something like "The connection failed" or whatever.

In other words, the router isn't sharing its internet connection with internal Linux machines. It does, however, seem to be allowing internal connections to these computers.

I'm really confused! I'm honestly stumped. It doesn't make any sense to me, but I assume it has something to do with the way that Microsoft OSs and Linux OSs handle packets or sockets or something differently.

Any help at all is appreciated!

Thanks everyone
Sasquash

[je_fro]

How are the linux boxes configured to acquire an IP address? WHat are the ip addresses? What gateway?

[STORMPROOF]

Execute the following and paste the output

/sbin/ifconfig -a
/sbin/route -N

Please provide......

[Sasquash]

IP addresses 192.168.0.2-192.168.0.255
Gateway IP is 192.168.0.1
DHCP Router, Linux boxes configured to aquire IP by DHCP.

I'll get those commands and get back to you, thanks guys

[Sasquash]

[bash]# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:25:D7:A5:29
inet6 addr: fe80::211:25ff:fed7:a529/64 Scope:Link
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:16

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:12:F0:E9:BD:27
inet addr:192.168.0.5 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::212:f0ff:fee9:bd27/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1300 Metric:1
RX packets:1437 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1268 errors:0 dropped:2 overruns:0 carrier:1
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:700111 (683.7 KiB) TX bytes:212800 (207.8 KiB)
Interrupt:21 Memory:90301000-90301fff

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:560 (560.0 b) TX bytes:560 (560.0 b)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
NOARP MTU:1480 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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

[bash]# route -N
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 10 0 0 eth1
0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0 UG 10 0 0 eth1
[bash]#

I changed a few things... like I went into Mandrake Control Centre and "reconfigured" the wireless connection so that the connection type was "Auto" instead of "Managed" and it now "Allows Access Point Roaming". Also I dropped the MTU to 1300. eth1 is the wireless connection.

Sasquash

[je_fro]

try disabling ipv6 on your interfaces...

[STORMPROOF]

Try to ping 64.233.167.147

If that works then I would have a look at your /etc/resolv.conf

maybe a dns issue! This still does not explain why it works in windows........

[Sasquash]

Hey

How do I disable ipv6? I assume it is just an ifconfig argument... I'll check tonight.

At the moment, I'm able to connect to the internet through the LAN, but the thing is I need to ping foreign servers before I can actually connect to them through a web browser. Otherwise, web browser connections timeout.

That seems really odd to me, but I'm sure it makes sense to someone:

If I try and view a web page, the connection times out. If I ping the server first, then try and view a web page, then the connection works fine.

Sasquash

[knute]

Maybe the router is closing the connection down after a certain amount of inactivity.

[je_fro]

what did you change between your first post (when you couldn't ping anything) and now?