Lightning Strike - Help!

[jpark]

Lightning struck our facility and now the server is down.
I cannot ping anything - I get
connect: Network is Unreachable

When I use RedHat's Network Configuration gui, I get a failure to initialize the network adapter error

I switched network cards and switched slots, but no dice, so I don't think its a hardware issue. The new card was recognized and installed correctly, but still no network.

I'm wondering if there are any further diagnostics I can try, or where to begin to look for the problem.

[skidhmor]

When you type ifconfig from the command line, does it show your network card?
How 'bout lsmod, does it show the module for for NIC driver(assuming you haven't compiled it directly into the kernel)?

[flash2k2]

did the hub/s get damaged?

[jpark]

typing ifconfig displays only the loopback, I haven't tried Ismod. In all three hubs were damaged, but not the one immediately adjacent to the server.

[jpark]

lsmod shows the following:

ide-cd 0
cdrom 0
soundcore 0
binfmt_misc 1
nfsd 8
lockd 1
sunrpc 1
autofs 0
8193too 0

[skidhmor]

none of those modules look like NIC drivers, have you recompiled a custom kernel?
If you haven't, then the driver for your NIC is probably loaded as a module.
If you know what module your NIC requires, you can try loading it via the insmod or modprobe commands aka- insmod <module_name> or modprobe <module_name>.
If you are unsure of the module your NIC requires, then post the brand/model of your NIC and see if anyone here knows

[jpark]

I have 2 3Com Cyclones that use 3c59x. On a whim I pulled them both out, rebooted, removed the configuration, powered down and reinstalled and then rebooted. I was able to get one initialized, but I could never get the other one to be recognized, and I think I remembered that there is a problem using two of the same NICs. So replaced one with a Dlink card and everything is just fine, but I still don't know what caused this to hapen in the first place, any ideas? Thanks for the help, though, it got me looking in the right direction.

[skidhmor]

Maybe a stray surge corrupted the config data?
Frankly, I have know idea what caused it. Sometimes weird stuff just happens like that, you just happen to have the 'right' harware, the 'right' software, running at the 'right' time with the 'right' external circumstances, and boom! something strange happens. You then kill yourself trying to figure out what and why, evetually fixing it without ever knowing what caused it in the first place.
The real kicker is that it very often never happens again, leaving the lingering anxiety that some other inexplicable problem will creep in somwhere. In my expierience, it usually does, eventually. :(