Does God Hate Me?

[Dibbo]

Gah!

I've tried VectorLinux (http://www.vectorlinux.com), I've tried Mandrake 9.0, I've tried Red Hat 8.0 (Which doesn't boot past 'Starting loopback device' or something like that, and just stops instead, no errors, nothing)... none of them like connecting to the net.

I have a broadband connection that comes through an ethernet cable, and I can use this in two ways, either I can plug it into my ethernet card, (a RealTek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC - what XP tells me it is, also got a 1394 net adapter it says, but I dunno), or use an AEI USB to Ethernet adapter (once again, what XP tells me). None of them want to work in Linux.

Linux detects the card/USB adapter's right, (as XP does), and loads appropriate modules, the 8139too, or the pegasus for the USB.

With the USB, I get no light on the adapter saying I have a connection, and I can't ping out.

With the ethernet card, I believe I'm configuring all the info right, but I'm dammed if it's working. Can't get eth0 to connect, or ping out either.

My cable providers, (who also provide cable TV, as the ethernet cabling goes into the digital TV box), provided me with setup disks for Windows, that set everything up. As for what this disk actually did, I haven't a clue.

I want to switch to Linux for daily use, and only use Windows XP for games. My daily use consists of using the net, so without net access, it kinda restricts me. Help with Mandrake 9.0 would be better, unless you can solve the none-booting problem with Red Hat, which I can only get around by doing an interactive kernel boot, and skipping network loading all together. (I would like to use Red Hat instead of Mandrake, but whatever works.)

Let me say this: I have no network, need no network, will never have a network. Only want this computer to connect to internet... which the damn thing ain't doing.

Yes, I'm a n00b. ;)

In case it's any use, here's my 'ipconfig /all' status from XP. (Some info replaced with *'s for my protection ;))

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Xerxes2
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-**-44-**-91-**
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : **.*.**.***
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : **.*.*.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.92.70
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 194.168.4.100 194.168.8.100
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 18 December 2002 23:31:11
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 25 December 2002 23:31:07

[Major Luser]

If you boot into linux, what does the commanfd ifconfig say??

[knute]

Ok, What will get you past the loopback device issue is to press <Ctrl><c>.

That will cancel that initializion and you will not be able to use the loopback device.

The bad news is that if you want to connect to the internet you will have to set up your network.

linuxconf may be a big help for you as you can set up all the info that your nic requires to connect to your isp. :)

Not sure what module the Realtek NIC uses, but Mandrake probably already has that taken care of. :)

HTH

[yinrunning]

Which Linux OS are you running now, if any? It's unclear, in fact, whether you've ever gotten any of these to work in general. If one of them works, then one of us can help you through setting up networking (as in getting onto the internet. Linux considers this to be networking in the sense that you have interfaces, connections, protocols, etc. Not in the sense that you have more than one machine. Different jargon.)

Also, in regards to ReHat, did you dowload an ISO, or do you have actual install disks (and, preferably a "getting started" manual.). And how did you set up network activity during the install procedure? You should set the connection to DHCP and let Linux handle the initial setup. After the system boots is when you have to do certain things to actually get onto the internet.

[Pvt. Kernel]

Burn yourself a copy of Libranet ( http://libranetlinux.com ) 2.0 and everything should pretty much auto configure. It is truely the newbies Linux distro.

David

[bosox79]

Originally posted by Dibbo
Gah!

I've tried VectorLinux (http://www.vectorlinux.com), I've tried Mandrake 9.0, I've tried Red Hat 8.0 (Which doesn't boot past 'Starting loopback device' or something like that, and just stops instead, no errors, nothing)... none of them like connecting to the net.

I have a broadband connection that comes through an ethernet cable, and I can use this in two ways, either I can plug it into my ethernet card, (a RealTek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC - what XP tells me it is, also got a 1394 net adapter it says, but I dunno), or use an AEI USB to Ethernet adapter (once again, what XP tells me). None of them want to work in Linux.

Linux detects the card/USB adapter's right, (as XP does), and loads appropriate modules, the 8139too, or the pegasus for the USB.

With the USB, I get no light on the adapter saying I have a connection, and I can't ping out.

With the ethernet card, I believe I'm configuring all the info right, but I'm dammed if it's working. Can't get eth0 to connect, or ping out either.

My cable providers, (who also provide cable TV, as the ethernet cabling goes into the digital TV box), provided me with setup disks for Windows, that set everything up. As for what this disk actually did, I haven't a clue.

I want to switch to Linux for daily use, and only use Windows XP for games. My daily use consists of using the net, so without net access, it kinda restricts me. Help with Mandrake 9.0 would be better, unless you can solve the none-booting problem with Red Hat, which I can only get around by doing an interactive kernel boot, and skipping network loading all together. (I would like to use Red Hat instead of Mandrake, but whatever works.)

Let me say this: I have no network, need no network, will never have a network. Only want this computer to connect to internet... which the damn thing ain't doing.

Yes, I'm a n00b. ;)

In case it's any use, here's my 'ipconfig /all' status from XP. (Some info replaced with *'s for my protection ;))

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Xerxes2
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-**-44-**-91-**
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : **.*.**.***
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : **.*.*.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.92.70
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 194.168.4.100 194.168.8.100
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 18 December 2002 23:31:11
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 25 December 2002 23:31:07

like others have asked what distro are you using?
have you tried login into a konsole as root? this can be done by typing su then pressing enter & then typying in your root password

after you get to a root prompt type
modprobe 8139too( again press enter) this should load the correct module for your kernel. if this wotks that mean's that linux sees your NIC & we can go from their. Also who is your ISP?:D post back for further help:)

[Nu-Bee]

Dibbo,

You may need your cable company to clear things so that you can DHCP a new address.

(I think I have that right.)

Mandrake 9.0 found mine right away.

[yinrunning]

Actually, it probably has nothing to do with the connection outside of the box, since there doesn't seem to be any problems under XP. That suggests that either the kernel isn't configuring eth0 properly (card too new?) or there's something wrong with the initial install config. Even if you can't get out of the box, you should always be able to get to ping lo, right? That's usually kind of a given. At least have it initialize. I'll try to find some relevant reading on the loopback and what would cause that to never turn on. I've never seen it NOT turn on, in fact. I still want to know how the OS's are being installed. If every single one of them is hanging at "bringing up interface lo", then there's a serious issue with something. I don't know what, but something!

Hey, Dibbo, write us back already! :)

[Dibbo]

Sorry, gotta sleep sometime. :p

Right, need to run to college, so I haven't got much time right now, but

1) CTRL-C to skip 'Bringing up loopback interface:' doesn't skip it. The only way I can get past it is either an interactive startup or CTRL-ALT-DELETE, which doesn't exactly help. ;) Mandrake doesn't have this problem.

2) Will need to reinstall Mandrake 9.0, (above problem on Red Hat 8.0), which I'll do later today. So assume I'm using that. Yes, I can get Linux working, (with effort on Mandrake to get it to like my GeForce4), and I'm using all ISOs that I've downloaded and burned.

3) Can't try 'ifconfig' or 'linuxconf' due to 1, will try later.

4) My ISP is NTL. A UK cable TV and Broadband internet provider. I've pulled this (http://www.ntlhome.com/ntl_internet/need_broadband.html) up fast now, I don't think it'll help tho.

5) When Mandrake is on, it never did manage to enable eth0, and said [FAILED]. But I'll get the error messages later.

6) The software that my cable provider gave me did do a DHCP release/renew. But that was only on install, which I've had to do a few times when I swapped from using my USB-Ethernet adapter to ethernet card. (At one point this did change my IP, which is usually static. :confused: But it only did this once, I've re-installed it about 10 times on this PC already.)

7) Please explain what a hostname is.... That's one of many things which I don't understand.

8) I've done an lsmod in Mandrake 9.0 and this showed me that Mandrake is loading the 8139too module for my ethernet card, and Mandrake Control Centre, or whatever it's called, detects it too.

Anyway, this post was no help. I'll install Mandrake after college, do what you've said so far, then report back. ;)