Topic: net access failure, DHCP?

[Kevin]

I have a cable modem (3com "shark fin") connected to my e-smith server.  On the local side, I have several Windows machines and several Linux machines.

I recently experienced a network problem where a Windows Me machine was no longer able to access the network using Explorer.  After several cycles of the normal reboot of the Windows Me box, the e-smith box, and the cable modem, I am no further along than when I started.  The internal network comes up fine but I can't get out on the Internet.

Some interesting items include:

1.  DHCP Request from 24.217... for address 10.218... and DHCP Ack from 24.217... for address 10.218... continually scroll up the console monitor as though the request was sent and the acknowledge was received but it continues this cycle like it still wants an address.

2.  From the WinMe box, I can ping the 24.217... address successfully and traceroute it successfully.  I cannot nslookup the address, however, from the local network.  I can nslookup the address from outside and find that it is a machine that belongs to my cable provider.

3.  From the admin control screen on e-smith, I can select the option 4 to test the network connection and it fails.  I can ifconfig from a command line and get the 10.218... address on one interface, the 192.168.1.1 address on the second, and the 127... local interface.  From this perspective, the machine is saying it "owns" the 10.218... address.

4.  I can ping the 10.218... address and can access the web page by that address from my WinMe machine.  I don't know if this says anything about the external network.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

[chris meredith]

Let me see if I understand what you are saying.  Your E-Smith server has an external address of 10.218... that its getting from a DHCP server at 24.217...?

See if you can ping and/or tracert to 66.218.71.112 (yahoo.com) on the WinME box.  If so it might just be that you aren't getting DNS.  Do you have a primary and a secondary server listed?  

Do a winipcfg on the WinME box and see if the DNS info matched what's listed on the E-Smith box in your /etc/resolv.conf.

On the WinME box, try doing:

nslookup
server {whatever your secondary server is}
yahoo.com
server {whatever your secondary server is}
yahoo.com

See if you get back an ip from either DNS server.  You can try using dig on the E-Smith box as well.

If you are somehow getting a IP address from a rogue DHCP server, or one with bad DNS info, it could be causing your problems.  Bad DNS manually typed into the WinME box could also cause that problem.

[Kevin]

Well, I figured this weird one out.  Thank you for your response, Chris.

I broke down the network and connected only the WinMe machine to the cable modem.  I thought it would be fairly safe to let my virtual butt hang out in the breeze for just a few minutes while trying to debug this one.

I ran winipcfg and got a new 24.218... address from the server.  I then launched my browser and instead of going to my normal home page, the browser was immediately directed through some unknown mechanism to a Charter Communications web site.  I was staring at a form which stated something like "Attention Charter Pipeline Customers, due to network reprovisioning, you must fill out this form in order to continue using this service."

I filled in the form, rebuilt my network, did the normal rebooting, and everything is back to normal.

I guess its safe to say that e-smith doesn't know how to fill out reprovisioning forms.  Oh well, I think I'll keep using it anyway.

Thanks again,
Kevin