Topic: Network Problems

[Andy Finney]

Hi all,

I am a newbie having a problem - I have just installed a 4.1.2 distro onto a fairly old Pentium with a
PCI Nwtwork Card, but can't seem to get it talking to the other PC's on my network.

Whenever I try to do a ping from the e-smith server, I get the following: -

   PING 192.168.1.91 (192.168.1.91) from 192.168.1.1 : 56(84) bytes of data.
   From 192.168.1.1: Destination Host Unreachable
   From 192.168.1.1: Destination Host Unreachable
   ...etc...
   From 192.168.1.1: Destination Host Unreachable

   --- 192.168.1.91 ping statistics ---
   24 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, +21 errors, 100% packet loss

I can however, ping 192.168.1.1 (the server) and 127.0.0.1 (loopback)

I think that the network cables must be OK, because when I boot my Windows PC, I get the following
in /var/log/messages (on the e-smith server) :-

   Aug  3 23:09:42 e-smith dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:40:95:50:0b:14 via eth0
   Aug  3 23:09:43 e-smith dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.91 to 00:40:95:50:0b:14 via eth0
   
So, am I right in thinking that the PC is asking for an IP address? My windows PC doesn't seem to
receive this address though, as when I run winipcfg. it has a seemingly random IP address, and if I
try to renew it, I get the message: -

   Error - DHCP Server Unavailable. Renewing adapter ""

I think I have got everything set up correctly (e-smith IP: 192.168.1.1, subnet 255.255.255.0).
Also, it looks as though my server is correctly detecting my NIC at boot :-

   Aug  3 22:16:39 e-smith network: Bringing up interface lo:  
   Aug  3 22:16:40 e-smith network: Bringing up interface lo:  succeeded
   Aug  3 22:16:40 e-smith network: ^[[60G
   Aug  3 22:16:40 e-smith network: [   ^[[1;32mOK
   Aug  3 22:16:40 e-smith network:
   Aug  3 22:16:41 e-smith network: Bringing up interface eth0:  
   Aug  3 22:16:41 e-smith kernel: ne2k-pci.c:vpre-1.00e 5/27/99 D. Becker/P. Gortmaker http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/ne2k-pci.html
   Aug  3 22:16:41 e-smith kernel: ne2k-pci.c: PCI NE2000 clone 'NetVin NV5000SC' at I/O 0x4000, IRQ 11.
   Aug  3 22:16:41 e-smith kernel: eth0: NetVin NV5000SC found at 0x4000, IRQ 11, 00:40:95:45:20:9E.
   Aug  3 22:16:42 e-smith network: Bringing up interface eth0:  succeeded

Anybody got ideas, I am completely stumped and have totally run out of things to try ???????

Thanks in advance, any help greatly appreciated,

Andy.

[AB]

r u using a crossover network cable or a hub?

[Del]

I am new to e-smith, but I do have some network knowledge.
I would assign a staic IP address to the workstations ( an IP address within the range not being allocated to DHCP) such as 192.168.1 2, subnet 255.255.255.0 and see if you can ping this address. Although this won't cure your problem it will at least prove if your DHCP server is working.
Hope this helps.
Del

[Andy Finney]

Thanks for the help,

I am actually using thin ethernet (co-ax cable with BNC T-piece connectors) between my PC's, so no hub needed.

I have tried a variety of configurations with my Windows PC, both automatic IP, and different static addresses.

Can't seem to get it to work. I can't ping the e-smith server from my windows PC either, but the request just times out, so the requests must be getting sent.

On the other hand, I am getting "Destination Host Unreachable" messages when pinging from the esmith server, so I figure the problem must lie with the e-smith server, but I may be wrong.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks again, Andy.

[Andy Finney]

Hi all,

Problem gone (well, nearly).

I have just done some shuffling around of my network cables, and tried accessing the e-smith  server from a different windows 98 PC - success !!!!

However, the other windows PC still won't ping e-smith, and when e-smith tries to ping the Windows PC, I still get the Host Unreachable message. Wierd - I would have thought that if there was some kind of dodgy configuration, the ping would have just failed. If anybody knows why this may be, I am very curious.

Looks like its time for a re-installation of Windows 98 !!!!!

Just got to get my modem working under e-smith now.....

New thread time....

Thanks again for your help guys,

[Jochen Hoegerl]

BNC-Networks are sometimes a bit difficult. Did you check the termination
on both ends ?? Although as far as I can recall there must be at least
1,5m cable between 2 T-Connectors. If the NIC's you are using are the same
I would flip them between the 2 WinPC just to see if you have a defective
one. Athough before reinstalling Win98 I would just delete the NIC, all
Network protocols and DUN reboot and reinstall these.

[Andy Finney]

Thanks for the tips - will try again with some other cable/NIC configurations, and I will try to re-install just the network drivers before I take more drastic action:-) Am OK for the time being though, will get it all working with one Win PC before connecting the others...