Can't Ping Modem/Router in Knoppix 3.2

[megahertzme]

Hi, I am having a problem setting up my network in Knoppix 3.2. I am unable to ping my modem or connect to the internet.

I have a Belkin F5D5000 PCI Network Card Connected to a Billion BIPAC-711 CE DSL Modem/Router. The Billion operates on address 192.168.1.254, and handles the PPPoE login to my ISP.

Under Win98SE, I can access my modem perfectly with the following static setup:
DNS: 192.168.1.254
Gateway: 192.168.1.254
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

Using LindowsCD (Lindows4.0 Live CD) I have also been able to connect to the internet and ping the modem. Under Lindows, the NIC driver used was Realtek RTL 8139/8139C/8139C+. Using thte Route command gave the following response:
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags ..... Interface
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U Eth0
default 192.168.1.254 0.0.0.0 UG Eth0

However when I use Knoppix, I have set up the LAN settings using the same settings as for Win98, and have tried various "broadcast address" of 192.168.1.255 (the default), 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.254
Using the PPPoE configuration tool, and selecting No to manually pick the drivers I can see the the following drivers are installed:
-Realtek RTL 8139
-Winbond W89c840 PCI Ethernet support

Thinking the Winbond thingy might be causing a problem, I tried to remove it but Knoppix wont let me.

I can't even ping my modem (192.168.1.254) in Knoppix, let alone access the internet. I can of course ping 192.168.1.1.

I have tried some of the suggestions in this forum but to now avail. Can somebody help, I would rather use Knoppix than Lindows, you can save your settings in that. And Win98 is due for retirement!

Thanks, Tim.

[Harry Kuhman]

...
I have a Belkin F5D5000 PCI Network Card Connected to a Billion BIPAC-711 CE DSL Modem/Router. The Billion operates on address 192.168.1.254, and handles the PPPoE login to my ISP.

Under Win98SE, I can access my modem perfectly with the following static setup:
DNS: 192.168.1.254
Gateway: 192.168.1.254
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

...
However when I use Knoppix, I have set up the LAN settings using the same settings as for Win98, and have tried various "broadcast address" of 192.168.1.255 (the default), 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.254
.....

I can't even ping my modem (192.168.1.254) in Knoppix, let alone access the internet. I can of course ping 192.168.1.1.

Thanks, Tim.

If I'm understanding this right you never run PPPoE software under the Windows configuration, the DSL modem works like a modem with a DSL router built in. Sounds nice.

With the modem/router at 192.168.1.254, you should always use 192.168.1.255 (assuming a mask of 255.255.255.0) for the broadcast address, nothing else makes sense.

Have you tried sudo mii-tool -r and then netcardconfig after starting knoppix? Have you read through the two threads I started in this forum and tried the other tricks people have given there? I think it's very likely that you are seeing the same problem.

It sounds like the Billion is also doing dhcp for you, so once the NIC starts working under knoppix you should be able to let netcardconfig get it's information that way. You should never need to set a broadcast address, mask, or gateway, and they should all end up set the same as they are under Windows. If you do end up having to set them manually, do that with netcardconfig and use the same values as you originally posted. I did see a Belkin router that wouldn't work with Knoppix via DHCP properly but could be configured with netcardconfig manually, so that could be the issue in your case too. Im surprised that DNS ends up at the same 192.168.1.254 address for you, but the router just passes the requests along to a real DNS server somewhere. If it's working under windows it should work right for other systems too, but you could also manually set a different valid DNS address here. Worry about that later, after you can ping the modem/router (I don't expect it will be an issue after you get ping working). The default gateway will end up pointing at the Billion at 192.168.1.254.

See the my other threads for the reason I think this is happening. Please post back your results.

[megahertzme]

If I'm understanding this right you never run PPPoE software under the Windows configuration, the DSL modem works like a modem with a DSL router built in. Sounds nice.

Correct. From the configuration page (accessed using browser with the modems IP address) you can enter your user login and password, which is then falshed to the firmware to run PPPoE. (Or whatever encapsulation method you choose; I use PPPoE LLC because that's what my ISP requires.) So I don't run PPPoE software in Windows. (Or need to in Linux?)

Have you read through the two threads I started in this forum and tried the other tricks people have given there? I think it's very likely that you are seeing the same problem

Yes, I have also tried booting Knoppix with knoppix noaipc as suggested in another thread, but still can't ping the modem.

I tried to boot up Knoppix normally and use sudo mii-tool -r but did not work.

I am not using DHCP, each time I configure my netowrk manually using netcardconfig, either from a shell or from the menu.

I have also tried the route commands in the network faq

I will have another go using both knoppix noaipc and sudo mii-tool -r and report what happens...

[megahertzme]

Okay, booting knoppix noaipc I got the following results:

sudo mii-tool -r before runnning sudo netcardconfig:
SIOCGMIIPHY on 'eth0' failed: invalid arguement
no mii interfaces found

So I set the network settings using sudo netcardconfig and then ran sudo mii-tool:
eth:0 negotiated 100baseTx-FD, link ok

Running sudo mii-tool -r renegotiagtes the link ok.

After running each command I pinged the modem, and got no response.

However I did discover that if I ping 192.168.1.0 I get a response (0 ms), but this is just my PC again, isn't it?

[Harry Kuhman]

So I don't run PPPoE software in Windows. (Or need to in Linux?)

The router is taking care of PPPoE for you, you do not need to deal with it under Windows and the same applies to Linux/Knoppix. I'm not even sure why you mentioned Using the PPPoE configuration tool, but I'm hoping it was just someting you tried while trying lots of things. You will not need to use it. In fact, if the router is running it, you can't run it on the computer too.

You didn't seem to mention what your computer is, but at least you did say that the NIC is PCI, so that seems to be telling us it's some kind of desktop. You might want to post back what kind of computer/motherboard you have. Also, under Win98SE, open the control panel, open the "System" icon, Click on the Device Manager tab, and open the "Network Adapters" part of the tree. You should see your Realtec PCI card, and if there is a modem in this computer you may also see a dial-up adapter. If there are additional NICs please make note of it and let us know.

I should say that while I have seen a NIC corruption problem under WinXP and others have confirmed that for me (even some who have not posted here), I am running Win98SE on my desktop (Xp is only on a new notebook I got) and that computer has not had a NIC eeprom corruption problem. So the problem may not exist for Win98SE. However, I also don't download any of the Microsoft updates for my Win98se system, and someone else has reported the problem on his 98 system, so I'm not ruling out the chance that it could affect win98 users either. I'm assuming you have never run WinXP on this box (right?).

One good thing here is that this is a desktop, not a notebook, so it should be easy to swap out the NIC with another and see if that resolves the problem. If you are like me you may even have extra NIC's laying around, or you can get one free after rebate, they show up frequently that way at OfficeMax, CompUSA and Staples (and are less than $10 most places when not on sale). If it comes down to trying this, I would urge you to remove the current NIC and installl a new one, and then boot the computer into Knoppix before you ever boot back into Windows (even make a point of having KNoppix in the CD drive ahead of time so there is no problem getting the drive open and Windows starting to boot before you do). Of course, try the other things including making sure there isn't an extra NIC showing up under Windows before you do. You might also want to check your BIOS to see if there is any mention of an on-board network connection and if there is if it can be disabled (or if you can find the connector to use it).

I am surprised that the router/modem would have PPPoE in it and not have a DHCP server as well. I have never seen a DSL or Cable router wiithout DHCP services,and I've used many different brands. Are you sure it does not do dhcp? Did you have to set up the settings under Windows as well? You might want to recheck your documentation on this. That documentation often will not use the term dhcp, but may mention things like letting you set the range of IP addresses it gives out. Of course, it does not sound like you are getting a dhcp connection, but if there is a problem with the NIC or even if Knoppix is trying to talk on the wrong NIC it would look like you are never getting a dhcp configuration.

And I just saw your new post as I was about to post this. Very very strange that sudo mii-tool -r would fail before the netcardconfig and then not fail after it. I'm still trying to figure out what that might be telling us. Maybe someone with more experience than I knows and will post. My suggestion based on this is check under Win98 as I posted above, then boot Knoppix again, do the netcard config first if you need to, then do the sudo mii-tool -r and, if that seems to work do a netcardconfig again. Try it first by letting it do a dhcp configuration on the one after the mii-tool -r, and see if maybe the router will do a dhcp configuration after all. If it fails you can still do it again and configure it manually. And yes, with a mask of 255.255.255.0, you are the 192.168.1.0 address (the lowest address in the mask range is always myself, the highest the broadcast address).

Good luck and please post back any and all results.

[megahertzme]

I never resolved this problem - ran out of time/steam and gave up.

However I can report that is seems that it was specific to 3.3 distro. Now using Knoppix 3.4 (Feb 04 build) and it runs fine right on load! eth0 is configuring properly, with network settings the same as LindowsCD gave - see above.

Cheers, Tim.

[Harry Kuhman]

Now using Knoppix 3.4 (Feb 04 build) and it runs fine right on load!

Can you please post a link to where you got 3.4? I've been watching for it on the FTP sites reached by the "Get Knoppix" link at the top of thos page, but the sites still have only 3.3! In addition, the home page for this site no longer seems to list news events like it used to. I had heard that 3.4 was out over a month ago, but have been watching for it and can't find it.

[megahertzme]

Whoops, sorry to get your hopes up, I meant 3.3! I was a bit tired last night. I couldn't find 3.4 either on ftp. Don't think its available anywhere outside germany...

The problem with the NIC was 3.2 specific it seems. Thanks for your help Harry![/quote]