Need help with Network Card to connect to Internet...

Hello,

I have been working with DOS, Windows 3.1 to XP, for many years setting up Novell Networks. I have set up PC's to use just about all types connections to Internet over the years. Using windows for example, once I get the netcard to be error free and Windows shows no problems (sometimes the card drivers are needed), I set protocol for that card (IPX/SPX and TCP/IP), then under networking set up the IP address, netmask, gateway, etc.

Then using Internet Explorer, I'm on the net.

Now, the Network I am using is Novell. But, you can log out of Novell and still get on Internet. Both use same NetCard to get to our switch which is where the Internet feed is tied in. We have a particial T1 (256K bandwidth).

I am runnig Knoppix 4.0.2 on a DELL optiplex GX240, 256k Ram. It has onboard netcard and I have tried several other PCI cards as well. (It is a good burn, I had burned several CD's before and upon boot, had Cloop errors. So, I downloaded at home over DSL which was much faster and then burned the CD image and all is well. Note: download speed makes a defference on the ISO image quality at least it did with me. I used the same mirror to download from. could be a lot of different points here but the faster it downloads the less exposure to all those little things if you get my meaning). (also used Nero to burn the good CD).

I have also tried Ubuntu and have same problems

Currently a 3 Com card that works in other Windows PC's. So, at least I know the card does work.

When I set up the card Knoppix menus I say no to DHCP (don't have it) and put in all other info. IP, Netmask, etc.
It always says "UNREACHABLE"

In console I type LSPCI -V and it shows eth1 has the 3Com information. So, I think Knoppix sees the card.

In console I type Ifconfig -a and it shows Inet and Inet6. That appears to me it has the right protocol (INET = TCP/IP)

I cannot ping my gateway.

I did download drivers for the card and put on floppy, but don't know if I need them and if I do, I can't seem to get to files on the disk. I see folders, but no files. ???

So, I hope there is enough info. here to point me in the right direction. Thanks for any help.
It just seems I am missing some little point here and can't seem to find it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by briancm

I have been working with DOS, Windows 3.1 to XP, for many years ...
Note: download speed makes a defference on the ISO image quality).

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It absolutely does not. If the md5 sum matches the download is good. If it doesn't match it's bad. Period. End of story. It doesn't matter how fast the bits get to you, at least not as far as ISO image quality is concerned. We do see lots more problems downloading the ISO from a mirror than with BitTorrent, and if you are on dial up and get frequent disconnects, have line noise, or kids that pick up the phone these could contribute to problems, but it is misleading to say that the download speed is a factor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by briancm

When I set up the card Knoppix menus I say no to DHCP (don't have it) and put in all other info. IP, Netmask, etc.
It always says "UNREACHABLE"

In console I type LSPCI -V and it shows eth1 has the 3Com information. So, I think Knoppix sees the card.

In console I type Ifconfig -a and it shows Inet and Inet6. That appears to me it has the right protocol (INET = TCP/IP)

I cannot ping my gateway.

I did download drivers for the card and put on floppy, but don't know if I need them and if I do, I can't seem to get to files on the disk. I see folders, but no files. ???

So, I hope there is enough info. here to point me in the right direction. Thanks for any help.
It just seems I am missing some little point here and can't seem to find it.

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As for the second half of this, see answer #3. How do you expect us to tell you what is wrong with your input when we don't know what you input or much about the system you are connecting to?

The netcard I am using in the Dell Pc is 3C905B-TX Fast Ethrlink XL PCI. Have tried others as well as the onboard NIC.

Linksys EtherFast 10/100 16-port workgroup switch model EZXS16W.

My internet provider is ITCDELTACOM. They provide an ADTRAN unit that breaks out the Internet and with cable connect to our switch. Again 256k banwidth. We have no firewall in house. Deltacom provides that.

Netcard config command results...
Ifconfig eth1 192.168.1.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255 up
route added default gw 10.22.11.113
SIOCADDRT: network unreachable
Auto lo eth1
Setting nameserver in / etc/resolv.conf to 66.184.128.38

I would be happy to provide any additional info.

Thanks for your consideration.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by briancm

Linksys EtherFast 10/100 16-port workgroup switch model EZXS16W.

My internet provider is ITCDELTACOM. They provide an ADTRAN unit that breaks out the Internet and with cable connect to our switch. Again 256k banwidth. We have no firewall in house. Deltacom provides that.

Netcard config command results...
Ifconfig eth1 192.168.1.2
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255 up
route added default gw 10.22.11.113
SIOCADDRT: network unreachable
Auto lo eth1
Setting nameserver in / etc/resolv.conf to 66.184.128.38

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The two above bold values jump out at me as a likely conflict. From what you are saying you don't have a local router. I'm confused by your setting an ip address of 192.168.xxx.xxx and also having a gateway address of 10.xxx.xxx.xxx. Both the 192.168.xxx.xxx address range and the 10.xxx.xxx.xxx address range are private address ranges that can not be routed over the Internet. It's not at all clear to me why you are using both of these address ranges, but it looks wrong. Are your other systems that are attached to the switch all 10.xxx.xxx.xxx address systems; do they have routable IP addresses, or are they 192.168.xxx.xxx addresses? Do you have any systems which run servers available to the Internet (such as web servers)? If so and if they have private 10.xxx.xxx.xxx or 192.168.xxx.xxx addresses how do you dirext Internet traffic to them without a router?

My thinking at this point is that you're going to need to configure an available and unused 10.xxx.xxx.xxx address into the Knoppix system. You'll have to determint the size of your subnet to know just what net mask and broadcast address to use. Looking at the settings in your other systems may help, as well as any info you have from Deltacom. And, of course, your answers to my above questions my cause me to change this opnion.

I will try to use the "Outside" address' instead of the "Inside". What I mean by that is, I know Deltacom translates in/out. I do have one 66.xxx.xxx.xxx mapped to one 192.xxx.xxx.xxx.

I am running Ethereal and see no packets coming in or out.

You gave me some food for thought. I will work with that for now. Thanks.

Harry is pretty much dead on. I am just about sure that the IP of in 192.168.###.### and the gateway of 10.###.###.### are incompatiable and will not work. As for Dell optiplex machines (as low as Optiplex with 75Mhz Pentium 1 & as high as GX280) & the 3C905B-TX Fast Ethrlink XL PCI, I will state that I have used Linux on them for more than 7 years now and have noticed no incompatibilies.

I am sure this is my problem. I am looking into that now. As long as Deltacom doesn't have a wall up, I should be able to get by this. I will post with results.

Thank You.

It sounds now like your local address is all 192.168.xxx.xxx addresses. The one 66.xxx.xxx.xxx address is Internet routable and would not see some traffic such as broadcasts from the other systems even though it is on the same switch. As to that 10 address, I just don't know. If your ISP tells you to use it as a gateway they may well be right. Are your other systems using it as their gateway? While 10 addresses can't be routed over the Internet it could well be that the ISP has a 10 network at their site and for some strange reason has you on a 192.168.xxx.xxx address that feeds them; as long as you don't try to put such packets on the Internet that could work, but mixing of 192.168 and 10 addresses is not at all common.

Beyond that, there could be some simple error in your 192.168.xxx.xxx address settings. There is absolutely no reason to hide these addresses with x's or in any other way. These are private unroutable addresses; knowing what they are does not create any security issue for you, as others outside your network just can't get to your systems with these addresses. In fact, the systems I'm running on my newtork may well have the very same IP addresses, at the moment I'm on 192.168.0.102 and my main system is 192.168.0.100 with the router's address as seen from this side of the router being 192.168.0.1. But, of course, since those addresses are not routable over the Internet, it would be meaningless to try to reach my systems with those addresses. My point is that we can't spot errors in your net mask, beroadcast address or other settings unless we know what settings you are trying to make and why. When you use xxxs or other characters to hide these addresses you are pretty much saying "I know what I'm doing here and it's none of your concern". But if that were really the case you wouldn't be asking for assistance.

I can now ping some address'.

I guess I have some learning to do concerning IP address and routing.

So, I have a little work to do and then I will get back to this. I will post with final results so as to help others with similar problem.

But, you pointed me in the right direction. Thanks again.

Absolutly correct!

Talked to Deltacom and got some other IP's and it works just fine. No need to load driver for NIC and am using on board net card in Dell box. 3COM.

IP = 192.168.1.253
mask = 255.255.255.0
broadcast = 192.168.1.254
GW = 192.168.1.1
Name Server 66.0.214.14

Pinging gateway and other PC's on network. Great!

:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by briancm

Talked to Deltacom and got some other IP's and it works just fine. No need to load driver for NIC and am using on board net card in Dell box. 3COM.

IP = 192.168.1.253
mask = 255.255.255.0
broadcast = 192.168.1.254
GW = 192.168.1.1
Name Server 66.0.214.14

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Really???? That 254 makes no sense at all to me at the end of a broadcast address. As I understand it all broadcast addresses must be the last address in their group (as determined by the mask) and with that mask the broadcast address should end in 255 (192.168.1.255). In fact, 192.168.1.254 should be just as valid of a normal IP address as 192.168.1 253.

Now that things are working for you you might want to get ethereal working again and watch the incoming ARP messages and see just what broadcast address the traffic is being sent to.

I will try that.

Now, I would assume that if I wanted to try and learn about Asterisk (open source pbx) and load it on this machine, I would need to load a version to the harddrive and not use a bootable CD version of Linux. Is that correct or could I set up a partition on the HD to work with this?

If a HD install is needed, do you reccomend any particular version of Liunx? (Fedora for example)

Oh, buy the way, even Deltacom can't explain why I can get away with using the gateway 10.22.11.113 instead of 198.162.1.1 on Windows XP / 98 PC's. They tell me my router (built in to Adtran unit) is the 1.1 and that up stream is their router .113 So, not sure about that unless it is the adtran that is letting me get away with that. ??? But, Linux can't ping the .113 even though Windows can. ???

Thanks for all your help.

Shows 192.168.1.255 as broadcast address even though I have the Netcard set to 192.168.1.254.

Not sure what is going on with that. ???

Anyway just FYI.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by briancm

Shows 192.168.1.255 as broadcast address even though I have the Netcard set to 192.168.1.254.

Not sure what is going on with that. ???

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I'm not clear just what shows 192.168.1.255, but that makes much more sense as a broadcast address and I suggest that you use that address if you do manual setups in the future. I see no way a broadcast address could ever be even.

Just look at the heading. Ethereal is where I got the Broadcast address from.

But, I do agree with your thoughts concerning the broadcast address should end in 255 (i.e. 192.168.1.255 instead of 192.168.1.254)

That is of course based on documentation I have read about this topic (broadcast address)