[PLUG] Browser Blues - Continued

Jim Karlock Jkarlock at earthlink.net
Sun Mar 19 10:21:26 UTC 2006


I have tried four Linux's on a Qwest DSL line. The only one that was able 
to browse the web "out of the box" was Knoppix. Ubuntu, FC3 and FC4 didn't 
work. (Knoppix was the only one without FireFox.) I downloaded the Debian 
single CD version and installed it. It couldn't find two different mirrors 
to begin installing. Presumably another victim of the Qwest DSL line.

FC3 & FC4 both worked after changing the primary DNS from the local modem 
to the Qwest one:  205.171.3.65 and changing the secondary DNS to: 
205.171.2.65. Unfortunately these revert back after a reset (or perhaps it 
was a power cycle).

FC4 also seems to have lost my ML-2010 Samsung printer after it was working 
when I left the computer and printer at a friend's place for use on their 
Qwest DSL.

Needless to say it is highly embarrassing to leave a working computer for a 
friend to use, only to find that it can't serf or print the next day. Is 
there a less troublesome distribution around and where do I get it?

Thanks
JK

At 08:28 AM 3/18/06 , you wrote:
>On Fri, Mar 17, 2006 at 06:09:45PM -0800, William A Morita wrote:
> >
> > I have an Actiontec GT701-WT DSL Modem/Router with Qwest DSL service.
> > I tried power cycling the DSL Modem/Router.  No Help.
> > I tried plugging the network cable into the second network interface.
> > The idea being that a new MAC address would force the DHCP to generate
> > a new IP.
> > New IP address, but this did not change the problem, so it is likely
> > not the DHCP.
> > I am out of things to try,
> > I am open to suggestions
>
>Bill:
>
>In general, you seem to be "trying things" and not "gathering data".
>There are too many things that can be misconfigured, and chances are
>you will be taking a random walk that diverges from a solution.  There
>is not enough time in the universe to try all the different possible
>combinations.
>
>I do not use the later Fedora Cores - they are far too experimental
>and much too unsupported to work with for people with my limited
>experience and limited available time.  A better time investment
>might be made in Ubuntu, or SUSE, or one of the many RHEL4 clones,
>so that you are not dealing with a science project.  I won't go
>into the differences between the three alternatives I suggest (and
>there are many more good alternatives besides) but they are all
>rather different but competent ways to approach the "Linux Problem",
>and they are all much more finished products than Fedora Core.
>
>That said, you are now trying to follow the "Fedora" path, and since
>that shares some history with the Fedora Cores 1 and 2, Redhat 9,
>and RHEL4 systems I am used to, so I will try to steer you from that
>perspective.
>
>First, /var/log/messages is your friend.  Just about everything you
>are doing will leave traces there.  You should be using "ifconfig"
>to see what interfaces you are using, and what the net masks and
>gateways are.  "route -n" will tell you other things about your
>connection.  /etc/resolv will tell you what the "ifup" and dhcp
>processes decided your name servers are.  iptables -L will tell
>you about what is firewalled off.  You should be using something
>like tcpdump or ethereal if the aforementioned tools don't tell
>you enough, though debugging at the packet level is painful.
>
>And of course the outputs of all of these diagnostics (and many
>others) from *working* systems in similar circumstances, compared
>to your outputs, will be instructive.
>
>One good source of "working" would be a Knoppix or an Ubuntu Live
>CD.  These are pretty good at connecting to a network, and they
>can be started without a firewall because there is nothing for the
>bad guys to rewrite.  You are not doing this as a "try something",
>you are doing this to gather data about a working connection.
>Unfortunately, since both of those are Debian based, you will need
>to do a lot more abstracting of data from a different set of
>configuration files than the Redhat family, and since they are
>live CDs not all the logging will be in place.
>
>The key to debugging a problem is to start with a working system and
>change one thing and see what it does.  Once you understand all the
>aspects of your change, you are ready to change another thing.  Changing
>two or more things at once is a recipe for confusion and failure.  And
>while it is working, write down important observations ( network
>configuration, DNS server addresses, a few numeric IP addresses of
>test targets) so that you have something to work with when things
>go wrong - and they will.
>
>There are so many things that can go wrong with a network connection,
>and with a bleeding-edge experimental distro, and with buttheaded
>windoze-tunnel-vision service providers and hardware designs, that
>you are very unlikely to land on top of an island of working solutions
>if you dive randomly into the ocean.  You will have to do some
>navigation, and more importantly you will have to first prove to
>yourself that an island actually exists.  That is what the rest of us,
>and Google, can help you with;  duplicate the coordinates of somebody
>elses dry land, and strike out from there.  That may involve a
>different distro, cable modem, DSL provider, etc.  It may even involve
>starting with a borrowed windoze system on your DSL line to see
>whether that can connect properly.  At least you will be able to talk
>to the windoze-addled service reps at your DSL service if the windoze
>box doesn't work.
>
>One last note about internet services;  I don't know how it works for
>the various DSL providers, but Comcast wants to talk to a specific
>MAC address on the other side of the cable modem.  In my case, they
>talk to a particular PCMCIA ethernet card on my laptop router.  If
>I get the cards mixed up, Comcast won't talk to me any more.  The
>same could be true for you.
>
>Try bringing your box into the Linux Clinic at Free Geek tomorrow.
>If the network connection is running, we can see if your box works
>with your ISP and your DSL modem out of the equation, and compare
>log files with a working RH-style system, such as my laptop.
>
>Keith
>
>--
>Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
>KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
>Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs
>_______________________________________________
>PLUG mailing list
>PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org
>http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug




More information about the PLUG mailing list