ADSL and Mandrake

[Tintin]

I thought I'd try installing Linux again in the hope that by now things would have delevoped to a stage whereby I didn't need to be an uberleetlinuxhax0r :borg:. It seems I will have to wait some time longer. :swear:

My problem: I've installed Mandrake 9.1 with KDE. I've got a spanking new ADSL connection with iinet.net.au but the internet configuration program 'drakconnect' is unable to connect me!

It identifies my ethernet card and appears to have the correct ethernet driver loaded. I have put in all the configuration settings to the best of my ability (based on the iinet manual describing Mac/Windows setups (iinet seems not to acknowledge Linux)) and have even played around with changing them.

When the program attempts to connect, you can see the activity light on the router begin flashing. No connection is made however, even after the startup screen indicates that it has claimed ownership of an IP address!

This kind of problem with drakconnect has been reported quite a bit on the internet, but I have been unable to find any satisfactory solution.

The drakconnect program is just awful! How can Linux expect to compete when such a fundamental process is made so difficult? I hope there are some ZGeeks out there who can help. If I can't get internet working there is no point in keeping Linux on my machine.

[wolfpac181]

do you have a static IP? or a DHCP? use the connection wizard and fill in the info for it. that should connect you. might have to restart X
when booting up, does it bring up eth0? Is it an [OK] or a [FAIL]
I'll take a look when I get home to my mandrake box. 9.2 and 9.1 are the same:)

[Tintin]

eth0: is [OK] when booting up. The documentation said use DHCP and that's the setting I have it on in drakconnect. Rebooting after setting up doesn't seem to help. :( Thanx for your quick response! :cool:

[wolfpac181]

Are you using a firewall/router?

I told my router to do a DHCP WAN and Static LAN. if you have that ability, it's fairly good.

does drakconnect show an IP?

take a look at drakfirewall too, especially if you installed mandrake with Secure or Paranoid settings. make sure that web is marked, unless you have "allow everything" I accidently locked out everything on a webserver because I didn't set the firewall up correctly. haha.

[Tintin]

I haven't set up a firewall yet. I'll try to do this. I will be careful to allow web. :cool:

The box between my ethernet card and phone line is a D-Link DSL 504 http://www.dlink.com.au/products/broadband/dsl504/

For some reason the ethernet card settings assume a range of possible IP addresses. It does not appear from drakconnect that my computer actually gets an IP, however. The setting for gaining an IP is 'automatic'.

There is no evidence that there is a connection... When I click on the 'Connect' button it goes into the connection window but it times out.

[wolfpac181]

Got it. ok. try this:

1: open drakconnect
2: enter the wizard
3: use autodection
4: Tell it is a LAN connection.
this works better than saying ADSL connect
5: do a DHCP and don't worry about hostnames unless your ISP needs them. it's going to be like whateverisp.com
6: enter proxy info if needed

that should work. The ADSL connection is usually for people who have to use shitty Intel internal DSL modems or whatever. This should work.

[sagit]

Originally posted by Tintin
I haven't set up a firewall yet. I'll try to do this. I will be careful to allow web. :cool:

The box between my ethernet card and phone line is a D-Link DSL 504 http://www.dlink.com.au/products/broadband/dsl504/
.....


STOP!

I have dsl-504 (* drools *). You just need ethernet hookup between comp and dsl-504 (which i gather you have).

next, start browser and goto 192.168.0.1, log in and press enter. you should now be at normal front page.

make sure your userid and password are entered, check settings (right connection profile - at top, and authentication). when thats okay, click CONNECT.

you should now get an ip address in the "ip address" section.

use browser to go to www.zgeek.com and post "I luv my router/modem" in the I confess thread. :P

[Tintin]

Update: Wolfpac I checked my firewall settings and everything is permitted (i.e. no firewall).

I tried doing lan connection using the wizard and DHCP. I didn't provide any proxy info, the manual doesn't say anything about that.

It still doesn't work; I still get connection timeouts. I can see the ethernet card light flashing too. Incidentally, on startup, the eth0: [OK] only comes up after a long delay while the computer tries to establish an IP for itself (which it claims is successful)... (I don't believe it).

Is the 'hostname' at the top of the screen in drakconnect important? At the moment it is 'localhost'. If it is important, how do i change it and what do I change it to?

sagit... I have tried going to the IP in the browser, but the browser comes up with an error, as it does with all external sites. I have been through the login process with windows so I am familiar with it.

Thanx for your help guys. It wouldn't be half as frustrating if I didn't have to wait an eternity while settings changes register (i.e. whenever I press 'Finish', 'Apply' or 'OK'. :D

[wolfpac181]

Wait a fuggin minuete.

That DSL router is what's causing you all the problems. That's what's not configured right.

Take a look at the manual on D-links site for setting up the router to assign DHCP to the computers.

http://www.dlink.com.au/tech/drivers/files/routers/dsl504.htm

[Tintin]

Thanks I am looking into this. I am a bit concerned though because iinet said not to change any firmware in the router, to prevent having my ass whupped. (The router is a special one with spechl iinet settings which they insisted I buy (through them)). :grr:

The many options in the drakconnect setup are a bit confusing, especially with IP's. As sagit said, the router manual says to go to 192.168.0.1, for which there should be a username/password (admin/admin) to fill out in a dialogue box. This leads to an HTML form in which I type my ISP username and password. The ISP provided a DNS number (203. ... something) but the manual says do automatic IP. Also there are also the gateway and netmask numbers that I could play with. With them set at 192.168.0.1 (my machine presumably) and 255.255.255.0 (the most common for the naming server, whatever it's called) respectively, it doesn't work.

I get the feeling that the ADSL box is designed to function as a pseudo-ethernet connection, to fool the computer that there is no ADSL at all!

There is a program called netconf in Mandrake which goes right over my head. Thanx for your patience guys, forgive my lam3rhood. :cool:

[sagit]

the dsl-504 is an adsl modem/router/switch thing.

i havent done anything with mine, except make sure that #2 Connection profile is the default. My userid and password are in the password section, pap authentication, llc encapsulation.

I start browser, goto 192.168.0.1, login with router userid/password and config page (as mentioned above) is displayed. i check info to ensure it is correct and click connect. hey presto - i get ip and gateway addresses and connection status of "connected". i start surfing. done.

i havent needed to use drakconfig or netconfig or anything. also my ethernet card is set to "hardware default". i could set it to aut or 10 or 100mb full if i wanted to, but this works.

basically, just use ethernet card config and browser stuff. no internet config gear. thats for dialup.

[wolfpac181]

Just wanted to know an update on how things are going..... do tell:)

[jambo]

I've had a similar problem with Mandrake (10). But no issues with any other distro's of Linux.

It's definatly Mandrake, I've tried it in a VM and had exactly the same outcome.

[asdfjkl]

Just a quick hint, instead of rebooting linux when you make changes, jump into a console with root priveliges (use the su command) and type

ifdown eth0 (brings eth0 down)
ifup eth0 (brings eth0 back up)

(ifconfig will show the status of all the connections as well)

A message should be displayed saying 'Determining IP Address for eth0...' followed by either success or failed.

[deevil]

I've had exactly the same problems with Telus in Canada here... we have to register mac addresses with our ISP before we can connect (only web page we can go to is the site for registering the MAC address...) this sound familiar? possible problem with this? Mandrake 9.1 doesn't work for me either...

DLink DSL 3001 ADSL modem and NetGear ethernet hub EN104TP

[Tintin]

Hi guys, sorry I hadn't noticed the various times this thread was necromanced (esp. Wolfpac... sorry dude!).

I eventually gave up on the problem due to frustration and lack of time. As soon as my uni course is finished later this year, I'll try again. I'm kind of expecting that the problem will be ironed out by the Linux hackers by then, and I'll try a newer distro. Till then it will be Windows 98 for me. Thanx for your tips. Keep em coming.