No Network Connectivity. etho Inactive

[gratitude]

Newby. Look after lots of Windows boxes, and the LAN/domain network generally. Installed Fedora 9, had network connectivity, Firefox worked. Installed updates (I think successfully, it was a big download). Disabled some services eg bluetooth, ISDN. Next day, network nogo.

Network ManAger applet has a red cross. Its Enable Networking is ticked.

system-config-network 1.5.10 says Devices eth0 inactive. I hit Activate and its says cannot, failed.
Hardware SiS00 PCI FastEthernet Status system
DNS Primary and secondary are correct
dns search path (domain name).local
Hosts, nothing specified.

ifconfig eth0 says UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX Packets: 7398 errors
TX packets: 78 errors

Network service is enabled, running.
Firewall disabled.

CAT5e cable to local LAN switch, which shows lots of blinking activity on Fedora port etc. (changed cable and port anyway, same).

mac address has fixed ip address on Domain Controller/DHCP server. cant ping the supposed fedora ip address. Havent managed to find out how to see what IP address fedora is using TODAY.

Thank you!

[sidebrnz]

Try swapping in a different NIC and see if that's the issue. Hardware does fail, sometimes, you know.

[gratitude]

PC has another hard drive (normally now unplugged) with XP, just checked and network is nogo from that also.
Sorry, should have checked.

btw, how do I determine Fedora IP address etc? ie alternative to ipconfig /all in Windows

[stevea]

ifconfig is similar to ipconfig.

Common command "ifonfig" diplays all "up" interfaces. "ifconfig -a" shows info on all interfaces (up or down). "ifconfig eth0 up 192.168.0.77/24" does the obvious setup. "ifconfig eth0 down" shutdown. See "man ifconfig" for more.

Please note that "ifconfig" is still widely used BUT has been deprecated for several years. You should really learn the "ip" command.

"ip addr" shows all interfaces & details.
"ip route" shows routes.

[marcrblevins]

ifconfig been depreciated? I didn't know that! Better change my scripts.

[briantan]

So route command is now consolidated into ip too as in "ip route"

Is netstat deprecated too? I can see "netstat -a" functionality in nmap.

[gratitude]

OK, Ive got network again using the XP hard drive in this box. I had to correct the mac address for the ip reservation in the Windows 2000 domain DHCP server (it really is time I got proper glasses).

But, unplug that hd and use the Fedora drive, network is nogo again.

Network Configuration shows eth0 as inactive. Deactivate then Activate, its Active. (big triumph)
Hardware status is System.
DNS looks OK.
Host is blank.

ip addr (thank you for this) says
etho BROADCAST, MULTICAST, UP, LOWER_UP. blahblah state UNKNOWN
link/ether (correct mac address) brd 00:00:00:00:00:00 (what is this?)
inet 192.168.0.30/23 (thats right) brd 192.168.1.255 (dont know what this is, broadcast something?) scope global eth0

And, i can ping the gateway. (hey, ping doesnt stop, ha)(how do ya stop it?, I had to close terminal)

But still,
Network Manager Applet has a red cross, though Enable Networking is ticked.
Firefox is in offline mode.

Now Im looking at adding a Wired connection in the Network Manager Applet, since it has no connections.
mac address, IPV4 - DHCP, plus I add the fixed address the domain will give it(nuts, its duplication), add mask, & gateway, DNS servers, dont know about Search Domains (for what?), Im leaving it blank. But OK is grayed out. Use (domainname).local. OK is still grayed.
Can only Cancel it.

Im stuck.

[gratitude]

(broadcast address is the last address in the range. ok)

[gratitude]

( ping -c 1 localhost is good )

[gratitude]

The Network Manager applet is strange.
left-ck "wired network. network is unmanaged" is grayed out.
rt-clk "enable networking" is ticked.

Network Config - Devices - etho - inactive. Deactivate it then Activate it, now says Active.
But now Network Manager, hover mouse, "no network connection".
Yet take Firefox out of offline mode and, it works, I can web browse again. Woohoo.

Conclusion. Dont trust Network Manager, yes?

[sidebrnz]

Don't *use* Network Manager. I got rid of it long ago, as soon as I learned that it never admitted that I had a connection either. Ping will run until you use ^C to stop it, unless you use a command line switch to change it.

[forkbomb]

Originally Posted by sidebrnz

Don't *use* Network Manager. I got rid of it long ago, as soon as I learned that it never admitted that I had a connection either. Ping will run until you use ^C to stop it, unless you use a command line switch to change it.

Just to clarify, that's ctrl-c.

I alias ping to ping -c 5 in ~/.bashrc because honestly, how often do I ever want to ping indefinitely?

alias ping='ping -c 5'

EDIT:
Also, as for NetworkManager vs. network, I wouldn't say it's "untrustworthy," just quirky. If you are on wireless and need to manage many wireless profiles, NetworkManager is the way to go.

If you're on a wired NIC using either Static IP or DHCP on the same network all the time, skip NetworkManager (I would definitely say that if you need static IPs with a standard wired Ethernet interface, plain network is the way to go).

[marcrblevins]

Thought NetworkManager been fixed in the updates. Did all of your yum updates?

[kenphillips]

Kinda hard to yum update if the network is unavail, no?

I am seeing this same behaviour with Fedora 9 and 10. And haven't updated anything yet. Network functions within WinXP. No prompt to setup network during F10 install. In both F9 and F10, Network manager sees my NIC but has it listed as Inactive. Will try the 'deactivate, then activate' solution tomorrow.