hostname configuration problem [now e1000 module prob?]

Independent · Last edited by Independent on Wed May 10, 2006 4:55 am; edited 1 time in total

Hello all. First time post here.

I am a debian user looking at switching over to gentoo for two of my computers. The system I am having trouble with is a t40 thinkpad with an intel gigabit ethernet. Using 2005.1 universal cd. I have a home network with nfs server and wired ethernet. The server is connected to the net via dialup and uses firestarter firewall (this is all working and configured correctly). My thinkpad has a manual address of 192.168.0.9. There are no hardware probs as I am writing this from the network on the aforementioned t40 (using Ubuntu).

The problem I am having after much google and gentoo forums searching is that even though the ethernet is configured properly I cannot seem to get the hostname changed while running from the universal cd. I have set correctly /etc/conf.d/hostname and if I run the commands hostname -d and -f I get something like "livecd" "gentoo" as the answer (please forgive me if I haven't got the commands correct here). This is what is wrong and not the answer I am looking for.

/etc/networks and /etc/conf.d/net are all setup correctly. As far as I can tell all of the networking settings are correct. And nothing like this seems to be explained by the installation documentation.

I suppose the main problem is that I can't ping anywhere on my network and I am guessing this is because I can't properly configure the hostname. This is even though I can configure /etc/hosts correctly and seemed to have configured everything else properly too. I realise I could change the settings on my server by changing the /etc/hosts file on that computer to temporarily connect the t40 to the network but I would like to be able to figure this out.

Thanks very much in advance for any replies and I very much look forward to sorting out this seemingly simple, but frustrating, problem out.
Nicholas
(from New Zealand)

dylnuge · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 106

Why are you using 2005.1 instead of 2006.0?

In response to your post, are you loggid in as root. If not, try the command:

Independent · Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 2:43 am Post subject:

I think I am automatically logged in as root into the livecd "root@livecd" or something like that. I can change any settings there doesn't seem to be a problem writing configuration files in /etc/* or anything like that so I doubt that is the problem and I haven't set up a user so I can't think of anything else I could be.. I can see that everything is configured correctly ifconfig is looking good and /etc/hosts and all the other configuration files are looking good but not when i run the hostname command.

I am keen to get 2006.0 but I can't easily get it unless I buy it off an auction site here. A few days delay. This is really a test anyhow (while it is still the weekend). I probably will get it soon as. I've loaded gentoo until I got x working before and would just like to get it going as a practice run before i install it on my working graphics box.

cyrillic · Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 3:00 am Post subject:

In order for the new hostname to take effect, you need to logout.

Independent · Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 3:29 am Post subject:

Thanks. Yes I can now configure the hostname because of the great advice given above.Although it didn't change the fact I couldn't ping the server. I can ping the nic but that doesn't help the situation.

I will alter my IRQ settings next as that could be the problem as suggested. Otherwise will have to wait until 2006.0 arrives to see if anything is different. Thanks for the speedy and helpful replies. Nicholas

Independent · Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 3:45 am Post subject:

Hey thanks for all the help. I have altered the IRQ settings in the bios did everything before. No luck. lspci -v was showing all of the hardware was looking ok and no luck still no pinging the server. So, might have to wait until 2006.0 arrives and then try again. Cheers Nicholas

cyrillic · Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 9:30 pm Post subject:

The way to check if the IRQ for the NIC is being assigned correctly is to first look in dmesg to see what IRQ the NIC wants.

Independent · Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 2:22 am Post subject:

Thanks again. I did as you suggested first checking whether the irq was correctly mapping to those IRQs and it was both times I tried it. First time without the "gentoo noapic" and second with it. The IRQs changed, the nic went from 9 to 11. Both times it was shared with at least one other device. I checked my server in case I had mucked up the settings. It has been working well as a server with the thinkpad even now (server is set up as a NAT, NFS, Netatalk and chrony server) so I doubt that is the trouble. Still no luck with being able to ping my server at all. I'll list my process here

net-setup eth0
hostname think-pad
exit
cd /etc/
nano hosts, nano networks, nano resolv.conf
cd /conf.d/
nano net, nano hostname(changing the hostname using the command doesn't change hostname in /conf.d)
route (and if it doesn't look good route add default gw 192.168.0.1)

I can't really think of anything else. Thanks for the advice and I appreciate learning more about gentoo.
Regards, Nicholas

Independent

Hi all. I am having real difficulty with this

The 2006.0 cd arrived today and no amount of tweaking can seem to get the ethernet up (well it says it's "up" but it doesn't appear to doing anything). It says that I have a 10MBs connection with my server. I don't, instead I have a 100MBs connection and the Intel NIC is a gigabit one. I've tried with the laptop plugged in to the server directly (with a crossover cable) in case there was some strange thing happening with my home network/patch-panel/switch...
Nothing, can't ping the server. The strange thing is I've just had a motherboard replacement due to a faulty NIC. I retested with the computer using Ubuntu which is already on this computer and I managed to transfer a file in record time 400MB file across the network in 30secs or so. So the NIC is working but not with Gentoo. I have done more searches and it seems most people are not having any problems. I do have an earlier version 2004.something and will try that now. I am wondering if there is something I am doing wrong?
Thanks in advance for any replies, Nicholas

cyrillic · Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 2:39 pm Post subject:

You could always use your working Ubuntu installation to install Gentoo, or even the Ubuntu installation CD if you can get to the command line and the networking works.

D-M · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Posts: 103

I just tested the 2006.0 minimal/universal CD on a T40 model 2373-92. Both DHCP and manual network configurations worked smoothly and I was able to ping my local gateway, google and open a links browser to gentoo.org. Also, the Intel adapter was repeatedly assigned IRQ 11

So while I unfortunately don't have any bright ideas as to why you are having trouble with you T40, I can at least confirm for you that the 2006.0 CD does work with T40 hardware, and shouldn't be the cause of your problems, unless it is defective.

Now if we can just figure out why in your case it isn't working.

Are you configuring your network settings manually? Or do you have a dhcp server running? If configuring manually, be sure you followed the install guides directions exactly.

As an absolute last resort you might try flashing your bios to the latest release and resetting all values to default. There are probably people out there cringing right about now (I know I am as I write this)and screaming you dumb noob, but I am know from lots of experience with IBM hardware that as a last resort (though often IBM support trys to make this a first resort) this can clear up odd issues. So if you are 100% sure your CD isn't defective and you have all your network files configured correctly and nothing else is working to resolve this for you, it is an option you might consider.

DM