Network Nightmare

[nocyno]

Ok, so I am essentially new to Linux and have been having a lot of trouble configuring my network settings. iwconfig shows 3 interfaces, wlp3s0, lo, and enp5s0. I am pretty sure I have the correct modules installed, and I have run through net-setup on my wlp3s0 interface (the only one that seems to be ABLE to connect to the internet and does not just return "no wireless extensions" after running iwconfig). Last night I did a test on windows within a virtual box to see what I could do, and I did not even need to install anything because ping www.google.com returned packets.

One the virtualbox, though, I did see other interfaces (only lo, but also something I think was called enp3s0 or something similar). I am not sure what to do and this has been bugging me for ever since I started to try and install Gentoo. If anyone could help I would appreciate that a lot. Thank you!

[Dachnaz]

Hey nocyno,

Don't worry. We'll get there. We're off to a good start, as it seems that you have the appropriate module loaded. That's why iwconfig says something interesting about wlp3s0.

Does iwconfig state that wlp3s0 has its ESSID set to the name of your wifi network? Does

[nocyno]

Ok, so when I run ifconfig I do not see anything for ESSID, but iwconfig (because I am trying to set up wifi) gives the ESSID as: off/any

I ran route and it returns the following:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface



Exactly what does "route" do? Is the above information helpful?[/code]

[nocyno]

Because I did not answer in the last post, ifconfig does not return any ip for wlp3s0, but I might not be seeing it. Would it be labeled IP or something similar? Would ifconfig return this? I also don't see anyting with iwconfig related to an IP.

[nocyno]

After researching the route command a bit, I can reply to your question by saying that no routes turned up when I searched for them. Do I have to add a route? If so, how do I get all of the necessary information to do so? If this was not the course of action you were thinking, than what was?

[cwr]

[nocyno]

Ok, then my question is how do I connect, because that is the problem here.

[mrbassie]

are you still in chroot? are you trying to connect via wifi or wired?

[666threesixes666]

as root in chroot

echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" >> /etc/resolv.conf

[nocyno]

Ok, to make it clear, I am using a wireless connection, but am not at my computer now so I a not sure if I am in chroot. Is that a folder or something similar to just plain old root? How do I check and how do I switch to it if I am not in chroot

[NeddySeagoon]

nocyno,

Getting connected to a wired network involves the wiring and getting an IP address on the network you are wired to.
Getting to another network that is connected to the first network requires a route, that describes how to do it.
Routes are recursive, so you only need the gateway out of your network, there is no need for a routing table that describes the entire internet.

Wireless is much the same but authentication replaces connecting the wire. Once yon can get authenticated, you can get an IP Address and a route.

Your empty routing table is a worry. It should always contain

[nocyno]

How exactly would I get route to return something? I should note that I am using the systemrescue CD because after struggling with the minimal installation CD, I just put the system rescue cd on a usb flash drive. When I tested the minimal CD on the virtualbox, the network did not always work but one time it did. I am not really sure where to go from here now. I am having trouble navigating through dmesg by the way, how do I scroll up and down? I do not recall any failures when booting up the system regarding networking card failures but I was only able to take a quick look as it went away after a couple seconds.

[666threesixes666]

dump dmesg to a text file, then nano it....

[nocyno]

just tried the minimal cd again. route returns the following:

[nocyno]

OK, looking at the dmesg file, some of the last lines of code are:

[dambacher]

Your wired card is missing firmware and therefore will not work properly.
If I searched correctly, the firmware needed can be obtained by emerging
sys-kernel/linux-firmware.
but for this you should have network access .-(
you may go back to the instalation procedure as described in the handbook, boot from your medium, mount the file systems and do the chroot command (section 6a)
and then install it.

Or you maybe can download the single file from the original git and put it to /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw

this way you may get your wired card enp5s0 to work and you can proceed with normal network setup

To use your wireless card and scan for possible networks you first have to activate it:

[nocyno]

I switched back to the minimal installation CD and used an Ethernet cable to get connection. I tried doing emerge previously stated but it still did not work. Also, in what directory do I create the wpa_supplcation.config file?

On a separate note when trying to install Gentoo with the wired connection, it never ended up on the harddrive but all on the CD-ROM. I think my hard drive was partitioned but nothing was ever done to put the kernel and bootloader, etc. on it. How do I fix this?

[dambacher]

wpa_supplicant.conf can can be in any directory, for install i put it in my /root dir,
Depending on how you want to configure your network later it can be in /etc/wpa_supplicant or generated automatically by NetworkManager.

the install cd or the rescue cd both are live file systems which run from cd
to install gentoo to the harddisk you have to follow the gentoo installation handbook (see link in my other comment).

What install instructions did you follow?

[cwr]

I'd be inclined to boot from a known-good CD (or USB) eg: the sysrescue CD, and check
that you've got some sort of internet connection. Once you've got that, mount the
partition on which you've installed Gentoo, chroot to it, and follow the manual
closely skipping the steps you've already completed. That should get your installation
into a known state; then you can ask questions here and get relevant answers.

If the current sysrescue CD can't handle your hardware then try a current Ubuntu CD,
which is generally pretty up-to-date.

I find wired connections easier to set up than wireless, if you have both, but YMMV.

Will

[Hu]

Although r8169 will use firmware if found, I believe it can be used without the external firmware. It may not work as well, so you should get the firmware when you can.

[mreff555]

Here is the firmware
[url]
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=4&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true
[/url]

[nocyno]

Hi everyone! I thank you all so much for helping me, but I have decided to gain a little more experience with Linux through Crunchbang (kinda like debian) until I tackle Gentoo. I hope nobody takes this as an insult to Gentoo, I really do not mean it to be. I am just saying that I need a bit more experience before I take on this challenge. Thank you all so much for everything!

[mreff555]

Crunchbang was what used before I switched to gentoo. It is an excellent intermediate operating system. Definately still one of may favorites. In fact my gentoo system pretty much looks just like a crunchbang setup.