"Netmount" can't get the network to start at all -

[mrpotatohead]

Ok - please be gentle -it's taken me two days to get a system that will actually boot! But I cannot get the network to fire up.
I installed from a CD and whilst I was doing that the network did work....

I do not know any commands at all.. I can follow explicit instructions only. So if you need me to list something you'll probably have to tell me where it is..

Contents of /etc/conf.d/net looks something like this:

iface_eth0="dhcp"
dhcpcd_eth0="-N"
dhcpcd-ETH0="-HD"

although I have tried other combinations. When I reboot i get the following error message:

ERROR: Problem starting needed services
"Netmount" was not started

I checked other threads, and found one that was sort of related, but I couldn't understand what was being said/asked. I did try one command that indicated that 'netmount = default' - but now I can't remember the ruddy command.


Help..............

Unstuck. -- desultory

[zsoltika]

'netmount' is not the same as 'net.eth0'.
What would you like to start? Your network card or you would like to mount (while starting the computer) some network share?
Even after the machine said "netmount" not started, did you try to ping some other machine? If yes and that worked then net is working.
If you don't have any lines in /etc/fstab which referes to some network share (nfs,cifs,smbfs... filesystems) then you doesn't even need netmount to start at boot, if this is the case then you should issue:

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rc-update del netmount default

(of course as root user)
HTH,
Zsoltika

[Pete M]

mrpotatohead

Does your motherboard have firewire either on board or as a PCI card ?

As root issue

#ifconfig -a

Lets see what interfaces you have listed

Also, again as root issue

#lsmod

See if you can find in the list of modules "eth1394"

Pete

[mrpotatohead]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Answers.

No firewire

ifconfig -a -output
Link encap: Local loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask 255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACKRUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX and TX all zero's

What would I like to start? I'd like the network to work so I can get out to the internet - as it did from the LIVEcd.
Tried to PING a web site - not network
tried to ping my router - no network
/etc/fstab contains the stuff that the install manual said...

hda1 - boot
hda2 - swap
hda3 - root
cdrom
and a couple of others - proc and tmpfs?????


that's all I know......

Thanks so far!

[Pete M]

mrpotatohead

As you can see from my post count I'm also new to Gentoo but here are some suggestions

Did you do this step

Automatically Start Networking at Boot
# rc-update add net.eth0 default

If so take alook at

#lspci

See what your network card is then we can have a look if the correct module is loaded

If as you say your network worked from the live CD, boot from the CD again, issue "lsmod" this will show you a list of modules which should include one for your network card, this information will be useful to decide which module should be loaded

What method did you use to configure your kernel ?


Pete

[mrpotatohead]

hmmm..

lsmod gives an interesting list.....

nothing.......

So do I assume that the install instructins are missing something rather important here?? If so what?

lspci says 'command not found'

did the rc-update first time round.

Compilled using make && modules_install

tried genkernel but that wouldn't boot....

[Pete M]

mrpotatohead

When you say you did

Compilled using make && modules_install

I assume you did

# make menuconfig

First and configured all your kernel options ?

You are using the commands "lspci" and "lsmod" on your system as root ?

I'm guessing but I think you may have missed some important kernel options

Pete

[mrpotatohead]

pete,

yes i did make menuconfig, can't remember evrything i did - but i did follow the install instructions....

when i issue the commands i am looged in as root - if that what you mean...

I really don't understand the logic to unix - line commands don't phase me - brought up on DOS not just on PC's but also mainframe DOS. But can't seem to get my head round the file/directory structure ..... I'll get there eventually but this problem is stopping me from doing any real work on Linux - because I can't load any apps without acces to the net

Thanks,

bob

[Pete M]

Well Bob

I'm sorry but I don't think I can be any more help to you, a little out of my depth

If it's any comfort to you I have spent just over a week getting a useable system up and running from a stage 1 install, used genkernel with no trouble

I'm also an old dos'er but I must admit Linux takes some getting your head round

Tried many flavours of Linux over the last couple of years, Redhat, Suse, Slackware, Fedora, but I do like Gentoo even though it can be a pig at times

Hopefully someone else will pick up this thread

Good luck

Pete

[jmroach]

yeah- i don't mean to butt in, but i think that i might be having the same problem as you and i didn't want to start another thread and steal an answer from you...

is your system recognizing "eth0" or not???

was your network working w/ your installation cd?

oh- i also read another post which was similar and the coldplug wasn't loading the card... so you might want to try that (?)

-john

[mrpotatohead]

Thanks Pete - appreciate the help.

John, The pc was running Windows - and never ad a problem with the network. Loaded the LiveCD and it worked fine. Installed from the live cd - and did the stuff that required downloads - worked fine. Rebooted the system - no access to the outside world (or even the internal network............)

I tried genkernel and that went on about coldplug. but then it didn't reboot at all - so i did a completely new install and compiled manually - worked fine - except i can't see the ruddy network.

As to your question about recognizing "eth0" - I don't know the answer - how do I find out?

Cheers,

Bob

[jmroach]

Well, if its connecting now then i guess it recognized eth0- in the error message when i was booting it said something like:

"device eth0 not detected" or "device eth0 does not exist"

i just recompiled w/ genkernel again... and it didn't work, so i guess i might try doing it manually now...

-john

[Praxxus]

When you try to bring the network card up manually, what does it say? From the command line type (as root):

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ifconfig eth0 up

I'm guessing you will get some variation of the "no such device" error. That means you have to compile support for your network card into your kernel.

Do you know what kind of ethernet card you have? If so, we can tell you what to compile in. If not, here's how to find out what to do

1) write these instructions down, or print them off

2) Boot from the livecd

3) Run:

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lspci

That will tell you what hardware is on your system. Look for lines mentioning "Ethernet controller"

4) Run:

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lsmod

That will tell you what modules the livecd loaded when it booted.

5) Write down what you got from 3 & 4, and let us know. Then we can definitely tell you what to put in your kernel.

[jmroach]

yeah- i feel like i'm kind of stealing the thread... but if we are having the same problem i guess this will help mrpotatohead...

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#lspci
-junk-
0000:00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000---videocard
0000:02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306b/g Wireless Lan Controller (rev 03)

note- there was more stuff at the top, but i don't think it's relevant.

i do have a wireless card in the PCMCIA slot, but i'm not trying to use that right now.

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#lsmod
module
floppy
rtc
rsrc_nonstatic   1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core     2 yenta_socketm rsrc_nonstatic
evdev
8139too
mii                   1 8139too
paraport_pc
paraport           1 paraport_pc
ahci
sata_qstor
sata_uli
sata_sis
sata_sx4
sata_nv
sata_via
sata_svw
sata_sil
sata_promise
libata               10 ahci,sata_qstor,sata_uli,sata_sx4,sata_nv,sata_via,sata_svw,sata_sil,sata_promise
dm_mirror
dm_mod          1 dm_mirror
sbp2
ohci1394
ieee1394          2 sbp2,ohci1394
s1811_hcd
ohci_hcd
uhci_hcd
usb_storage
usbhid
ehci_hcd
usbcore          7 (all 7 just listed)

i left off the size and if it wasn't use by anything i left off the "0"

i'm guessing the ieee line is important???

thanks,

john

[RayDude]

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#lspci
-junk-
0000:00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000---videocard
0000:02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306b/g Wireless Lan Controller (rev 03)

So you have a realtek ethernet and Broadcom wireless lan cards.

Realtek is listed in your lsmod:

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#lsmod
8139too
mii                   1 8139too

Its the 8139too. When you build your kernel you need to compile it as module and add it to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 (or 2.4 if you're using an old kernel) Apparently you need the mii driver as well. If the kernel is good it will include it automatically when you choose 8139too (I'd enable it just in case and then later, when you have a backup kernel you could try removing it to save space) I'd make them modules, in the past compiling them in caused strange issues for me.

To use the broadcom wireless card you're in for a bit of an adventure. You have to use ndiswrapper and the windows drivers that are supplied with the card. There are many good howtos on the forums, get ethernet working first. ndiswrapper works well. I've used it with a BC 802.11b card.

Raydude

[mrpotatohead]

Guys, I've rebooted from the live cd. In fact I'm in there now.
Output from LSPCI command shows the ethernet controller as : National Semiconductor Corp DP83815(MacPhyter).
The output from the LSMOD command shows quite a bit - but i can't copy/paste it... damn. there is an entry that says module = natsemi
Size=19712 and
Used by=0 I'll have to reboot the failed install and get the results from there and add to this post.

OK, rebooted the system that I can't get to work. tried the lspci command - 'command not found'
tried lsmod - listing shows the headings but nothing else. So I guess there is something missing - don't know what or how to put it in.......

Well i guess it's progress.

Thanks,

bob

[Praxxus]

Okay, now we're getting somewhere, mrpotatohead! lspci doesn't work on your installation because you don't have the sys-apps/pciutils package installed yet. Which of course you can't do until we get your ethernet card working! Fortunately, we don't need lspci to get it working. It's just a handy tool to have.

Things to do as root:

1)

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cd /usr/src/linux

2)

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make menuconfig

3) Go to:
Device Drivers
--->Networking support

4) Make sure [ ]Networking support (at the top) is enabled!

5) Go to:
--->Networking options

6) Here, I would go through each item and either compile it into the kernel (*) or as a module (M) if the help recommends it. Usually it will say something like, "Say 'Y' for now," or "Say 'Y' here unless you know what you are doing." As a cheat sheet, you can peek at a screenie of my own network config, but you'll be much better off in the long run if you read through things yourself. Especially since I have some stuff selected that isn't essential to get networking up and running.

7) Select < Exit > at the bottom of the menu

8) Go down to:
--->Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)

9) Select:
[*] Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)
[*]EISA, VLB, PCI and on board controllers
<M>National Semiconductor DP8381x series PCI Ethernet support

10) < Exit >

11) < Exit >

12) < Exit >

13) < Exit >

14) < Yes >, you want to save your new kernel configuration

15)

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cp .config config
make mrproper
cp config .config
make oldconfig
make
mount /boot
make install && make modules_install

The first three steps there are to get your new config out of the way, clean up your kernel code, then put your config back so you can build the kernel based on that.

16) Edit /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6, and add a line that says "natsemi"

17)

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rc-update add net.eth0 default

Just to be sure!

18) reboot

[mrpotatohead]

Great thanks. Did all of that and it still doen't work.....

when rebooting I saw an error message

"Failed to load natsemi"

and I also got the same error message about the Netmount error....

I guess you're gonna want to see some listing of some files to work out which of the instructions I didn't follow properly.

I did read the stuff in the Networking Options - but none of it made any sense to me at all. In fact it could have been written in Chinese for all I knew. Whilst I know what networks are from an overview perspective - the rest is just gobble-de-gook.

Thanks anyway.

Bob

PS Just did another lsmod on - the file is still empty............

[Praxxus]

Great thanks. Did all of that and it still doen't work.....

when rebooting I saw an error message

"Failed to load natsemi"

and I also got the same error message about the Netmount error....

I guess you're gonna want to see some listing of some files to work out which of the instructions I didn't follow properly.

I did read the stuff in the Networking Options - but none of it made any sense to me at all. In fact it could have been written in Chinese for all I knew. Whilst I know what networks are from an overview perspective - the rest is just gobble-de-gook.

Thanks anyway.

Bob

PS Just did another lsmod on - the file is still empty............

What happens when you type

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modprobe natsemi

Did you change any of your networking configurations at all? I realize that some of that stuff is over lots of people's heads. Most of it is over mine. That's why I said only select the ones that say, "If unsure, say Y" (or similar) in the help section. That's what I do. Or alternatively, you could look at the screen shot cheat sheet and just make your config for basic networking options look like mine.

What is the output of

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ls /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/

[mrpotatohead]

Okay, yes i did change a couple of the options - but can't remember which ones. Only one or two.

Result of modprobe natsemi:-

FATAL: Module not found

As to the second command - it says that the file or directory does not exist... but that is probably me not typing it in correctly - Are there any spaces in that lot? Apart from between the 'ls' and the other bit. Secondly what is the 'uname -r' ? Is it a literal or do I need to substitute something here?

Cheers

PS Forgot to ask. when you say add "natsemi" to the /etc/modules.autload.d/kernel-2.6 file - is the natsemi in quotes or not? I tried both but the same result.

[Praxxus]

Well apparently the "one or two" things you changed didn't involve compiling in the device driver (kernel module) for your networking card. That's what this "natsemi" thing is that we've been talking about. I'm trying to help you compile the "natsemi" kernel module so that your card will work.

The `uname -r` is a shortcut to get your kernel version. Note that those are back quotes (below the ~ on my keyboard) and not single quotes (below the "). The backquotes tell your shell to act on the output of the command inside them. Please take a few moments to play with it, so you have a better understanding of it. No really, I'm serious. The more you play around and understand, the better you get at figuring these things out for yourself.

For instance, run(without the backquotes

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uname -r

It will tell you your kernel version. So in the command I gave you, your kernel version gets automatically substituted in the place where `uname -r` is written.

"natsemi" in /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 is without quotes.

You need to go back through the steps I provided and follow all the instructions. Step #6 is the only one that might be confusing, but you can use my cheatsheet/screenshot that I linked to in the original message. Now that I look again, there really aren't that many options that I have selected. It is safe for you to include all of them.

[mrpotatohead]

Thanks a million - it works!!!!

I 'copied' your cheat sheet - except for the one that said experimental. That's about all I changed - i certainly didn't add in anything relating to the natsemi - that had already been done before. But it all seems to work.

Except the pc now uses a different name than the one I gave it.. it appears to have taken it's name from the router - but who cares - it works. Now I can get gnome or something loaded...

Your help (collective) has been greatly appreciated.

If I'm ever in your neighbourhood I'll buy you a beer.

Bob

[Praxxus]

Don't forget to emerge sys-apps/pciutils so you'll have pciutils if you need it again!

Glad it's working for you now.

[jmroach]

that's great that your eth0 is finally working! it would be wonderful if i haden't waysted the entire day fdisk'ing away my first few attempts at installing- only to fail again! (i'm not really as discouraged as i sound, so don't worry)

i tried basically everything that you guys told me and mrpotatohead to try, but no luck thus far.

i posted the results of "lsmod" and "lspci" above somewhere, so if anyone wants to take another stab at helping it would really be appreciated.

i am still getting the "eth0 device not present" and "netmount" errors...

any ideas???

thanks,

John

[jmroach]

ok- i finally just threw all drivers that even looked like they might be needed by eth0- and finally got the card recognized! but there is still a problem and i have no idea how to fix it,

eth0 is present and it looks like it's connecting, but when i run:

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#ifconfig eth0

the card shows up, but tere are no RX packets or TX packets transmitted and when i run:

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#ping -c 3 www.google.com
ping: unknown host www.google.com

i don't know what's going on... does anyone have any idea of what to do???

thanks,

john