cant get internet access

[rootloser]

I just installed Fedora Core 4 last night. I am really new at Linux, and complex computing in general, but i want to learn, and I enjoy it. My new computer is a celeron d processor on an D945GNTLR Motherboard, meaning I have onboard sound and ethernet card. I was not able to get the ethernet that was built in working, since FC4 does not support it in its present kernel. So, I jsut grabbed an older ethernet card that it did recognize...a 3com 3c90x. The ethernet card is now recognized and supposedly active, and configured for DHCP which is what my cable internet service provider uses. Everything is set up in such a way that it seems like it SHOULD work. But it doesnt. The auto update program cant find a connection, I cant get onto the internet at all, and I get the following error message when i log in:

Could not look up internet address for x1-6-00-60-08-74-c8-2f. This will prevent Gnome from operating correctly. It may be possible to correct the problem by adding x1-6-00-60-08-74-c8-2f to the file /etc/hosts.

Can anyone help me get online? Can anyone tell me what this error message means, and if it is related to my problem? I would be really grateful for any support anyone can offer, I am really stumped with this one, and Id like to get it fixed so i can start tackling some of my other hadware issues (sound)...The Internet is the priority though. Thanks for any help you can offer!

cheers,
Brian

[rootloser]

ok, quick update...the following things make me think that the computer is in fact connecting to the internet, but i am being blocked from doing anything, anmd the system is being blocked from doing anything by the firewall:

-gkrellm shows ethernet activity
-network device control shows eth0 active
-during startup after boot it says, "detecting ip information for eth0...done"

I dont know how to edit firewall settings though...can anyone tell me how to configure the firewall settings?
Is there amything else it could be? Any ideas?
Thanks for helping a new user become a longtime user!

[tomcat]

You might need to disable IPV6 for your network or add some valid DNS entries in your /etc/resolv.conf. For a first troubleshooting, please post the content of the following files:
/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/modprobe.conf
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

[rootloser]

Ok, i followed your advice, tomcat, and checked the items you mentioned. First, quick situation recap tho: FC4 recogizes my ethernet card, and I have run configure, set if for dhcp (which my ISP DEFINITELY uses...i called them) and yet i cant access the internet or run auto update proggies. I dont have a network (yet). I connect my pcs directly to the cable modem (by way of USB for my windows laptop, and ethernet for my Linux box) I write these posts from the windows lappy connected to the cable modem by way of a usb connection. Just to give some extra info about my connection, from a computer that works, I ran ipconfig /all on the win laptop...here are the results (after is the info you requested, tomcat!!):

Windows IP Configuration

Hostname. . . . . . . . . . . . . : brian
Primäres DNS-Suffix . . . . . . . :
Knotentyp . . . . . . . . . . . . : unknown
IP-Routing aktiviert. . . . . . . : no
WINS-Proxy aktiviert. . . . . . . : no

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : USB Cable Modem 351000
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-D0-59-D6-0C-11
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : yes
Autokonfiguration aktiviert . . . : Ja
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.218.11.73
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.248.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 80.218.8.1
DHCP-Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 62.2.28.73
DNS-Server. . . . . . . . . . . . : 62.2.17.61
62.2.24.158
62.2.17.60
62.2.24.162
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday 3. October 2005 13:25:39
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, 3. October 2005 14:25:39

And now, tomcat, to get to the items you requested for a troubleshoot.

Firstly-
/etc/resolv.conf:
this file is empty (0bytes). I suspect this may be my problem, but I have no idea how to fix it, or what to put into the file...

secondly:
/etc/modprobe.conf:
alias scsi_hostadapter ata_piix
alias snd-card-0 snd-hds-intel
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-hda-intel index=0
remove snd-hda-intel { /usr/sbin/alsact1 store 0 >/dev/null 2>&1 ¦¦ : ; }; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove snd-hda-intel
alias usb-controller ehci-hcd
alias ieee1394-controller ohci1394
alias eth0 3c59x

So, i think the last line is for my ethernet card, as the model is in fact 3c59x (x being another number and some letters...) I think that this file will later come to be part of the solution for another problem i am having with my onboard sound card and a booting issue...but that is for a later post...
Is there anything that needs to be added to this file?

finally:
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0:
DEVICE=eth0
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp

it looks like this file is complete....it is telling linux that the connection is at eth0 (correct), it needs to start up at boot (correct) and that it needs to use dhcp (also correct). Is there anything that needs adding to this file?

Any thoughts? How can I get this thing cookin'?

Thanks a lot!

Brian

[rootloser]

Success!
I went into resolv.conf and added some DNS server names and solved the problem. I also addes the command chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf since it is apparant that my dhcp sever has some trouble communicating the DNS server names to linux at boot up. I guess i should be in business as long as my ISP doesnt go changing thge DNS servers on me!
Note for future troubleshooters, some cablemodem ISPs with dhcp apparantly dont automatically configure name servers in FC4. My suggestion to you, run a windows box and type ipconfig /all (or perhaps call your ISP if they will give that info...) to get the ips of your name servers. add these to the resolv.conf file with the following format:

nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
search localdomain

Thanks for your help tomcat, I would never have been able to figure this out were it not for you pointing me in the right direction!

Cheers!
Brian

[tomcat]

Just came back from work. Nice to see that you solved it yourself that fast.

Yes, IPV6 protocols and the missing resolv.conf are the troublemakers and yes, the file needs to be adjusted and locked (but that won't work on ReiserFS. It will be overwritten with that fileformat, so then you would need to hack the /sbin/dhclient but that is another story...)

Actually, I wonder why there was no resolv.conf. It should have been there by default. *shrugs*

[rootloser]

Yes, rather strange stuff...I will jsut have to remember not to use ReiserFS if I do any reformatting...
I think that the resolv.conf was never written becasue there was no data to put into it...No DNS values to stick in there...why write it? Unless there are default values that are there as place holders or something...I dunno.