Problems Connecting Laptop To Modem

[B J]

I have several computers connected to my Internet service, though not
all at once. One is an old iMac with an outdated version of OS X. i
also have two towers that run FreeBSD/Mate and a laptop that has
FreeBSD/Xfce.

A few weeks ago, the router I had malfunctioned and I got a Cisco
modem/router from my ISP. All of my machines could connect to the
Internet through it, but the signal wasn't very robust. The slightest
disturbance to the system, such as shutting down one of the computers,
would result in the loss of that signal.

i went back to my ISP and exchanged that unit for one made by Arris.
I can add or remove computers from it without any problems except for
the laptop. It can't seem to connect to it, at least when it's
running FreeBSD/Xfce

For example, I tried:

service netif restart

followed by pinging a website, but that didn't work.

The Ethernet connector appears to be good. I tested it when I booted
the machine using a live CD version of an old openSUSE distro that I
happened to have on hand.

I'm not sure what I should try next. Does anyone have any
suggestions? I could, of course, contact my ISP, but its staff,
apparently, isn't given any training on Linux and, presumably, Unix
systems.

To be honest, it's not all that important if I can't use the laptop
right now as I've got the two tower machines. The laptop is more of a
convenience than anything else.

By the way, the only reason I've got Xfce on it is because it couldn't run Mate.

Thanks.

B. M. Jatzeck
_______________________________________________
freebsd-...@freebsd.org mailing list
https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questi...@freebsd.org"

[Erich Dollansky]

Hi,

can you post the output of

ifconfig

as the first step?

Erich

[B J]

On 6/13/18, Erich Dollansky <freebsd....@sumeritec.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> can you post the output of
>
> ifconfig
>
> as the first step?
>
> Erich

<snip>

Here's what I got:

nfe0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
options=82008<VLAN_MTU,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
ether 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 192.168.0.12 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
inet6 fe80::b821:476f:28dd:e05a%nfe0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
nd6 options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
status: active
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
options=600003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
groups: lo

BMJ

[Erich Dollansky]

Hi,

doesn't look bad. Where does the IP address (192.168.0.12) come from?
Fixed?

What is

netstat -rn

saying?

Erich

[B J]

<snip>

> doesn't look bad. Where does the IP address (192.168.0.12) come from?
> Fixed?

I believe that's the address of the router/modem that I'm using.

>
> What is
>
> netstat -rn
>
> saying?

<snip>

257/1528/1785 mbufs in use (current/cache/total)
256/760/1016/185606 mbuf clusters in use (current/cache/total/max)
256/756 mbuf+clusters out of packet secondary zone in use (current/cache)
0/56/56/92803 4k (page size) jumbo clusters in use (current/cache/total/max)
0/0/0/27497 9k jumbo clusters in use (current/cache/total/max)
0/0/0/15467 16k jumbo clusters in use (current/cache/total/max)
576K/2126K/2702K bytes allocated to network (current/cache/total)
0/0/0 requests for mbufs denied (mbufs/clusters/mbuf+clusters)
0/0/0 requests for mbufs delayed (mbufs/clusters/mbuf+clusters)
0/0/0 requests for jumbo clusters delayed (4k/9k/16k)
0/0/0 requests for jumbo clusters denied (4k/9k/16k)
0 sendfile syscalls
0 sendfile syscalls completed without I/O request
0 requests for I/O initiated by sendfile
0 pages read by sendfile as part of a request
0 pages were valid at time of a sendfile request
0 pages were requested for read ahead by applications
0 pages were read ahead by sendfile
0 times sendfile encountered an already busy page
0 requests for sfbufs denied
0 requests for sfbufs delayed

I did the same with the tower I'm presently running and I got a
similar response.

BMJ

[Chris Gordon]

That’s the output of netstat with the “-m” option, the ask was for the output with the “n” and “r” options (look at the routing table, don’t resolve the addresses). Depending on your mailer and font, I can see how it looked like an “m”.

Chris

[B J]

On 6/13/18, Chris Gordon <fre...@theory14.net> wrote:

<snip>

> That’s the output of netstat with the “-m” option, the ask was for the
> output with the “n” and “r” options (look at the routing table, don’t
> resolve the addresses). Depending on your mailer and font, I can see how it
> looked like an “m”.

<snip>

That'll teach me to use Firefox on an obsolete version of OS X.....

All I get from:

netstat - r n

is a new line with no text or characters.

BMJ

[B J]

On 6/14/18, Erich Dollansky <freebsd....@sumeritec.com> wrote:

<snip>

> no space after the dash:
>
> netstat -rn

>>
>> is a new line with no text or characters.
>

> If this is still the same after you removed the spaces, the machine
> does not know how to connect to the outside world.

<snip>

Here's what I got:

Routing tables

Internet:
Destination Gateway Flags Netif Expire
127.0.0.1 link#2 UH lo0
192.168.0.0/24 link#1 U nfe0
192.168.0.12 link#1 UHS lo0

Internet6:
Destination Gateway Flags
Netif Expire
::/96 ::1 UGRS lo0
::1 link#2 UH lo0
::ffff:0.0.0.0/96 ::1 UGRS lo0
fe80::/10 ::1 UGRS lo0
fe80::%nfe0/64 link#1 U nfe0
fe80::b821:476f:28dd:e05a%nfe0 link#1 UHS lo0
fe80::%lo0/64 link#2 U lo0
fe80::1%lo0 link#2 UHS lo0
ff02::/16 ::1 UGRS lo0

Thanks.

[Erich Dollansky]

Hi,

On Wed, 13 Jun 2018 21:20:03 +0000
B J <va6...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 6/13/18, Chris Gordon <fre...@theory14.net> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > That’s the output of netstat with the “-m” option, the ask was for
> > the output with the “n” and “r” options (look at the routing table,
> > don’t resolve the addresses). Depending on your mailer and font, I
> > can see how it looked like an “m”.
>
> <snip>
>
> That'll teach me to use Firefox on an obsolete version of OS X.....
>
> All I get from:
>
> netstat - r n

no space after the dash:

netstat -rn
>

> is a new line with no text or characters.

If this is still the same after you removed the spaces, the machine

does not know how to connect to the outside world.

Erich

[Erich Dollansky]

hI,

On Thu, 14 Jun 2018 02:05:40 +0000
B J <va6...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Routing tables
>
> Internet:
> Destination Gateway Flags Netif Expire
> 127.0.0.1 link#2 UH lo0
> 192.168.0.0/24 link#1 U nfe0
> 192.168.0.12 link#1 UHS lo0
>

we are coming closer. Your machine has no connection to the outside
world. You could add it manually. It would be better to find the root
cause and eliminate it.

Can you copy /etc/rc.conf into your answer?

Erich

[B J]

<snip>

> we are coming closer. Your machine has no connection to the outside
> world. You could add it manually. It would be better to find the root
> cause and eliminate it.
>
> Can you copy /etc/rc.conf into your answer?

<snip>

hostname="VA6BMJ"
ifconfig_nfe0="inet 192.168.0.12 netmask 255.255.255.0"
ifconfig_nfe0_ipv6="inet6 accept_rtadv"
sshd_enable="YES"
# Set dumpdev to "AUTO" to enable crash dumps, "NO" to disable
dumpdev="AUTO"

moused_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"

devfs_system_ruleset="localrules"


ntpd_enable="YES"


BMJ

[Gary Aitken]

On 06/14/18 10:48, B J wrote:
> <snip>
>
>> we are coming closer. Your machine has no connection to the outside
>> world. You could add it manually. It would be better to find the root
>> cause and eliminate it.
>>
>> Can you copy /etc/rc.conf into your answer?
>
> <snip>
>
> hostname="VA6BMJ"
> ifconfig_nfe0="inet 192.168.0.12 netmask 255.255.255.0"
> ifconfig_nfe0_ipv6="inet6 accept_rtadv"
> sshd_enable="YES"

I think you need to also set the default router,
something like:

defaultrouter="192.168.0.1" (assuming that's the IP of your upstream
router/modem)

Gary

[B J]

On 6/15/18, Gary Aitken <a...@dreamchaser.org> wrote:

<snip>

> I think you need to also set the default router,
> something like:
>
> defaultrouter="192.168.0.1" (assuming that's the IP of your upstream
> router/modem)

<snip>

That might be worth considering, but I don't have to do it with my
other FreeBSD machines.

BMJ

[Erich Dollansky]

On Thu, 14 Jun 2018 16:48:32 +0000
B J <va6...@gmail.com> wrote:

> <snip>
>
> > we are coming closer. Your machine has no connection to the outside
> > world. You could add it manually. It would be better to find the
> > root cause and eliminate it.
> >
> > Can you copy /etc/rc.conf into your answer?
>
> <snip>
>
> hostname="VA6BMJ"
> ifconfig_nfe0="inet 192.168.0.12 netmask 255.255.255.0"

if you have this line, you have to have a line like this:

defaultrouter="192.168.0.xxx"

where the address has to be the address of the router this machine is
connected to.

A hostname entry would be nice too but I think it will not affect this
problem.

Erich

[B J]

<snip>

>> hostname="VA6BMJ"
>> ifconfig_nfe0="inet 192.168.0.12 netmask 255.255.255.0"
>
> if you have this line, you have to have a line like this:
>
> defaultrouter="192.168.0.xxx"
>
> where the address has to be the address of the router this machine is
> connected to.
>
> A hostname entry would be nice too but I think it will not affect this
> problem.

<snip>

That didn't change anything after I added the line to rc.conf.

BMJ

[Polytropon]

On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 01:41:47 +0000, B J wrote:
> On 6/15/18, Gary Aitken <a...@dreamchaser.org> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > I think you need to also set the default router,
> > something like:
> >
> > defaultrouter="192.168.0.1" (assuming that's the IP of your upstream
> > router/modem)
>
> <snip>
>
> That might be worth considering, but I don't have to do it with my
> other FreeBSD machines.

Do they have fixed local addresses as well, or can you
obtain settings via DHCP from your modem/router?



--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...

[Erich Dollansky]

Hi,

On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 04:08:38 +0000
B J <va6...@gmail.com> wrote:

> <snip>
>
> >> hostname="VA6BMJ"
> >> ifconfig_nfe0="inet 192.168.0.12 netmask 255.255.255.0"
> >
> > if you have this line, you have to have a line like this:
> >
> > defaultrouter="192.168.0.xxx"
> >
> > where the address has to be the address of the router this machine
> > is connected to.
> >
> > A hostname entry would be nice too but I think it will not affect
> > this problem.
>
> <snip>
>
> That didn't change anything after I added the line to rc.conf.
>

what address did you use?

Your system might should be on DHCP but it is not.

Erich

[Gary Aitken]

On 06/14/18 22:08, B J wrote:
> <snip>
>
>>> hostname="VA6BMJ"
>>> ifconfig_nfe0="inet 192.168.0.12 netmask 255.255.255.0"
>>
>> if you have this line, you have to have a line like this:
>>
>> defaultrouter="192.168.0.xxx"
>>
>> where the address has to be the address of the router this machine is
>> connected to.
>>
>> A hostname entry would be nice too but I think it will not affect this
>> problem.
>
> <snip>
>
> That didn't change anything after I added the line to rc.conf.

You can't just add the default router line without a bit of knowledge
about what the IP address of the default router actually is. Do you
know what the 192.168.0.* address for the router is? I suggested
192.168.0.1 because that is often the default, but not necessarily so.

> That might be worth considering, but I don't have to do it with my
> other FreeBSD machines.

Can you post the result of "netstat -rn" from one of those other
machines?

Gary

[B J]

On 6/15/18, Gary Aitken <fre...@dreamchaser.org> wrote:

<snip>

> You can't just add the default router line without a bit of knowledge
> about what the IP address of the default router actually is. Do you
> know what the 192.168.0.* address for the router is? I suggested
> 192.168.0.1 because that is often the default, but not necessarily so.

I eventually found that 192.168.0.1 was the value from one of my tower
machines. I tried other values for the last number as well and got
the same result.

>
>> That might be worth considering, but I don't have to do it with my
>> other FreeBSD machines.
>
> Can you post the result of "netstat -rn" from one of those other
> machines?

<snip>

Routing tables

Internet:
Destination Gateway Flags Netif Expire

default 192.168.0.1 UGS fxp0
127.0.0.1 link#2 UH lo0
192.168.0.0/24 link#1 U fxp0

192.168.0.12 link#1 UHS lo0

Internet6:

Destination Gateway Flags
Netif Expire

::/96 ::1 UGRS lo0
::1 link#2 UH lo0
::ffff:0.0.0.0/96 ::1 UGRS lo0
fe80::/10 ::1 UGRS lo0

fe80::%fxp0/64 link#1 U fxp0
fe80::21a:92ff:fe10:ce8b%fxp0 link#1 UHS lo0

fe80::%lo0/64 link#2 U lo0
fe80::1%lo0 link#2 UHS lo0
ff02::/16 ::1 UGRS lo0

I've had no problem with the machine where this came from. I just
checked the laptop using a live version of Ubuntu and I was able to
connect to the Internet with it. The hardware, it would seem, doesn't
appear to be the main problem.

BMJ

[Polytropon]

On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 20:49:12 +0000, B J wrote:
> On 6/15/18, Gary Aitken <fre...@dreamchaser.org> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > You can't just add the default router line without a bit of knowledge
> > about what the IP address of the default router actually is. Do you
> > know what the 192.168.0.* address for the router is? I suggested
> > 192.168.0.1 because that is often the default, but not necessarily so.
>
> I eventually found that 192.168.0.1 was the value from one of my tower
> machines. I tried other values for the last number as well and got
> the same result.

From your netstat output (later on), it seems that you
connect to 192.168.0.1, so if this really is the IP of
one of your machines, there's a big problem with your
current configuration.

At the moment, it doesn't look like a hardware issue.

My suggestion:

Take a machine that properly connects to your modem/router and
gains Internet access this way as desired. Collect information
about which values exist on your network. Don't guess values. :-)

The following commands should work on FreeBSD and Linux:

# arp -a

# netstat -rn

# ifconfig -a

(depending on Linux, the "ip" program has to be used instead)

Even though it might sound stupid, use pen & paper to make a
small diagram of your network. Write down the IPs and other
elements of the configuration.

If you have a Linux live system connecting without any further
configuration, it's quite possible you have a DHCP server in
your modem/router running. In that case, don't try to configure
things manually, it will just interfere with this mechanism.
Instead, use

ifconfig_nfe0="DHCP"

in /etc/rc.conf. A variation is

ifconfig_nfe0="SYNCDHCP"

Check /etc/rc.conf for duplicate entries. The _last_ entry
of the same kind will be in effect, as it's basically just
a shell script with assignments to shell variables.

Of course you need to specify the default router address, but
don't guess it - determine it from a different system. If it
is the _default_ address that your modem/router uses (and you
didn't change it), maybe consult its documentation, the address
should be listed there. It can be things like 192.168.0.1,
192.168.1.1, 192.168.178.1, who knows.

Check if HDCP populated /etc/resolv.conf. In many settings,
the modem/router will also be a nameserver (even if it just
"relays" your queries and the replies). This means: The IP
you're seeing there is the IP of your modem/router.

In worst case, don't configure anything in /etc/rc.conf and do
a little experimentation. Run a tcpdump (or maybe Wireshark,
ex Ethereal) on your network interface and then do all the steps
manually: Configure the interface, set default routing, try to
obtain an IP via DHCP (using dhclient), and see it /etc/resolv.conf
gets populated (which DHCP should fill with the correct values).
Then try to ping internally with IP, extermally with IP, try to
resolve a hostname, ping it, open a browser for a HTTP connection,
and so on. Monitor what you're doing as initially mentioned (to
see if you actually _see_ what you expect, like ARP messages,
a DHCP handshake, ICMP pings, and HTTP traffic). If this all
works, make the settings permanent - even if you only verified
that using DHCP was the correct thing to begin with. :-)

Good luck!




PS.
"Trial & error" is not a programming concept. ;-)

--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...

[B J]

<snip>

> From your netstat output (later on), it seems that you
> connect to 192.168.0.1, so if this really is the IP of
> one of your machines, there's a big problem with your
> current configuration.

<snip>

> At the moment, it doesn't look like a hardware issue.

The laptop is second-hand. It was in rough shape when I got it from
the previous owners so I'm thinking that there might be an on-board
hardware malfunction. It might be the hard drive as it didn't want to
boot at first because of, if I remember correctly, some corrupted
sectors.

I have some extra HDs on hand. I might try swapping one of those with
the one that's in the machine, installing FreeBSD, and then seeing if
I get the same problem.

Since the laptop's not essential to what I do at home, I may as well
have a bit of fun with it, right?

<snip>

> PS.
> "Trial & error" is not a programming concept. ;-)

I've been writing code off and on for more than 40 years, going back
to the days of WATFOR and WATFIV. Trial-and-error programming helped
me finish my B. Sc.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and information.

Two things have come from this. One is that I finally set up my tower
machines so that the systems on them are now nearly identical to what
I have on my laptop. I've been meaning to do this for years but I had
little incentive to do so.

The second one is that I'm learning something about networking, which
should help me with what I have at home.

BMJ

[Polytropon]

On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 22:08:19 +0000, B J wrote:
> <snip>
>
> > From your netstat output (later on), it seems that you
> > connect to 192.168.0.1, so if this really is the IP of
> > one of your machines, there's a big problem with your
> > current configuration.
>
> <snip>
>
> > At the moment, it doesn't look like a hardware issue.
>
> The laptop is second-hand. It was in rough shape when I got it from
> the previous owners so I'm thinking that there might be an on-board
> hardware malfunction. It might be the hard drive as it didn't want to
> boot at first because of, if I remember correctly, some corrupted
> sectors.

Hard drive errors are possible, but you usually don't see
them as networking issues. The easiest way to rule out
this problem is to boot from a live CD / DVD / USB, either
using FreeBSD or Linux.

> I have some extra HDs on hand. I might try swapping one of those with
> the one that's in the machine, installing FreeBSD, and then seeing if
> I get the same problem.

You could even keep one of those HDDs as a "test system"
for further use.

> Since the laptop's not essential to what I do at home, I may as well
> have a bit of fun with it, right?

Definitely. ;-)

> > PS.
> > "Trial & error" is not a programming concept. ;-)
>
> I've been writing code off and on for more than 40 years, going back
> to the days of WATFOR and WATFIV. Trial-and-error programming helped
> me finish my B. Sc.

I just wanted to mention it as one of the wisdoms I learned
at university. Another gem from the same professor was this:
"Programming is not fixing your code until the compiler stops
throwing error messages." But if it helps you achieving a
goal, why not? ;-)

In no way this quote was intended to belittle you. It just
perfectly fit the "I randomly changed a few numbers in the
IP address and it still didn't work" comment. When I did
graphics programming many years ago, you sometimes really
had to minimally adjust numbers in parameters to see if the
result matched your expectations, simply because you could
not accurately predict how certain values would affect the
result of the rendering process. :-)

> Two things have come from this. One is that I finally set up my tower
> machines so that the systems on them are now nearly identical to what
> I have on my laptop. I've been meaning to do this for years but I had
> little incentive to do so.

So you always have a good reference system

> The second one is that I'm learning something about networking, which
> should help me with what I have at home.

Yes - knowing networking basics and tools is very important
and usually helpful when running into issues. My suggestion
always is to start at the lowest possible level and diagnose
as much as possible, so you know _for sure_ with what you
are dealing at a given moment. Nothing is worse than guesswork
and assumptions.

--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...

[Gary Aitken]

On 06/15/18 14:49, B J wrote:
> On 6/15/18, Gary Aitken <fre...@dreamchaser.org> wrote:

>> You can't just add the default router line without a bit of knowledge
>> about what the IP address of the default router actually is. Do you
>> know what the 192.168.0.* address for the router is? I suggested
>> 192.168.0.1 because that is often the default, but not necessarily so.
>
> I eventually found that 192.168.0.1 was the value from one of my tower
> machines. I tried other values for the last number as well and got
> the same result.
>
>>
>>> That might be worth considering, but I don't have to do it with my
>>> other FreeBSD machines.
>>
>> Can you post the result of "netstat -rn" from one of those other
>> machines?
>
> <snip>
>
> Routing tables
>
> Internet:
> Destination Gateway Flags Netif Expire
> default 192.168.0.1 UGS fxp0
> 127.0.0.1 link#2 UH lo0
> 192.168.0.0/24 link#1 U fxp0
> 192.168.0.12 link#1 UHS lo0

This looks like the routing table for the machine which is not working,
with the default set to 192.168.0.1. If you run "netstat -rn"
from one of the machines which *is* working (as suggested above), it
should show a default route with the IP address of the actual router.
That is the IP address you need to use on the machine which is not working.

Gary

[Erich Dollansky]

Hi,

On Mon, 18 Jun 2018 17:30:59 +0000
B J <va6...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 6/18/18, Gary Aitken <fre...@dreamchaser.org> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>

> >> Internet:
> >> Destination Gateway Flags Netif Expire
> >> default 192.168.0.1 UGS fxp0
> >> 127.0.0.1 link#2 UH lo0
> >> 192.168.0.0/24 link#1 U fxp0
> >> 192.168.0.12 link#1 UHS lo0
> >
> > This looks like the routing table for the machine which is not
> > working, with the default set to 192.168.0.1. If you run "netstat
> > -rn" from one of the machines which *is* working (as suggested
> > above), it should show a default route with the IP address of the
> > actual router. That is the IP address you need to use on the
> > machine which is not working.
>

> I just ran netstat -rn on the FreeBSD tower I'm running now and the
> default address is identical. I checked the ISP's webpage for the
> modem that that's the address it uses as well.
>
> I tinkered with the laptop this past weekend and I found the
> following:
>
> - the machine won't connect with the modem when even when running a
> liveCD version of FreeBSD (both 10 and 11)--all attempts to ping a URL
> failed
> - the machine updates the file:
>
> /var/db/dhclient.leases.nfe0
>
> but it doesn't add anything
> - as a test, I created a backup of that file, deleted the original,
> and found that the machine will still create and write to it, but
> doesn't add anything
> - the last update of that file roughly corresponds to the time and
> date when I connected that modem
>
> A while ago, I installed FreeBSD 10.x on an old IBM ThinkPad and I was
> successfully send pings to the same URL as before.
>
> This is becoming interesting....
>
try this:

route flush
route add 192.168.0.1

You can test now.

If it still does not work, set the network configuration to manual.
Check with the router what address range is reserved for manual usage.
If nothing is reserved, reserve a block of 16, 32 or what ever you like
addresses. Enter one of these addresses into your /etc/rc.conf and try
again.

You also could try to run dhclient manually.

Erich

[Polytropon]

Try to ping "step by step": first your router by IP, then
a public IP address which definitely will answer (for
example 8.8.8.8), and then something that involves name
resolution (for example www.startpage.com). If name
resolution is a problem, the ISP's DNS (or the DNS you
are using) should be examined (dig / drill).

> If it still does not work, set the network configuration to manual.
> Check with the router what address range is reserved for manual usage.
> If nothing is reserved, reserve a block of 16, 32 or what ever you like
> addresses. Enter one of these addresses into your /etc/rc.conf and try
> again.

It's still not clear (to me) if the router/modem provides DHCP
or not. If it doesn't, manual configuration is needed, but if
it does provide DHCP, this should be used - and investigated
if it doesn't work as expected.

> You also could try to run dhclient manually.

I still suggest running tcpdump (or Wireshark) in parallel
to see the corresponding traffic. If the machine (for unknown
reasons) doesn't get the DHCP handshake right - it needs to
perform the required network traffic and should also update
certain files and interface settings - there is a reason for
it. It would sound strange that a defective network card can
cause this strange kind of behaviour, but it's still possible...

--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...

[B J]

On 6/19/18, Polytropon <fre...@edvax.de> wrote:

<snip>

> Try to ping "step by step": first your router by IP, then
> a public IP address which definitely will answer (for
> example 8.8.8.8), and then something that involves name
> resolution (for example www.startpage.com). If name
> resolution is a problem, the ISP's DNS (or the DNS you
> are using) should be examined (dig / drill).

I'll try it and see what happens.

>
>
>
>> If it still does not work, set the network configuration to manual.
>> Check with the router what address range is reserved for manual usage.
>> If nothing is reserved, reserve a block of 16, 32 or what ever you like
>> addresses. Enter one of these addresses into your /etc/rc.conf and try
>> again.
>
> It's still not clear (to me) if the router/modem provides DHCP
> or not. If it doesn't, manual configuration is needed, but if
> it does provide DHCP, this should be used - and investigated
> if it doesn't work as expected.

It appears to as I've got a tower running FreeBSD connected to it. I've got:

ifconfig_fxp0="DHCP"

in /etc/rc.conf and I have no problem connecting to any of the
websites I regularly look at.

>
>
>
>> You also could try to run dhclient manually.
>
> I still suggest running tcpdump (or Wireshark) in parallel
> to see the corresponding traffic. If the machine (for unknown
> reasons) doesn't get the DHCP handshake right - it needs to
> perform the required network traffic and should also update
> certain files and interface settings - there is a reason for
> it. It would sound strange that a defective network card can
> cause this strange kind of behaviour, but it's still possible...

I haven't tried that yet.

<snip>

I swapped the current HD with a spare that I had on hand and installed
FreeBSD 11, though only the command line interface.

For some reason, the network card couldn't be configured with that set
up and I couldn't do it for the wireless card, either. (The
modem/router has both Ethernet and Wi-Fi.)

I checked out the Wi-Fi with an IBM ThinkPad that runs an old version
of openSUSE and I could easily switch between it and Ethernet without
any problems. It certainly doesn't look like the modem/router is the
problem.

I've got a few other things I'd like to try to see if I can narrow
down what's happening.

As I mentioned earlier, if I can't use this laptop with this
modem/router, it's no great loss as I've got two tower machines
running FreeBSD here at home. If I can't use it here at home, I might
be able to use it at the house I inherited, which is in another part
of the country. The machine itself has seen better days as I don't
think the previous owners took great care of it, judging by how dirty
it was when they gave it to me. (I think they got it from one of the
local cable TV companies as a gift for signing on with that service
and, so, it didn't cost them anything.)

Even if I can't use it with the router/modem, I may as well use it to
learn something about FreeBSD and networking.

BMJ

[Polytropon]

On Wed, 20 Jun 2018 01:17:22 +0000, B J wrote:
> On 6/19/18, Polytropon <fre...@edvax.de> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > Try to ping "step by step": first your router by IP, then
> > a public IP address which definitely will answer (for
> > example 8.8.8.8), and then something that involves name
> > resolution (for example www.startpage.com). If name
> > resolution is a problem, the ISP's DNS (or the DNS you
> > are using) should be examined (dig / drill).
>
> I'll try it and see what happens.

I usually suggest using the CLI tools because they tend to
provide you with an exact answer to a specific question,
whereas a web browser just says "cannot open web page" with
no further explanation of what might be wrong. :-)

> >> If it still does not work, set the network configuration to manual.
> >> Check with the router what address range is reserved for manual usage.
> >> If nothing is reserved, reserve a block of 16, 32 or what ever you like
> >> addresses. Enter one of these addresses into your /etc/rc.conf and try
> >> again.
> >
> > It's still not clear (to me) if the router/modem provides DHCP
> > or not. If it doesn't, manual configuration is needed, but if
> > it does provide DHCP, this should be used - and investigated
> > if it doesn't work as expected.
>
> It appears to as I've got a tower running FreeBSD connected to it. I've got:
>
> ifconfig_fxp0="DHCP"
>
> in /etc/rc.conf and I have no problem connecting to any of the
> websites I regularly look at.

Okay, so we can definitely assume DHCP working. What you
should now try is to manually check if the "DHCP handshake"
does work on this particular machine (as it obviously does
on the other machines). Calling dhclient and having another
xterm / console open with tcpdump should tell you if the
"DHCP handshake" does actually happen. The steps involved
are just a few and can be easily seen in the network traffic
(even with "limited means" such as tcpdump).

Re-check /etc/rc.conf for the required entries. You should
have something like

ifconfig_xl0="SYNCDHCP"
defaultrouter="192.168.100.1"

but of course with the correct values for your network.
DHCP doesn't require more. Maybe remove or rename /etc/resolv.conf
as this file will usually be written during the "DHCP handshake",
just to make sure there aren't any nonsense values in it.

> I swapped the current HD with a spare that I had on hand and installed
> FreeBSD 11, though only the command line interface.
>
> For some reason, the network card couldn't be configured with that set
> up and I couldn't do it for the wireless card, either. (The
> modem/router has both Ethernet and Wi-Fi.)

Both NICs should be addressed during "bsdinstall". For the
wireless networking, the "step by step" method is possible
as well (so you can easily find out at which step there is
a problem).

Again, check "pciconf -lv" for both devices and verify that
the correct drivers have picked them up. See "man fxp" (or
whatever driver applies) for a list of chipsets that it
supports. Just to make sure.

Relevant resources:

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-wireless.html

http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/wireless.html

http://srobb.net/fbsdquickwireless.html

I was able to get wireless networking up on a probably 10 years
old Lenovo Thinkpad R61i, so "being old" does not qualify a
computer for not participating in wireless network traffic. :-)

> I checked out the Wi-Fi with an IBM ThinkPad that runs an old version
> of openSUSE and I could easily switch between it and Ethernet without
> any problems. It certainly doesn't look like the modem/router is the
> problem.

Very good - one out, many still in. :-)

--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...