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Ubuntu dhcp activity

colintivy
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Posts: 1,375
Thanks: 33
Registered: ‎07-03-2008

Ubuntu dhcp activity

Hi folks,
From time to time I suffer from dhcp not finding plus.net on booting up. I can usually sort this by resetting Network Settings but this is a bit of a chore. Your advice very long ago was in part "go and brew a cup of tea after booting". I have paused, for some reason or another (usually the phone) for up to a half hour and sometimes it all works, sometimes it does not. Is there a text I can look at which shows the flow chart of the activities that go on, after initial switching on, between the dhcp, the router and config files to see where it may be grinding to a halt?? I am also interested about what the router (Voyager 210) does during normal operation, I believe it has a chat with BT and others from time to time. My connection is not the best with a lot of overhead damp string between me and the real world but it seems pretty stable. Most books assume that dhcp just does it by itself all the time!!  I have not tried the Ubuntu forums yet bit usually find straight answers here.
Education please,
Tx in anticipation.
colintivy  Roll_eyes
8 REPLIES 8
HairyMcbiker
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Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Re: Ubuntu dhcp activity

What is the routine on switch on? Is the router up and running all the time or does it get switched on at the same time?
VileReynard
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Ubuntu dhcp activity

Have you tried entering
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
into a terminal (command line)?
It is possible that you may have to force this to completion by pressing CTRL-C if it doesn't return within say 10 seconds...
But it should still work.
Another possibility is to leave your router on 24/7.
What version of Ubuntu are you on - I seem to remember getting a networking problem in 8.10 which had this as a quick workaround.
It went away in 9.04.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

colintivy
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Posts: 1,375
Thanks: 33
Registered: ‎07-03-2008

Re: Ubuntu dhcp activity

Hi bikier,
Generally router goes on when laptop is first switched on, but all lights are on well before I get to "Username?". Some times it may be on hours before (i.e. when I have been using the machine earlier in the day)..
Hi Crucible,
If you look at first post, I am still on 8.04. I will try your cmd line idea when I have 5 mins. Ctrl C does exactly what ?  I am loath to leave router on 24/7, it does run a bit warm and I am a bit paranoid about unattended fires!!! I did actually do this for a few days in a previous turn around this buoy but with no apparent effect. I am curious to know if there are any accessible texts about that gives me the idea what ought to  be going on.
I did look at if.config_output and route_output when the dhcp was and was not working, these revealed that one line was missing in each when it was not working. I posted these displays (a long time ago) elsewhere but no-one seemed to comment back to me.
Thanks both for interest,
colintivy  Smiley 
HairyMcbiker
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Registered: ‎16-02-2009

Re: Ubuntu dhcp activity

Ctrl-c just send an abort to the process, it should terminate then.
The 210 does run warm, but I used to leave mine on 24/7 with no issues.
If you have had an ip before and don't get one later with no change of the router status, then I would suggest a faulty nic/cable or a dodgy driver, any reason you haven't updated to 9.04 or do you prefer LTS?
colintivy
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Registered: ‎07-03-2008

Re: Ubuntu dhcp activity

Hi Biker,
Thanks for that. Tried Crucible's cmd line. Got a "can't find command" error. My method using the Network Settings GUI is simpler I think (but should be unnecessary) All I do is to click the arrow on the dhcp entry, program activity twiddles, I then reclick it and "Changing Config" happens, click on close and all is well. I keep the Settings ikon on the top panel for easy access. Fixed address is one way out but I feel that the facility for automatic selection ought to be used since it is there.
I have tried another Ethernet cable without any change. I do not know about drivers since 8.04 got on OK without the drivers on the installation disk for the 210.
I am waiting for the next LTS on ubuntu. I find the updating system is very regular for 8.04 and have been somewhat put off the intermediate versions when I read about people's troubles with them. I have the small (?) matter of getting my Home folder in its own partition before that can be done. I wonder why the installation CD does not let you do that in the first place, it would save some of the aggro.
Life is not dull thank goodness.
colintivy  Smiley Smiley
VileReynard
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Ubuntu dhcp activity

Sorry to mislead - I assumed you had a wireless problem.
You should have that command though.
The installation CD does let you choose your own partitions - but you must choose custom install. Smiley
I found that 8.10 to have a few irritations - but 9.04 sorted them out, but didn't provide anything new apart from hugely faster boot and shutdown times.
With one or two limited exceptions, the idea of a user even needing to know what a driver is, let alone installing them is mostly something from the Windows era.
Limited exceptions relate to some printers, video, wireless cards.
To move your /home folder you need a new partition.
This can be on your boot disk, if you have space or on some other disk (if you have one).
To copy or move your /home, it needs to be unmounted.
I suggest you trawl Google etc about the procedure - one method is to use a live Ubuntu CD to do this (since this won't write to your current setup, unless you tell it to).
I would suggest investing in a second disk - this can be used for backing up data until you get /home moved.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

colintivy
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Posts: 1,375
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Registered: ‎07-03-2008

Re: Ubuntu dhcp activity

Hi Jeremy,
 
I do have a spare HD, it was the HD in this machine with Win98SE and a lot of associated guff on board. I put a new HD in and installed 8.04 as a clean job ( I do not remember a custom install but might of been too cautious to consider it, being new to Linux at the time). This works quite well except for not recognizing rhe old HD, now in an external USB caddy. I have checked this on someone else's Win machine and it looks like working OK. I would like to reformat it to Etc3 or 4 then it might be recognised and have back-up of the /Home put on it. Any clues on what I am not doing ?
colintivy ?
VileReynard
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Posts: 12,616
Thanks: 582
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Ubuntu dhcp activity

First your hardware has to recognise that there is a disk.
Do you have a Applications -> System Tools -> Sysinfo entry?
If so, run it and it should show the details.
Otherwise install the package
sysinfo

Next, go to System -> Administration -> Partition Editor
Click on the entry at the top so that you see /dev/sda or /dev/sdb (or similar).
At this point, I would strongly advise that you just play with it, make sure you know which disk is which,
use the help function etc.
I would then suggest you plan on the sizing.
How many partitions will you have?
etc...

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."