Firefox, KMail, Thunderbird all failing connect to Internet in openSUSE 11.4 KDE

MagnifiKat · November 22, 2015, 6:35pm

Just as I prepare to transfer bookmarks, emails, etc, from our existing openSUSE 11.4 KDE to a newly-installed 13.2 KDE, I notice that Firefox, KMail and Thunderbird are all failing now connect to the Internet in 11.4. Also, all my visible bookmarked tabs in Firefox are showing now without their usual coloured logos.

Most certainly, this is not a hardware or networking problem, since I have no problem accessing the Internet when dual-booting 13.2 KDE or, indeed, when testing any other Linux OSs. Thus, this is very much 11.4 KDE specific.

I suspect the problem could well be Firefox related, but I could be wrong; especially, as KMail remains still somewhat “buggy” and, after all these many years, has yet to be developed to a user-expected super-high level of reliability.

Please note I prefer use KMail for composing all my OUTGOING emails, and with all INCOMING messages monitored always on Thunderbird, in addition to their being downloaded automatically to KMail also, as a basic precaution against lost emails.

Version numbers are as follows:─

Firefox 16.0.2-45.1
KMail 4.4.10-3.2
Thunderbird 16.0.2-37.1

Folks, I shall appreciate being given relevant command-line codes to assist in diagnosing cause of this problem, since, when transferring files, I do not wish export this annoying 11.4 glitch to my newly-installed 13.2 KDE. System techspecs are as shown below. Many thanks.

[FONT=arial]MagnifiKat

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MagnifiKat · November 26, 2015, 5:52pm

Hi again! I am disappointed no-one appears yet able provide relevant command-line codes to assist, hopefully, in pinpointing cause of my very unusual Internet connection problem.

Since my above posting, I had been wondering if maybe I was using too many Firefox extensions; but clearly not so. For, as a test, I decided knock out (ie. deactivate) temporarily my entire collection using Firefox’s excellent Multiple Add-on Deactivator (M.A.D.); but no, even with no extension whatsoever in use, I discovered Firefox, KMail and Thunderbird all stubbornly refused still to connect to the Internet.

So, I remain baffled, especially as previously everything had been running so smoothly in 11.4 KDE and, moreover, I had not made any changes to my system prior to this Internet non-connection issue. It became apparent something was very wrong only after booting-up my PC one morning, opening up Firefox, noticing the lack of colour on my active bookmarked tabs, and discovering thereupon I could not get online at all; also, that neither KMail nor Thunderbird could reach the servers of my email providers.

Any suggestions, anyone?

MagnifiKat

wolfi323 · November 26, 2015, 5:59pm

Well, first of all, we need for information:
How are you actually connecting to “the Internet”?
Wired or wireless?

What error messages do you get when you “connect to Internet”?

Is your network card up and connected?

/sbin/ifconfig

Can you reach some server on the Internet via its IP address? That would narrow it down to a name resolving problem…

ping 8.8.8.8

or enter “195.135.221.134” in your browser’s address bar. Do you get a page, or just some error message?

MagnifiKat · November 28, 2015, 11:19pm

Thank you for your most helpful response. I confirm Internet connection is Wired-only, for simplicity and greater security.

What error messages do you get when you “connect to Internet”?

Just Firefox’s usual “Unable to connect” message; such as when one’s router is unplugged.

Is your network card up and connected?

/sbin/ifconfig

 The following is the output you have requested:-

**Esprimo:/home/chris #** /sbin/ifconfig

eth1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX    <<< shown OK
         UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         RX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
         RX bytes:2599 (2.5 Kb)  TX bytes:2632 (2.5 Kb)
         Interrupt:10 Base address:0x8000
 
lo       Link encap:Local Loopback
         inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255:0.0.0
         inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
         UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
         RX packets:1706 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:1706 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
         RX bytes:142748 (139.4 Kb)  TX bytes:142748 (139.4 Kb)

Can you reach some server on the Internet via its IP address? That would narrow it down to a name resolving problem…

ping 8.8.8.8
or enter “195.135.221.134” in your browser’s address bar. Do you get a page, or just some error message?

**Esprimo:/home/chris #** ping 195.135.221.134  
connect: Network is unreachable

Additionally, to double-check, I entered “195.135.221.134” in my Firefox browser’s address bar. Error message received was: “Unable to connect. Firefox can’t establish a connection to the server at 195.135.221.134".

The above results relate, of course, to my presently problematical openSUSE 11.4 KDE; there being no connection problems thus far with my newly-installed openSUSE 13.2 KDE.

Please don’t double-post.

I do apologise for double-posting. In a nutshell, wolfi323, what happened was that I had intended my #1 posting for this particular thread to be in the Network & Internet forum, where I was all set to paste my prepared ‘copy’. Then I remembered I had not logged in. However, after so doing, I failed to notice I was returned to a different forum (Install, Boot & Login) and, only after my #2 follow-up posting, did I finally cop-on to the fact I had posted erroneously in the wrong forum! Hence, my re-posting in the Network & Internet forum, which is where I had wanted it to go all along. Sorry!

So, unless you advise me otherwise, I propose ask for my thread to be moved to the Network & Internet forum, which I believe to be its more natural home; and thus hopefully of immediate potential help to a greater number of Internet-specific forum users.

**MagnifiKat **

wolfi323 · November 29, 2015, 12:09am

[QUOTE=MagnifiKat;2740197]The following is the output you have requested:-

**Esprimo:/home/chris #** /sbin/ifconfig

eth1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX    <<< shown OK
         UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         RX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
         RX bytes:2599 (2.5 Kb)  TX bytes:2632 (2.5 Kb)
         Interrupt:10 Base address:0x8000

Your interface doesn’t have an IP address, so the network cannot work.
And what makes me a bit suspicious is that it is called eth1 and not eth0.

Probably somehow your configuration got messed up at some point.

Anyway, enter YaST->Network Devices->Network Settings, select your network card, click on “Edit” and make sure that “Dynamic Address” and “DHCP” is selected.
Also check that the cable is connected properly (on both sides).

So, unless you advise me otherwise, I propose ask for my thread to be moved to the Network & Internet forum

As I wrote, please click on the “Report” button below a post to ask for the thread to be moved. I cannot do that.
OTOH, you already posted another thread in that forum (I posted a link to this one there), so it’s probably useless to move this one anyway.

MagnifiKat · December 1, 2015, 8:23pm

Brilliant, wolfi323! You’re a genius! Simply by my going into YaST, changing Device Name eth**1 to eth0, ensuring Dynamic Address and DHCP were activated, and changing Device Activation from At Boot Time to On Hotplug, and then rebooting, our enigmatic Internet connection problem was resolved immediately.

Firefox, KMail and Thunderbird are back to normal now, with Internet connection re-established and all missing emails since downloaded! So, very well spotted re eth**1 and thanks a million for your help! You forum folks are just great! Cheers!

MagnifiKat