I’ve installed OpenSUSE and love it. However, there is one oddity that concerns me.
When I first turn on my computer, if I select OpenSUSE from grub2 and boot it, the DHCP client will time out on eth0 and I won’t have internet. In order to get internet, I have to first boot into Windows 8, access the internet from there, then reboot. When I reboot, the DHCP client is able to connect and get an IP address in OpenSUSE. Everything will work fine from there on out.
Any ideas? This happens even if I ifdown etho then ifup etho or if I ifrenew eth0. I cannot get internet.
On 04/18/2013 09:06 PM, tannhaus wrote:
>
> I’ve installed OpenSUSE and love it. However, there is one oddity that
> concerns me.
>
> When I first turn on my computer, if I select OpenSUSE from grub2 and
> boot it, the DHCP client will time out on eth0 and I won’t have
> internet. In order to get internet, I have to first boot into Windows 8,
> access the internet from there, then reboot. When I reboot, the DHCP
> client is able to connect and get an IP address in OpenSUSE. Everything
> will work fine from there on out.
>
> Any ideas? This happens even if I ifdown etho then ifup etho or if I
> ifrenew eth0. I cannot get internet.
Check the BIOS to see if there are any strange settings regarding that ethernet
adapter. I’m not sure what they might be, but it seems that there is no
throughput after a cold boot…
When you multi-boot OS and each OS uses the same NIC configured with the MAC address burned into silicon, DHCP will see the MAC address and assume it’s the same machine which had been issued its Lease. In other words, you just happened to be logged in to Windows when the DHCP lease was originally issued so the network configuration is stored there. When you boot into openSUSE of course the DHCP network settings aren’t there because the DHCP server saw the MAC address and assumed your machine already had the info.
Once you understand what is happening, several solutions can be made to work
configure non-default MAC addresses for all but one OS. This is easy to do and now works using Network Manager.
-use different network devices for each OS.
force a DHCP lease renewal on bootup
configure a ridiculously short TTL for your DHCP leases. Possible on a tiny home network.
On the other hand, I have my own router sitting behind the u-verse router.
I shall assume that your system is configured for “ifup” rather than “NetworkManager”.
In that case, you are probably using “dhcpcd” as the dhcp client software. I suggest switching that to “dhclient”, which I find more reliable.
Yast –> System –> /etc/sysconfig editor –> network
–> DHCP –> DHCP Client –> DHCLIENT_BIN
and there select “dhclient”.
You could also try:
Yast –> Network Devices –> Network Settings
select your eth0 and click “edit”
Select the “General” tab. The set “Activate Device” to “On cable connect”. That might delay setup slightly, which might be what you need.
Although I haven’t tested, note that the MAN for ifrenew says that the DHCP lease is renewed but without shutting down and restarting the if. AFAIK the only way to flush and request new network information is to ifdown and ifup. When I use Network Manager, this seems to work for me when I uncheck, then re-check (enable) networking, but of course when I do this because I’m still using the same MAC address so am issued the same IP address so can’t definitively say my experience would solve your problem.
At some time in the past, I had a computer at work. And I had Windows (probably Win98 at that time), slackware, and solaris 7.
If I booted cold into slackware, sometimes the network was good and sometimes it was bad.
If I rebooted from Windows into slackware, the network was always good.
If I rebooted from solaris into slackware, the network was always bad.
After some googling, I tried recompiling the kernel. And I compiled it so that the support for my network card was in the kernel (instead of as a module).
Thereafter networking was always good.
Sorry, I don’t remember which card, and that computer has since gone to the graveyard for old computers.
Well, I’ve tried ifdown then ifup again with no success. I’ve tried ifrenew afterwards with no success. The only option I’ve found is to boot into windows, access the internet, and boot back in.
This happens from a cold boot after not using the computer for 12 hours or more.
It could be a driver problem, with the driver not properly initializing the network card. When you boot to Windows first, Windows leaves the card in a suitable initial state.