Unable to configure network / NICs not being detected?

MoonshineJack · September 6, 2011, 9:54pm

Hello all,

I’m going to come right out and say I am a complete novice with Linux/SUSE. The equipment I’m having a problem with is a little web-server that was purchased by my employer that has, quite suddenly, stopped functioning. I was changing the IP address within YaST, at which point the device offered to update itself, which I saw no harm in. Post-update, however, I was unable to so much as ping the device.

I tried “ifconfig eth0”:
“Error fetching interface information: Device not found.”

I went into network settings via YaST and found that there are two cards now listed as:

RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller

Both IP addresses are “Not configured”. The information pane, for both cards, cites:

RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controllerBusID : 0000:02:00.0
Unable to configure the network card because the kernel device (eth0, wlan0) is not present. This is mostly caused by missing firmware (for wlan devices). See dmesg output for details.

The only difference in either of the cards is the BusID (0000:02:00.0 and 0000:03.00.0)

I can neither edit nor delete either of these cards.

As I mentioned, I am a total Linux novice, and am at a total loss for what to do next, or even how to find critical information about the system itself. I know enough to check dmesg, but not enough to have any clue what to look for in the output.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated at this point!

DenverD · September 6, 2011, 11:50pm

On 09/06/2011 09:56 PM, MoonshineJack wrote:
>
> The equipment I’m having a problem with is a little
> web-server that was purchased by my employer that has, quite suddenly,
> stopped functioning.

note: in all likelihood i won’t personally be able to help you (anyway,
it is past my bedtime), but i think if you answer some of these
questions it will save the REAL networking gurus from having to ask them
themselves:

did that little web-server arrive with any user manual, technical
references or maybe a DVD or CD of user information and/or administrator
guides? is there a brand name and model number available?

do you know the exact linux distribution and version installed, at
least? (ok so it has YaST so it is either openSUSE or SUSE Linux
Enterprise, but which and what version?)

do you have access to a command line, or is it only YaST? does it boot
up to a desktop or what…

have you seen any buttons that might say “reset” or “reset default” STOP
— BEFORE YOU PUSH anything, read my sig’s caveat…and find and read
the service manual which should be available to you…

–
DD
Caveat
openSUSE®, the “German Automobiles” of operating systems

MoonshineJack · September 7, 2011, 1:21am

For clarity’s sake then:

The unit uses Open SUSE 11.4 (I thought that was assumed, being the open SUSE forums :P) “Celadon”
I do have access to the command line.
Not literature of any kind outside of “this is how to turn your server on/access the web-viewer” was provided. The item in question is actually meant to function as a PACS (Picture Archival and Communication System) for medical imaging (it has a built-in web-viewer, hence me calling it a “little web-server”), and as with everything in this industry, they keep their secrets. As such, there is no real brand name for the box, either.
Yes, it boots into a desktop.

Also, I said I was new to Linux, not to computing or IT in general Don’t worry, I have no intention of resetting/restoring anything… yet!

glistwan · September 7, 2011, 10:00am

Fire up the command line and paste this command there :

/sbin/lspci -nnk

Please paste back the output using code tags if You find that impossible because of no network access on the server paste it to a file and use a pendrive
Here’s a tutorial on code tags :
Posting in Code Tags - A Guide

Other than that dmesg output might be useful (as your system already is telling You :). Just paste this into the command line :

dmesg

And use the same procedure as with lspci output.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Greg

DenverD · September 7, 2011, 10:51am

On 09/07/2011 01:26 AM, MoonshineJack wrote:
> 1) The unit uses Open SUSE 11.4 (I thought that was assumed, being the
> open SUSE forums :P)

hmmmm…well, there are lots of retail/commercial hardware things
around with openSUSE 9.x 10.x, 11.0, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 in addition to
11.4–and the answer you get (if it is both correct and precise) is VERY
dependent on the actual OS, kernel and update state in use…to assume
that the device in your hands is the latest and fully updated is not a
good way to proceed…ever.

> 2) I do have access to the command line.

ok good, please please show us the output of entering the following into
a user terminal


cat /etc/SuSE-release
uname -a
zypper lr -d
ip addr
ip route
ip -s link
su -		<do not overlook the " -" and give root pass when asked
ifconfig eth0
ifconfig eth1
exit

and copy/paste the output back to this thread using the instructions
here: http://goo.gl/i3wnr

> 3) Not literature of any kind outside of “this is how to turn your
> server on/access the web-viewer” was provided. The item in question is
> actually meant to function as a PACS (Picture Archival and Communication
> System) for medical imaging (it has a built-in web-viewer, hence me
> calling it a “little web-server”), and as with everything in this
> industry, they keep their secrets. As such, there is no real brand name
> for the box, either.

cool! did they also not provide any web site address info where you
might hope to find a tutorial on how one is supposed to setup IP
addresses, or whether or not allowing an automatic upgrade is a good
idea, or not?

note: i think what may have happened is the update installed a new
kernel and you can’t get off the dime until the drivers for those two
cards are recompiled against the new kernel…(or, actually that may be
laughably wrong to the real gurus reading and waiting until there is
enough real info here to try to help!)

> 4) I’m fairly sure it boots into a desktop, as it gives two options on
> boot – Desktop and Failsafe.

hmmmmmm…i wonder what happens if you boot failsafe…

> Also, I said I was new to Linux, not to computing or IT in general

sorry! if i came off as insulting or condescending i can assure you it
wasn’t intentional…i know i don’t use near enough of these and
etc…

> Don’t worry, I have no intention of resetting/restoring anything.

good, hopefully there will soon appear a guru…

by the way, the output from the above terminal command my be too much to
include in a post (the limits are set by the web forum software) if it
balks and hollers too big, just stuff it into a paste here
http://tinyurl.com/69dzb3w and shoot us the URL.

personally, considering the cost involved, i think i’d boycott any
medical equipment supplier who didn’t bother to provide adequate, clear
and followable administrator guides!! ymmv

–
DD
Caveat
openSUSE®, the “German Automobiles” of operating systems

djh-novell · September 7, 2011, 12:03pm

MoonshineJack wrote:
> For clarity’s sake then:
>
> 1) The unit uses Open SUSE 11.4 (I thought that was assumed, being the
> open SUSE forums :P)
>
> 2) I do have access to the command line.
>
> 3) Not literature of any kind outside of “this is how to turn your
> server on/access the web-viewer” was provided. The item in question is
> actually meant to function as a PACS (Picture Archival and Communication
> System) for medical imaging (it has a built-in web-viewer, hence me
> calling it a “little web-server”), and as with everything in this
> industry, they keep their secrets. As such, there is no real brand name
> for the box, either.

This sounds like there should be a support arrangement in place. If it’s
running 11.4 then either it’s pretty new and therefore under warranty or
else it has been upgraded to 11.4 which implies a support contract.

As I understand it, a PACS contains sensitive data (the images) so I’m
also a little surprised if there isn’t a support/control system in place
to prevent unauthorized modifications.

MoonshineJack · September 9, 2011, 1:19am

Hi all, sorry for the delay in my own reply.

I have encountered a problem in sharing the output of

dmesg

and

/sbin/lspci -nnk

The server I have boots into CLI only, and without the NICS working, I can’t gain access to it remotely. This means, while I can enter any command I like, I’m not sure how to copy the output in order to paste it to a file.

I can report that the NICS are both seen by the system, at least according to the output of lspci.

I’m not sure if that means anything… but it means something

Thanks again in advance.

deano_ferrari · September 9, 2011, 1:57am

You can use something like

dmesg|tail > info.txt

/sbin/lspci -nnk > results.txt

Then use a usb stick to do copy the resulting file(s). Here’s how to manually mount a usb stick

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/11637.html

The key thing is to make sure your mount point (empty directory) is created first.

DenverD · September 9, 2011, 7:54am

On 09/09/2011 02:06 AM, deano ferrari wrote:
>
> You can use something like
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> dmesg|tail> info.txt
> --------------------
>
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> /sbin/lspci -nnk> results.txt
> --------------------
>
>
> Then use a usb stick to do copy the resulting file(s). Here’s how to
> manually mount a usb stick
>
> http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/11637.html
>
> The key thing is to make sure your mount point (empty directory) is
> created first.

you could get all the requested info in one file, like:


dmesg|tail >>bigInfo.txt
/sbin/lspci >>bigInfo.txt
cat /etc/SuSE-release >>bigInfo.txt
uname -a >>bigInfo.txt
zypper lr -d >>bigInfo.txt
ip addr >>bigInfo.txt
ip route >>bigInfo.txt
ip -s link >>bigInfo.txt
su -        <do not overlook the " -" and give root pass when asked
ifconfig eth0 >>bigInfo.txt
ifconfig eth1 >>bigInfo.txt
exit

then post bigInfo.txt to paste.opensuse.org

–
DD
Caveat
openSUSE®, the “German Automobiles” of operating systems

MoonshineJack · September 9, 2011, 8:56pm

I’m having trouble mounting my flash drive. I’m following the guide that deano_ferrari linked, and the unit detects the drive as evidenced by the output of “lsusb”, but when I try:

dmesg | grep -i "SCSI device"

I get no output, just kicked down to the next line. Without knowing which (sda/sdb/etc) the drive is on, I’m not sure how to mount it. I thought about just trowing random directories at it (sda1/2/3/4/etc), but knowing me, I’d somehow break something, so I figured I’d consult you guys first!

deano_ferrari · September 9, 2011, 11:20pm

A simple method is to type this first (without the usb flash stick)

sudo /sbin/fdisk -l

Then plug in the device and type the command again. You’ll see the new device in the list.