[SOLVED] Laptop wil not connect via ethernet - eth0 issue

[mintytoothpaste]

Before I explain my issue, I'd like to say that this is my first time using any operating system other than Windows for an extended period of time, and I apologize if I missed something seemingly obvious.

I have a Toshiba Portege r705-p25, and I recently installed the 64-bit version of Linux Mint 15 Olivia on it. It will connect to the internet over wifi, but not through ethernet. The ethernet port has worked in the past while the laptop was running Windows, so I can rule out the network adapter itself being faulty.

I have tried googling for a solution. I found out using the terminal command inxi -n that my laptop has an "Intel 82577lc" network adapter, so I downloaded the driver from this address and tried installing it.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail ... pe=Drivers

This didn't seem to help, but I'm also not sure if I installed it correctly. I tried following the instructions in the readme, and the files appear to be where they should be. The same terminal command as before says that the driver version matches the one that I downloaded and installed.

In addition, I used the terminal command sudo ifconfig eth0 up. The terminal accepted it after I entered my password, but inxi -n showed that eth0 was down both before and after entering the command. I've reached the limit of my knowlege of Linux, and I would like to know if anyone here can help.

Here is the output of inxi -Fxn just in case that can help. I think the most relevant part will be the networking section though.

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"name of my computer" ~ $ inxi -Fxn
System:    Host: "name" Kernel: 3.8.0-19-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.7.3) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 15 Olivia
Machine:   System: TOSHIBA product: PORTEGE R705 version: PT314U-00U014
           Mobo: TOSHIBA model: Portable PC version: Version A0 Bios: TOSHIBA version: Version 1.80 date: 12/06/2010
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i3 CPU M 350 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9043.54 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 933.00 MHz 2: 933.00 MHz 3: 933.00 MHz 4: 933.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.13.3 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.2hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ironlake Mobile GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 9.1.1 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.8.0-19-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel 82577LC Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e ver: 2.3.2-NAPI port: 3020 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: can provide if necessary
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 driver: iwlwifi ver: in-tree: bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: can provide if necessary
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (5.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: Hitachi_HTS54505 size: 500.1GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 455G used: 24G (6%) fs: ext4 ID: /boot size: 228M used: 44M (21%) fs: ext2 
           ID: swap-1 size: 4.01GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 63.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 178 Uptime: 2 days Memory: 1214.2/3686.7MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.7.3 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

[trapperjohn]

Have you checked Menu>preferences>additional Drivers?

[mintytoothpaste]

Yes, I tried that. The Driver Manager window is mostly gray, the buttons at the bottom are grayed out, and at the bottom-left it says that no proprietary drivers are in use.

[trapperjohn]

Hi,

Ok, so "no additional drivers in use." I believe you have a working driver already installed, so my driver check is probably unnecessary. But, just to check, do any appear in the list of available drivers from additional drivers?

So, let's run a few commands from the terminal:

What does this one show:
ifconfig eth0

How about this one:
sudo rfkill list

[mintytoothpaste]

Ok, so "no additional drivers in use." I believe you have a working driver already installed, so my driver check is probably unnecessary. But, just to check, do any appear in the list of available drivers from additional drivers?

I think the utility you're referring to here is only in Linux Mint 14 (or so google tells me), while I'm using Linux Mint 15, so it doesn't show up for me. The closest thing I could find was the driver manager, and unfortunately it's not showing me a list of available drivers. Am I looking at the wrong utility? I can take a screenshot if it helps.

Found this information here: http://linuxmint.com/rel_nadia.php

This is the output from ifconfig eth0:

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eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr: can provide if necessary
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:20 Memory:d4600000-d4620000 

Here's the output from sudo rfkill list

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0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

[trapperjohn]

ifconfig shows that eth0 is up

I assume that in network-manager your wired connection's IPv4 is set for DHCP.
(right/click nm-applet icon > edit connections > wired > edit IPv4 tab)

here's what my ifconfig looks like with the cable disconnected:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr xyz
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:22 Memory:f6fe0000-f7000000

When plugged in I see:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr xyz
inet addr:192.168.0.145 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::221:70ff:febe:c709/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:17 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:51 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2277 (2.2 KB) TX bytes:11777 (11.7 KB)
Interrupt:22 Memory:f6fe0000-f7000000

In this example, my router is located at 192.168.0.1. It assigns me an address (192.168.0.145) through DHCP.

After a double check on your cables, let's run a test.

First we need to know the netmask of your router. With the wireless connected, what is it's ip address (ifconfig wlan0).
It's probably something like 192.168.X.Y where X is 0 or 1 or 2 etc

now run
sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.X.66 .... where X is the third number in the address on your network.

If that command executed, run
ifconfig

Does your output show an ip address assigned to the wired interface now?

If it does, run

ping 192.168.X.1

If that worked, we know that your card, cables, and driver are functional. We'll still have to fuss before you can get on the internet though.

[mintytoothpaste]

I followed these instructions. When I run ifconfig now, it shows an ip address assigned to eth0, but it does this regardless of whether the ethernet cable is plugged in or not. Pinging the router after changing the ip address doesn't work, but I can successfully ping the address that I entered for eth0 (presumably because it's my own computer?). I can confirm that the cable itself works because I'm sending this message through it. Wireless connectivity is broken now, but I'm assuming this has to do with messing around with the ip address and is not a big deal.

I am fully prepared to fuss as long as you are willing to continue

[trapperjohn]

OK,

Let's try this. When you boot Mint from the live cd, can you connect to the wired network? If you can, then -from the live cd session- run:
inxi -Fxn

What does it show for Network.

Your installed version showed:
Network: Card-1: Intel 82577LC Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e ver: 2.3.2-NAPI port: 3020 bus-ID: 00:19.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: can provide if necessary

[mintytoothpaste]

That is very interesting. Booting from my live cd, it connected right when I plugged in the cable without any problem. Here's the what the output for inxi -Fxn says about the network when booted from the live cd:

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Network:   Card-1: Intel 82577LC Gigabit Network Connection driver: e1000e ver: 2.1.4-k port: 3020 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: xyz
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 driver: iwlwifi ver: in-tree: bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: xyz

And I think I see something else interesting as well. The ethernet network adapter driver version is different than the one than the one I installed.

[trapperjohn]

OK, this looks promising.

So, you downloaded the newer version from the intel site and followed the readme at [url]http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15817/eng/README.txt[/url]. There is a bit of juggling required... beyond make and make install (see under upgrading).

When you run
lsmod
Do you see the e1000e in the list.

If it does not, Run
sudo modprobe e1000e
Check if working.

If all this leads nowhere, you have the option of downgrading the driver to the older one from [url]http://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000/files/e1000e%20stable/[/url].

[mintytoothpaste]

The driver downgrade did it. Both wireless and wired network cards are working now. Thank you so much for your time.