network woes

[Eric Shubert]

Trent Shipley wrote:
> Benjamin Francom wrote:
>> On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 7:18 PM, Mark Phillips
>> <mark at phillipsmarketing.biz> wrote:
>>> Trent,
>>>
>>> I ran into a similar problem today - my network slowed waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down
>>> on me. All I used was ping to methodically to check all the connections and
>>> found that a switch was reseting itself and dropping packets. Basically, I
>>> turn everything off, reset all the routers, cable modems, etc, and then turn
>>> on one piece of equipment at a time and ping to the main router to see if I
>>> can connect and if there is any packet loss. You can find a out a lot of
>>> information by being methodical and knowing your network topology.
>>>
>>> Good Luck!
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>> On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 5:52 PM, Trent Shipley <tshipley at deru.com> wrote:
>>>> Somewhere my connection to the Internet is borken.  Load times take
>>>> forever.  It doesn't seem to effect the wireless client routers, but I
>>>> have had trouble on both the wired machines under Ubuntu 9.10 and
>>>> Windows Vista.  Sometimes the Linux machine effectively looses
>>>> connectivity with the Internet.  It comes back if I log out of my X
>>>> session and log back in ... most of the time.  I have a firewall router,
>>>> but effectively no household LAN since I've been too lazy to really
>>>> figure out how to configure the Ubuntu desktop machine as a primary
>>>> domain controller, then adjust it's firewall to suit.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'd like an idiot friendly tool to help track this problem down,
>>>> preferably on the Linux machine which seems to experience the problem
>>>> most consistently.
>>>>
>>>> Baring a GUI tool friendly to mortal users, I am not above using the
>>>> @#$% command line and a text editor.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I am not too network savvy.  I have to look up the layers of the OSI
>>>> stack every time.  What is a reasonable diagnostic or fault tree for
>>>> approaching my symptoms.
>>>>
>>>> It is also worth noting that this problem seems to date back to
>>>> precisely when I upgraded from Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10.
>>>>
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>
>> Unplug all devices for at least one min.  Start with modem and work
>> your way up to the PC
>> The Vista and Ubuntu machines are separate machines, not a single dual
>> boot, right?
>>
>> tracert=windows
>> traceroute=linux
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> 
> I have "rebuilt" the network a couple of times from the modem up.  My 
> suspicion is focused on the Ubuntu desktop because of the coincidence 
> that the problem started with a major upgrade.
> 
> Yes. We have the following on the network ... not all at the same time.
> * Qwest modem, outside the firewall.
> * Netgear wired/802.11g wireless router. No evident problems with 
> wireless connections.
> * Ubuntu 9.10 on Dell hardware.  Wired connection. (Main suspect) 
> Thinking about putting in a new Ethernet card since I have it "in stock" 
> anyway and it's doing me no good in the box.
> * Apple notebook.  Wired connection.
> ** Windows Vista.  Have seen some symptoms.
> ** OS X.  mild symptoms.
> * Apple notebook.  Wireless.  No known symptoms.
> * Apple iMac. Wireless  No known symptoms.
> * (Occasional) HP netbook running Ubuntu 9.10 netbook remix.  Wireless. 
>   No known symptoms.

That's helpful.

I really doubt the upgrade was a cause of any kind, given that your 
Apple notebook (other wired) connection also experiences problems.

Have you tried alternate wired ports on the Netgear router? Sometimes a 
single port/plug can be defective. The whole wired side of the router 
might be failing as well.

Do you have a switch you can put in place of the wireless router to see 
if the problem persists?

Does your DSL modem do dhcp/nat? (most do these days)

-- 
-Eric 'shubes'