[wplug-bsd] Net configuration still not working

[Brandon Kuczenski]

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005, Poyner, Brandon wrote:

> Ok, so what your output indicates is that things are broken
> ('incomplete') at the ethernet level between the BSD box and the WRT54GS
> (The Linux box can see the WRT54GS).  Most likely you're sending the
> 'arp who-has' requests but there is no reply.  You can attempt to see
> this with the command 'tcpdump -i pcn0 arp'.
>
> In the process of elimination I'd try using a different ethernet cable,
> trying a different ethernet port on the WRT54GS, and getting the WRT54GS
> out of the picture.
>


All right, so here's the status, and it's ... well, bizarre.

I took your very good advice and ditched the WRT54GS for a dumb hub.  It 
has the same effect.  To verify the hardware, I booted into knoppix, 
assigned the interface the ip address 192.168.1.2 and the netmask 
255.255.255.0, and pinged the laptop (192.168.1.20) with SUCCESS.  The 
laptop could also ping the box, and an ssh attempt got 'connection 
refused' -- expected since there was no sshd running.

I then shutdown and restarted into FreeBSD, without changing any hardware. 
The prior symptoms returned.

Interestingly, I noticed for the first time that the ethernet card seemed 
to autodetect as 10baseT/UTP.  I set it to 100baseTX full-duplex, bt the 
symptoms didn't change.

I then removed the pcn0 card and installed the original xl card that was 
first the culprit.  same results.  Knoppix can communicate over both 
cards; FreeBSD cannot.  This is without changing the network hardware 
configuration / cables / etc at all.  This network card also autodetects 
the media as 10baseT/UTP.

I'm confused and surprised.  Where should I look next?

-Brandon