ipcop doesnt boot

[nishark]

I've setup a Pentium 100Mhz, 32MB RAM, 1GB HDD, 2 NICs and installed ipcop on it. one NIC is for my cable modem, other one is for internet connection sharing using a hub.

initially i had only one NIC to try out the 'GREEN' network with the ipcop PC being 192.168.0.1 and the other workstations as .2 and so on... things worked fine. i was able to ping the workstations and able to login to ipcop from the workstations using a browser.

then i put in 2 NICs and reinstalled ipcop. the installation worked fine. i plugged a crossover cable to the modem and the second NIC. power cycled my modem. rebooted the ipcop PC.

during the boot process it stalls with the message ''bringing up network''. nothing happens. just stays there.

any ideas? i'd be glad to provide more info
TIA

[Telexen]

Will it boot when the cable to the network isn't plugged in? Sounds like it might be having an IP conflict.

[nishark]

just unplugged both cables. same result. doesnt boot.

both the NICs are identical. i have a feeling this might have something to do with it?

[Telexen]

I just realized...I run Smoothwall (basically the same thing)...the one time I tried to use two of the same card it freaked out if I remember right (if it didn't I'd be using the two cards in it). So it is a possiblity. Try another card.

[nishark]

the other NIC that i have is an " Intel 21140-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter". ipcop's autoprobe feature is not able to detect it. and i dunno how to set it up manually!! i read the installation manual about stuff saying u need to know the code for the NIC and suff like
'ne io=0x3000 irq=9' for a NE 2000 driver

how do i get the same info for my/any NIC?

[Telexen]

I'm not sure myself as I don't use it and haven't had to do that for Smoothwall with the cards I use. I just looked around the website and couldn't find anything.

There are a few people at least I know on this forum that use it. I'm sure they'll be able to help you, though at the moment they would be asleep. They'll probably see this thread later today sometime.

[nishark]

Originally posted by Telexen
I'm not sure myself as I don't use it and haven't had to do that for Smoothwall with the cards I use. I just looked around the website and couldn't find anything.

i couldnt find anything on the website either!! browsed their mailing list for quite awhile last night to solve it.

hence beloved TIMO to the rescue!

Howdy nishark

Sorry I'm late - been out, and not staying up for long now.

Sound like you need to configure card manually like you said. It should autodetect PCI cards, though, even when they are the same. I have used 3 exact same Etherlink PCI cards before and it worked. Only problem was working out which was which.

But if it's not autodetecting it will need to manually configured. Need to to know IRQ and IO for the device. Only way I know of it to use a DOS utility tp set and detect the settings. Will need to search for a setting utility for that card, then boot with a DOS floppy, work out settings, and then plug em in in IPCop. And the driver to use will depend on card chipset - a google for linux drivers for that card should tell ya.

I'll have a better look at this in the morning. when I'm awake.

Cheers
Mick

[nishark]

thanks mick for the quick response

it does autodetect both the identical PCI cards during installation. but while booting, it stalls with the message 'Bringing network up'.

finding out 'IRQ/IO/driver depending on chipset'. hmmm...okay, if given the proper instructions, guess i can take a shot at that!

take it easy mick, i'm sure u'll be able to gimme more clues and directions once ur awake.

p.s. i just tried interchanging the identical NICs and installed ipcop again. installed fine, but stalls as mentioned.

OK, could be a couple of things. One thought is that, because both cards look the same, it allocates the wrong card to the LAN. Try swapping the cables over, then rebooting, as see if it gets past the network prob. Or sinply unhook the RED NIC cable form the cable modem, and see if the LAN card gets activated. It should, and you should be able to ping it from a box on the LAN, even if the RED NIC is inactive.

The other could be a ISP issue, as it might not be getting the IP addy for the RED NIC for the ISP. That will stall network as well.

Oh, and if your cable is Telstra, you'll need to load bpalogin before it'll run properly. The files you need should be on the IPCop site somewhere, along with instructions. Should do the initial network connect, though, it just won't log you in.

I use Bigpond cable, and I couldn't get the latest IPCop version running with bpalogin, but wasn't sure if it was me messing up or the files don't work in the new vesrion. No-one could tell me. I still use the p[revious IPCop version ATM because of this. Never got around to fixing it. Be interested in how you get on if you have Bigpong.

Best place for advice is Whirlpool Broadband, and ask in the BPA forum if anyone has IPCop latest version running with bpalogin, if that's your issue.

If you have Optus, lucky you, I don't think it needs special config files.

Enough ramble. Let us know what happens

Cheers
Mick

edit: Ah, I see you found Whirpool already. And you have BPA, I see. They didn't help, though, did they? Now onto IPCop forum and see if they can help....