Ethernet problems [partially solved]

[abernardi]

Could someone look at my syslog?  I was using my unRAID server this morning on and off on my PC via logmein.com from work and all was well.  When I tried again around lunch time logmein reported the PC was asleep, so I tried to wake it and it wouldn't wake up, which is unusual because it has in the past.  When I got home tonight both the PC and the unRAID server were SHUT DOWN!

 

Everything started up alright, but now I can't connect to the server via http or telnet or simple network.  As far as I can decipher from the syslog, it looks like the unRAID is asking for a DHCP from the router and not getting it:

 

Jun 15 23:23:15 unRAID dhcpcd[1464]: broadcasting DHCP_DISCOVER

Jun 15 23:23:45 unRAID dhcpcd[1464]: timed out waiting for a valid DHCP server response

 

I have a router and a gigabit switch and they seem to otherwise be functioning ok.  I unplugged them and restarted them, restarted everything, no luck.

 

I also just added a new drive, but I doubt that has anything to do with it.  Or does it.

 

It's a mystery how both computers shut down.  Maybe there was a power surge or outage.  I have it on a UPS, but it's old, I've been looking into getting a bigger one.  

 

I know my son is out of school now and he tends to get into my stuff.  I wonder if he could have done something and just shut it all down.  He's not talking  

 

Anyway, any help is appreciated.  In the meantime, I'm going to remove the new drive and see if that makes any difference.

syslog-2010-6-15-eth-probs-clock.txt

[abernardi]

OK, I've solved some of the mystery.  I made a direct connection to the tower and all is well there, so I knew the problem lay elsewhere.  After poking around, I noticed my printer server was also offline, so I realized the culprit was the router.  When I reconfigured my mac to get back to the router, it wouldn't give me a DHCP address either, so I made a static connection to it (I'm really learning this stuff...) and found that somehow, the DHCP server had been disabled.  So, I enabled it, it assigned new addresses to everybody and all is well.

 

I still don't know what caused this.  Could a power outage or surge make the router do that?  I've unplugged that router many times to reset it, but it's never changed any settings and certainly not in the DHCP section.  I could imagine a surge causing the router to reset to the default settings, but I don't think the DHCP server is disabled as a default.  Anyone?

[barrygordon]

I am a firm believer in using DHCP only when I have to.  Any things that needs an IP address in my home and does not leave my house gets a static IP.

 

My DHCP server is software based and runs on one of  the servers in the house. I went this route because the software I chose had many features I wanted at the time.  I no longer need those features so I might just turn back on the routers DHCP server to handle the one mobile device a netbook.

 

My advice in general is static IP for things that are static.  I do know (have heard of at least) where a DHCP connection solved an issue as opposed to a static IP, but I believe in those cases there is something wrong with the device requesting the address or the DHCP server..

[abernardi]

I was thinking that, now that I have some stable devices, it's only logical to give them static IPs.  I have shortcuts that depend on the right IP, and in fact I had to change them all last night when I turned it back on and it gave everything different addresses.

[BRiT]

Most routers now have the capability of giving static responses based on MAC addresses via DHCP. This is how I handle my static setups. You should look into it.

[prostuff1]

echo "

Most routers now have the capability of giving static responses based on MAC addresses via DHCP. This is how I handle my static setups. You should look into it.

" | at now + 12 hours