12.04.2 LTS, new install, network broken

[Liam Proven]

On 6 July 2013 16:04, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> wrote:
> Greetings;
>
> I am in a catch-22 here. And very frustrate by what seems to be two of the
> dumbest actions ever.  They are:
>
> 1. No networking when installing from the cd.  Yes, I have my local network
> on 192.168.xx.nn, but apparently the installer cannot cope if the xx isn't
> 00.  Inexcusable.

It copes fine on my LAN, which is 192.168.1.xx. So it's not a nonzero
3rd octet; that works fine.

Do you have DHCP?

> 2. The gui tools to properly configure it are disabled because they refuse
> to ask for a sudo password in order to modify the files.  So I am locked
> ouyt of fixing it via the tools provided.  Also inexcusable.

GNOME Network Manager (the thing in the panel) is a userspace program.
It doesn't need root privileges.

> I have copied all the networking configs over from a 10.04.4 LTS install,
> but I still have no dns, only hostnames in the /etc/hosts file work.

I would not expect that to work. Did you keep backups of any files you
replaced? Can you revert this change?

> Without a network I cannot update the machine, and without sudo -i access
> to the gui the network tab on the top right bar can open, I cannot save any
> changes I make to the network configuration.

What does `sudo -i` do? I've never needed it.

>  In fact, that little
> windshield wiper pattern icon has no way to identify itself so that it can
> be run as sudo-i from the cli, and I consider it a huge failure that it
> doesn't ask me for a sudo password if any changes are being made in the
> files it controls.

As I said, it's a userspace tool. It doesn't need sudo access, but if
you have hardwired stuff into place using config files from 4 versions
back, then you might well have broken it so that it /cannot/ now work.

>  And this bitch goes all the way back to the installer
> not properly broadcasting to find out whats out there, so it can use it
> during the install.

Does for me. I use it all the time. Are you saying that even the
LiveDVD could not access the network? This is a key question.

> However, I am not totally without resources here, I can copy in a good
> resolv.conf and chmod +i just for S&G.  Then we'll either have a clue as to
> how to fix it, or nuke the utility that tries to re-write a known good

You'll only break it further, I think.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
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