From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 22 01:59:58 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F005816A4CE for ; Tue, 22 Mar 2005 01:59:57 +0000 (GMT) Received: from lakermmtao12.cox.net (lakermmtao12.cox.net [68.230.240.27]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4A27043D55 for ; Tue, 22 Mar 2005 01:59:57 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from ned.woody@cox.net) Received: from nedsbsd.cox.net ([68.13.119.137]) by lakermmtao12.cox.net (InterMail vM.6.01.04.00 201-2131-118-20041027) with ESMTP id <20050322015956.LYQ2476.lakermmtao12.cox.net@nedsbsd.cox.net>; Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:59:56 -0500 From: Ned Harrison To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:01:58 +0000 User-Agent: KMail/1.7.2 References: <200503201531.18590.ned.woody@cox.net> <20050320165526.3173a27a.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <20050320165526.3173a27a.wmoran@potentialtech.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200503212001.58780.ned.woody@cox.net> cc: Bill Moran Subject: Re: Frequent loss of contact with ISP X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 01:59:58 -0000 On Sunday 20 March 2005 09:55 pm, you wrote: > Ned Harrison wrote: > > I reciently upgraded my home computer to FreeBSD 5.3 p5. Sense then I've > > had minor problems connecting to my ISP. During boot up it will > > sometimes freeze at the line, "Configuring syscons: keymap blanktime." or > > I'll lose contact with my ISP while sending an email or surfing the web. > > From an earlier posting to this forum I found that "Ctrl+C" will let the > > system finishing the boot up. Then I can easily connect to my ISP by > > running "/etc/netstart" as root. > > > > Everything works fine at least for a while. However, sooner or later > > I'll lose the conection again. I have not been able to discern a pattern > > to the disconnects either. Yet as soon as I run netstart again > > everything works again. It can be hours before I the lose the connection > > or sometimes I'll lose the connection again within twenty minutes. I've > > searched for a permanent fix by looking throught this forum. But I > > havn't found anything yet. Though that might be because I don't quite > > know how to search! :-) > > > > I am a newbie using FreeBSD so any suggestions would be appreciated. > > Spend a little time in the /var/log directory and see if anything is being > logged around the time you lose connection. > > Also, more clearly defining "lose connection" would help. What does > ifconfig say when the connection is up and when it's down? The > difference between those two outputs may lead you toward a solution. Thank you for the suggestions. I've scanned the log files and didn't see any unusual error messages. But that could be because I don't know what to look for. I've run FreeBSD for just about one year and had no Unix experience prior to that at all. I jumped from Windows, where somebody did everything for me to, FreeBSD where I have to figure things out on my own with only hints and suggestions. (Honestly, I find it funner this way!) I'll check to logs next time it goes down. I copied the results from ifconfig when everything is working to a file. As soon as I "lose the connection" I'll run ifconfig again. To get more defined regarding the loss of connection, it's almost as if I typed "ipfw flush" as root and cut myself down to the default "deny everything" rule. Sent emails will set unprocessed in the queue, when attempting to download e-mail, K-mail will return an unknown host error message, web browsers will either open to a blank white page or give me an invalid ULR error message. It even went down while viewing a video on Xine. The video just stopped, then I got an "invalid host" error message. As soon as I type /etc/netstart. Boom! everythings up an running as if nothing was ever wrong. Thanks again for your suggestions. Ned.