Re: Laptop Connects to WAP, But Cannot Access 'Net

On 03/26/2012 04:16 PM Claudio Fontana wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 12:39 AM, Rich Shepard<[email protected]>  wrote:
>> On Mon, 26 Mar 2012, Bengt Richter wrote:
>>
>>> Hm, maybe a DNS problem? Can you put in fixed DNS numbers for your ISP's
>>> DNS servers to see if there's a problem with automatic DNS, if that's what
>>> you have going?
>>
>>
>> Bengt,
>>
>>   It appears like a DNS issue. At yesterday's site when wicd established a
>> connection their DNS server filled /etc/resolv.conf with their search domain
>> name and their two DNS server IP addresses.
>>
>>
>>> Can you ping a non-local numeric address that you know (maybe determine
>>> with your dell or other working connection)? Or get there with browser?
>>
>>
>>   Can't ping anything with the Sony.
Including actual dotted number addresses?
what happens if you ping one of the DNS server IP addresses that
you saw in /etc/resolv.conf? That should be a fixed numeric address.

>
>
> then I would not say it is a DNS issue at all.
ISTM there is still a little wiggle room for doubt...
I'd try pinging the DNS server IP addresses to see if they
are accessible.

>
>
>>> Maybe kernel.org won't mind if you use their number:
>>
>>
>>   My DNS test domains are www.google.com and my business web site:
>> www.appl-ecosys.com.
But ping google.com requires a lookup of 'google.com' before ping can
ping the IP number address. Chicken and egg. Do you know google.com's IP
number, or do you have a fixed one for your web site? Otherwise you can't
elinate DNS from the equation.

>>
>>   Yesterday there was no response to either of those or from trying to run
>> traceroute to either one.

Can you ping the gateway address as shown by netstat -r ?
When you are connected to your own router via e.g. eth0,
that is probably 192.168.0.1 or similar, and you should be
able to ping 192.168.0.1 and/or traceroute that for the one hop.

I think you should be able to do the same if WiFi is providing
the gateway, since presumably the other end is a router doing
the same logical job, just with wireless link substituting for ethernet cable.
So that ought to answer a ping, unless configured not to for some reason.

If that doesn't work, then maybe the connection just immediately dies for
some reason, after the /etc/resolv.conf update (BTW are you sure it's a fresh
update from an actual new connection?) But netstat should tell you if you've
got a gateway.

You could try bringing up http://192.168.0.1/ in a browser (or whatever
address netstat shows for gateway), to see if they are
risking having remote router admin enabled ;-)
(via ethernet to your own router that's typically the router's admin "web site", as you know).

If you get something, at least you know the WiFi is linking persistently to
the router.

BTW, do you run firefox with cookies enabled? I usually don't, and my router won't
let me go page to page without cookies or re-rentering passwords, so that might be
an interesting thing to monitor also. Enable cookies, but "ask me every time" style.
And clean out any previous cookies for that site.

Perhaps you would see a new clue if you manually restarted your internet connection?
IIRC:
   su
   <root pw>
   # cd /etc/rc.d
   # ./rc.inet1 restart
   ... # should tell you your dhcp-assigned IP, etc.
   # ^D  # logout

>>
>>
>>> Hope something jiggles loose ;-)
>>
>>
>>> Could there be a port 8080 vs 80 problem?
>>> What does netstat -r tell you?
>>
>>
>>   Don't have the Sony here now. I'll need to take it someplace with wifi
>> access to check.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Rich

HTH