internet problems

[ewt]

I'm staying at a friend's house, looking after their two cats.

When I asked about connecting to the internet, I was told to either use the box in the corner (the very, very slow one, that takes ages to switch from one window to another, but is very good for its usual function - looking up the TV guide or stuff about movies on IMDB), or just plug an ethernet cable into my laptop, kitten.

I would like to actually get some stuff done, and my usual style of switching rapidly between tags and windows means that this will not work on the ancient computer.

I have tried three different ethernet cables and the internet will not talk to my laptop.

I do not know if this is a problem with lots and lots of duff cables (unlikely), a problem with the ethernet port on my laptop (I really hope not but if it is then it is still under insurance and can get fixed, but this is also unlikely as I don't use it much and have had no previous problems when I did need to use it), or a problem with the network not assigning addresses automatically and me having NO idea which IP addresses to feed it because I am not geek enough. My geek boyfriend is here, but still asleep, and so unable to assist.

This computer is so slow that it takes thirty seconds for it to wake up when I click on an earlier point in this text box in order to edit a typo from a paragraph ago. It is running an operating system I am unfamiliar with, and while this is not a problem for things like running a browser and SSH, it doesn't work for finding network config stuff so that I know which numbers to guess at. It also doesn't have Sibelius, and I'd kindof planned to go back and forth between that and some writing for the blog and talking to friends and family and reading LJ.

My brain is attempting to make several mountains out of this molehill, having to do with people assuming I am geek enough for this shit, people being asleep when I need their help, not being able to do basic things that I really feel I should, and so on. I am aware that all of this is paranoid OTT crocodile tears, none of which is really relevant or will really help, but it still feels awful. Also it is cold and grey outside and I want my strawberries to ripen but they won't if it is like this and they probably all got eaten by slugs yesterday anyway.

I think I might give up and watch a DVD, but if any of you think you know the magic geek numbers, please let me know.

EDIT: Geek Boyfriend is now awake and helping. Still not made it work but there is progress, and anyway now he's awake I don't necessarily just want to sit around online (but will want onlineness tomorrow and Wednesday).

Comments

[duncanneko.livejournal.com]

An address in the 192.168.0.x range with default gateway of 192.168.0.1 is very common, so worth a try. What os is the other computer running?

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I tried to ping some of those but had no luck, even from computer which does talk to internet.

My laptop is runing MacOS 10.whatever-comes-with-MacBooks-these-days. The network settings wossname tries to detect settings automatically, says it can't, and then asks me for:
IP Address:
Subnet Mask:
Router Address:
DNS Hosts: (I suspect this one may be optional)

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

And ancientcomputer seems to be running Fedora core, but I have no idea which version.

[bob]

ifconfig or ip a on the command line should tell you.

[duncanneko.livejournal.com]

ip addr or, failing that, ifconfig should be sufficient to give you IP details on ancientcomputer, if you can get a terminal window (likely xterm on a menu somewhere if it's running a window manager).

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

They all say "command not found".

[duncanneko.livejournal.com]

hmm, how annoying.

Okay, try:
IP Address: 192.168.0.163
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router Address: 192.168.0.1
DNS Hosts: 192.168.0.1
194.168.4.10

On the macbook, then try pinging 192.168.0.1

[bob]

try
/sbin/ifconfig
or
/usr/sbin/ifconfig

[pplfichi.livejournal.com]

and cat /etc/resolv.conf for the dns servers.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

because I am not geek enough.

All Ewts are geeky, but some are more geeky than others. ;^b

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I thought I had them but I appear to have tidied my desktop since then (you wouldn't know it to look at it!).

Could you find out what details the other computer has got and steal its socket?

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

By doing what Duncan just said. Great minds and all that.

[karen2205]

*nods* re it being cold and grey outside. It's cold, grey and wet outside here atm. I'm hibernating for the rest of the day. Hope you manage to sort out a sensible internet connection soon.

[pplfichi.livejournal.com]

If all attempts to get a working connection fail (I'd say that's unlikely with a geek around and a box that has a working connection...) and your morals are okay with it, you could always see if there is any stealable wifi around?

internet problems

[(Anonymous)]

I'm running Mac OS 10.4.9 here.

Is the other computer that "works" plugged into that "box in the corner" via an ethernet cable too?

Assuming your Mac is recent-ish, it'll cope with both a "straight" & a "crossover" cable, so unlikely you have *all* duff cables.

Where are you plugging the other end of your ethernet cable - into the box? Does it have any name or model # on it? How many ethernet ports does it have?