Other PC network connections "flush" just before Antix login

tanian · posted: 2013-04-16 21:44

Hello again!
Long time no write.
Recently I was having a problem and I do not know how to solve it, because I cannot track it this time.
We have 3 PC, two windows, one antix M12 that I use.
My relatives tell me that internet connection goes out for a moment, enough to stop file transmission (stream, file downloads, upload photos, etc.).
I did investigation, and the best I could get to know was that, when I start the antix M12 PC, and JUST BEFORE LOGIN (slim), that is when their internet connection"flushes" -as it only last for about 5 seconds before reconnecting-, but in that trance, they lost their uploads (what I call"file transmission" to distinguish from"data transmission" that's in bytes & not checking 'file' integrity), and that makes them mad :=|
Antix M12 connects to internet using wired ethernet.
For now, I start antix M12 only when the other PCs are not internet-active or when off. But, that's something I do not want to do in the long term. Suppose that they are downloading an ISO image of some O.S., lets say 4.6 GiB, and when they are about 97% of progress, I start my antixM12 laptop. Internet flush. And they are stuck in 97% of their download. One more time, download. What a hassle!
Please can somebody help me with this??
Much grateful.
Tan.

EDITed: title of topic, to make thread clearer.

BitJam · posted: 2013-04-16 22:39

ISTM this is a network issue. It is going to be related to your router and network configuration which we don't know anything about.

If your network and router are configured properly and working properly then this should not happen. Unless antiX is logging into your router (which is extremely unlikely) then it should not be able to sever connections on your other computers. ISTM the worst it could do is saturate your network which would only cause other people's downloads to pause.

One possibility is that your router is getting reset when antiX starts. Another possibility is that your router is setup to forward network traffic through your Linux box.

All signs point to a problem or misconfiguration with your router.

Dave · posted: 2013-04-16 23:57

another possibility
does your antix 12 box have a dhcp server installed? some packages do pull in a dhcp server in which case you may have an address serving conflict between a router (typically the dhcp server in a home network) and your antix box. from what I remember when you start a dhcp server (starting your computer ) it sends a broadcast across its network, then this would cause every computer on the network to release and renew its ip address (disconnect and reconnect). Its working is a little more complicated, but it is a simple check none the less to see if a dhcp server is installed. if there is you should try to remove it or turn one of them off.

BitJam · posted: 2013-04-17 02:50

Dave's answer is much better than mine.

tanian · posted: 2013-04-17 05:11

BitJam wrote:ISTM this is a network issue. It is going to be related to your router and network configuration which we don't know anything about.

If your network and router are configured properly and working properly then this should not happen. Unless antiX is logging into your router (which is extremely unlikely) then it should not be able to sever connections on your other computers. ISTM the worst it could do is saturate your network which would only cause other people's downloads to pause.

One possibility is that your router is getting reset when antiX starts. Another possibility is that your router is setup to forward network traffic through your Linux box.

All signs point to a problem or misconfiguration with your router.

Thank you for reply.
I do not think it is a router issue. When restarting win machines, antixM12 network does not stop, file transmission not affected. The opposite, when antixM12 restarts, win machines's network does stop for a moment, interrupting file transmission, which is bad.

Dave wrote:another possibility
does your antix 12 box have a dhcp server installed? some packages do pull in a dhcp server in which case you may have an address serving conflict between a router (typically the dhcp server in a home network) and your antix box. from what I remember when you start a dhcp server (starting your computer ) it sends a broadcast across its network, then this would cause every computer on the network to release and renew its ip address (disconnect and reconnect). Its working is a little more complicated, but it is a simple check none the less to see if a dhcp server is installed. if there is you should try to remove it or turn one of them off.

That MIGHT be. Although I cannot really tell.
Now, how do I know if antixM12 has a dhcp server installed? And how do I uninstall that?
Thanks.

Dave · posted: 2013-04-17 10:13

you can do in terminal as root
dpkg --list > file.txt
then read / grep that file

cat file.txt ¦ grep"dhcp"
or
you could use synaptic in the control center, system, manage software packages.
and search for dhcp.

IIRC bind9 is the common dhcp server, so maybe you can search for that as well (though it should show when searching dhcp)
to remove it once you found it, in terminal type apt-get purge name-you-found.
in synaptic, click the checkbox and select completely remove.
I cannot remember exactly but to disable you should be able to edit a config in / etc/defaults or / etc/name-of-program. otherwise you could disable the init script call using sysv-rc-config in root terminal or through the control center.

tanian · posted: 2013-04-18 05:31

Thank you. Sorry for delay.

Code: Select all

root@U3:/home/tan3
# dpkg --list > file.txt
root@U3:/home/tan3
# cat file.txt | grep"dhcp"
ii  isc-dhcp-client                       4.2.2.dfsg.1-5+deb70u3             i386         ISC DHCP client
ii  isc-dhcp-common                       4.2.2.dfsg.1-5+deb70u3             i386         common files used by all the isc-dhcp* packages
root@U3:/home/tan3
# cat file.txt | grep"bind9"
root@U3:/home/tan3
# find /etc -name dhcp*
/etc/samba/dhcp.conf
/etc/dhcp
/etc/dhcp3
root@U3:/home/tan3
# find /etc -name *bind9*
root@U3:/home/tan3
# ls /etc/dhcp /etc/dhcp3
/etc/dhcp:
dhclient.conf            dhclient-enter-hooks.d
dhclient.conf.dpkg-dist  dhclient-exit-hooks.d

/etc/dhcp3:
dhclient-enter-hooks.d
root@U3:/home/tan3
# 
root@U3:/home/tan3

nano /etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf
Gives me a bunch of commented lines, except for these:

Code: Select all

## (commented lines)
##
option rfc3442-classless-static-routes code 121 = array of unsigned integer 8;
##
send host-name"U3";
send host-name"U3";
##
request subnet-mask, broadcast-address, time-offset, routers,
        domain-name, domain-name-servers, domain-search, host-name,
        netbios-name-servers, netbios-scope, interface-mtu,
        rfc3442-classless-static-routes, ntp-servers;
##
##

And also:

Code: Select all

root@U3:/home/tan3
# service --status-all
 [ + ]  acpi-fakekey
 [ - ]  acpi-support
 [ + ]  acpid
 [ ? ]  alsa-utils
 [ - ]  bluetooth
 [ - ]  bootlogs
 [ ? ]  bootmisc.sh
 [ ? ]  checkfs.sh
 [ ? ]  checkroot-bootclean.sh
 [ - ]  checkroot.sh
 [ - ]  console-setup
 [ ? ]  cpufrequtils
 [ + ]  cron
 [ ? ]  cryptdisks
 [ ? ]  cryptdisks-early
 [ + ]  cups
 [ + ]  dbus
 [ ? ]  dns-clean
 [ ? ]  gpm
 [ ? ]  hdparm
 [ - ]  hostname.sh
 [ ? ]  hwclock.sh
 [ - ]  ifplugd
 [ ? ]  irqbalance
 [ - ]  kbd
 [ - ]  keyboard-setup
 [ - ]  keymap.sh
 [ ? ]  killprocs
 [ ? ]  kmod
 [ - ]  lm-sensors
 [ ? ]  loadcpufreq
 [ - ]  motd
 [ ? ]  mountall-bootclean.sh
 [ ? ]  mountall.sh
 [ ? ]  mountdevsubfs.sh
 [ ? ]  mountkernfs.sh
 [ ? ]  mountnfs-bootclean.sh
 [ ? ]  mountnfs.sh
 [ ? ]  mtab.sh
 [ ? ]  networking
 [ ? ]  pppd-dns
 [ - ]  procps
 [ ? ]  rc.local
 [ + ]  resolvconf
 [ - ]  rmnologin
 [ - ]  rsync
 [ + ]  rsyslog
 [ + ]  saned
 [ ? ]  screen-cleanup
 [ ? ]  sendsigs
 [ ? ]  slim
 [ + ]  ssh
 [ - ]  sudo
 [ - ]  svgalib-bin
 [ - ]  transmission-daemon
 [ + ]  udev
 [ ? ]  udev-mtab
 [ - ]  ufw
 [ ? ]  umountfs
 [ ? ]  umountnfs.sh
 [ ? ]  umountroot
 [ - ]  urandom
 [ + ]  wicd
 [ - ]  x11-common
root@U3:/home/tan3

(By the way, how do I hide those large listing above (a la"spoiler" tag in other forums) ??)

The next step would be to uninstall dhcp. If that's the case, that is.
It's a pleasure to receive so much apreciated help.
Regards,
Tan

Dave · posted: 2013-04-18 17:03

hmm from your output I only see a client installed which should not cause the issue. could you pm me the install.txt from dpkg --list > installed.txt?

also as more of an indication of the trigger event, could you install wireshark on one of the other computers, run it and then start your antix computer. that should be able to pick up the dissconnect flag. if it truely disconnects it will be among the last of the lines otherwise it will keep outputting information.

that should be able to shed a little more light on the situation.

tanian · posted: 2013-04-19 03:51

Hello.
I followed your suggestions.
Installed Wireshark (judging by appearance it seems like a serious software). I could not see any disconnect flag (maybe I misunderstood the flag/message line ?), but I saw on a win machine a Windows Warning me that"another PC in LAN has the same IP as this" one, and on wicd on Antix (mislanguage!) I see that, by default, its IP is the same as the one's in that win machine.
So, I'm sugesting myself to change that IP parameter in some antix config file, so that on each startup, the machine has to have its own (static) IP address. Just now I want to know which config file that might be.
Regards.
Tan

EDIT
On another topic, every time I call ceni this shows in CLI/terminal:

Code: Select all

Your screen is currently too small for this application.
Resize the screen and restart the application.
Press <CTRL+C> to exit...

Desktop resolution is 1024x768; how come this ????