can't ping my system - network problem
A couple of months ago, my harddrive was damaged so had to build a new
system from scratch - potato boot floppies, then a few packages, then
apt-get dist-upgrade to testing, then added the rest of the system.
A few weeks later, I installed lprng (+ related), and at that point,
when I started to get "Nov 30 07:36:04 SanMarco checkpc[1009]:
Get_local_host: 'localhost' IP address not available!" messages,
discovered I had a network problem and have been stuggling for several
weeks trying to diagnose and fix it (no printing in the meantime!).
First, my /etc/hosts file:
127.0.0.1 SanMarco
# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
# (added automatically by netbase upgrade)
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts
thinking that the first line should be
127.0.0.1 localhost SanMarco
I manually changed it (also experimented with eliminating the uppercase
letters in my hostname) - no luck
results of ping BEFORE adding "localhost" to /etc/hosts:
SanMarco:/etc# ping -c 3 127.0.0.1
PING 127.0.0.1 (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
--- 127.0.0.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
results of ping AFTER adding "localhost" to /etc/hosts:
sanmarco:~# ping -c 3 sanmarco
PING localhost (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
--- localhost ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
After adding "localhost", the printer spooler seems to start, message at
boot:
Nov 29 22:16:52 localhost kernel: lp0: using parport0 (polling).
yet, still no printing: results of a test run of lpr AFTER adding
"localhost" to /etc/hosts:
sanmarco:~# lpr test
Status Information:
sending job 'root@localhost+270' to lp@localhost
connecting to 'localhost', attempt 1
cannot open connection to localhost - Connection timed out
Make sure LPD server is running on the server
(the same results whether run as root or as ordinary user)
even if I try
sanmarco:~# echo test > /dev/lp0
I can't print, though an indicator light flashes momentarily.
If I try to ping my (dynamic) ip address, I get the following:
SanMarco:/etc# ping -c 3 66.9.80.10
PING 66.9.80.10 (66.9.80.10): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: No buffer space available
ping: wrote 66.9.80.10 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: No buffer space available
ping: wrote 66.9.80.10 64 chars, ret=-1
ping: sendto: No buffer space available
ping: wrote 66.9.80.10 64 chars, ret=-1
--- 66.9.80.10 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
I get the same results with or without "localhost" added.
I also get the error message
Nov 29 14:28:40 SanMarco kernel: neighbour table overflow
all the time. I read in the list that this might be due to loopback
interface (I don't know what that is) problem, so I added the line
"auto lo" to my otherwise empty /etc/network/interfaces with no effect,
then I tried manually "ifconfig lo up" so the loopback interface is
active, but I still get the same error messages.
My connection to the otside world works fine, exim and fetchmail for
mail delivery, I can connect via "pon" to my isp, I can ssh in or
out. When I add "localhost" to /etc/hosts, fetchmail (I think) no longer
collects mail, or perhaps its exim, anyhow it doesn't reach the
mailspool.
These problems are way beyond my capacity, I am an "end-user". I will be
grateful for any advice, help, solutions. I was thinking to "reinstall"
the broken parts of the network, but I'm not sure which or how to
safely.
Thanks for the patience of anyone who has read to here,
Tomasz
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