Ultimate Edition Forum

SaddleTramp wrote:I may be narrowing down the problem...nVidia Debian way (the link you left up there) installs fine...somewhere along the way some updates were added (including the kernal from 2.6.26-1 to 2.6.26-2)

That is correct. There was a kernel update sometime yesterday or early this morn. I just got it this morning myself.

SaddleTramp wrote:and it wasn't done by me LOL...

Maybe when it went to bring in the kernel headers it also brought in the new kerel after it saw that the only kernel headers were for the new kernel. That is the only way i can think of that would have caused the kernel to get updated without invoking "aptitude safe-upgrade" (the equivilant of using the update manager).

SaddleTramp wrote:but the repos were updated also (somehow, I don't know how yet, all Debian including from sid, were added and marked, which is maybe where all the dist updates/upgrades came from)...and since I wasn't aware yet enough to watch for that happening, it took hold and this is where the Internet connection went to #$#@...

Maybe im understanding you wrong but you mean your sources.list got changed from squeeze to sid/unstable?

The only other thing i can think of is that aptitude keep-all that we did before didnt stick and when it upgraded the kernel for some reason it removed the packages that it wanted to remove before. When i get a chance ill read up on the aptitude manual and see what the difference between "hold" and "keep-all" is. We may need hold instead.

SaddleTramp wrote:it shows I'm connected, but iceweasel can't find anything and if I try to reload the repos, I get all those "can't resolve" errors...

I wonder if maybe something that it pulled in messed up /etc/network/interfaces. I use a wired connection but i know i have to comment out everything but the local loopback interface otherwise nm doesnt work right (always shows me as disconnected when i am actually connected) now yours was the exact opposite but its still a possibility.

SaddleTramp wrote:I'm also keeping in mind that some of this is being pulled from 'Squeeze', so some of the problems may be coming from there too (the mix of Lenny & Squeeze pkgs)

I assume you mean a mix of squeeze/sid "unstable". We should be pulling from squeeze "testing" as we did a full upgrade to testing (2nd step). With only a few packages from sid (our final set of nm packages).

SaddleTramp wrote:I'll be installing into another partition also, and what that will let me do, is if things go snaky after the nVidia install, then maybe I can bind the partitions together and work from the workable Debian install that still connects to get the pkgs straightened out in the broke install...will keep ya (ya'll) posted...

Very good idea. Thats what i actually do with my vm. I have 3 i386 and 3 amd64 (plus my real i386 and amd64 installs that are on the usb).

Your resolving issues are mostly sure related to bad or missing DNS servers, how is your internet connection set up? Do you get automatic settings from your provider or do you need to set it up manually?
The name servers are set on /etc/resolv.conf file, check what do you have there.
On command line, if doing "host www.google.com" retrieves "unknown host" or something similar, then it means you need to set up your name servers. If you don't know the IP addresses, you need to ask your service provider.
Hope this helps

Drama / Tux: Thanks for the info fellas...Mrs. Saddle had her back surgery stepped up to yesterday, so that'll slow me down a little on working on this for the next few days, but I'll keep getting it done a little at a time anyway...

Tux: The modem I use is this - http://www.wirefly.com/catalog/alltel_wireless/utstarcom/um-150-pc-mac-usb-broadband-card/

Using the procedures Drama posted has it up and running, it's only "after" I install the nVidia drivers does it go to #@#$...one thing I just thought of is installing nVidia before I set up the internet connection...I'm thinking whatever it is killing the connection from the nVidia install may be corrected doing it this way...will let ya'll know first chance I get....

well, I think that if you have problems with internet connection and stuff perhaps you need to call WireFly tech support

SaddleTramp wrote:Mrs. Saddle had her back surgery stepped up to yesterday

Hope all went well bro. And she is doing well with her recovery.

SaddleTramp wrote:Using the procedures Drama posted has it up and running, it's only "after" I install the nVidia drivers does it go to #@#$...one thing I just thought of is installing nVidia before I set up the internet connection...I'm thinking whatever it is killing the connection from the nVidia install may be corrected doing it this way...will let ya'll know first chance I get....

Im convinced it is ripping sh*t out for some reason. If its packages that have the auto install flag on and it incorrectly thinks they arent needed anymore im not sure of. But like i said i bet that keep-all command isnt taking as i expected it to. I been reading the "debian bible" lately though. Im about halfway through the chapter on aptitude...i read apt-get chapter before this one (which while they achieve the same goal they are 2 totally different animals). Aptitude is highly configurable. And i just think i might have found the solution.



The above screenshot is of the aptitude ncurses based interface. Note the highlighted line. I suspect this does something similar to what keep-all is supposed to do but it is permanent. I removed the x before adding the nm-unstable/sid packages then i purposly tried to use aptitude to install them (remember we had to use apt-get before so it didnt remove a crap load of packages). When i tried it just now it didnt ask nor did it even try to remove them. I think this option be be the solution. If not then im totally lost. This is what i did.

After i installed the nm-testing packages i rebooted. Now before i installed the nm-unstable packages this is what i did

Switch to root

Code: Select all

su -

Enter the root password

Start aptitude

Code: Select all

aptitude

Now when aptitude starts it will look similar to the above screen but it wont be on the preferences portion. Now with the mouse click on options and the preferences. Use the down arrow key until you find the "dependancy handling" section. Highlight "remove unused packages automatically". Now hit the spacebar to remove the "x". Hit "q" to exit the preferences. Then hit "q" again to exit aptitude. Now install the nm-unstable packages just like before but instead of using "apt-get install" use "aptitude install".

Now like i said this may not get us anywhere at all and we may very well end up right back where we started (installing nvidia kills the network connection). But its also very possible that it will solve the problem.

drama wrote:

SaddleTramp wrote:Mrs. Saddle had her back surgery stepped up to yesterday

Hope all went well bro. And she is doing well with her recovery.

SaddleTramp wrote:Using the procedures Drama posted has it up and running, it's only "after" I install the nVidia drivers does it go to #@#$...one thing I just thought of is installing nVidia before I set up the internet connection...I'm thinking whatever it is killing the connection from the nVidia install may be corrected doing it this way...will let ya'll know first chance I get....

Im convinced it is ripping sh*t out for some reason. If its packages that have the auto install flag on and it incorrectly thinks they arent needed anymore im not sure of. But like i said i bet that keep-all command isnt taking as i expected it to. I been reading the "debian bible" lately though. Im about halfway through the chapter on aptitude...i read apt-get chapter before this one (which while they achieve the same goal they are 2 totally different animals). Aptitude is highly configurable. And i just think i might have found the solution.

aptitude.png

The above screenshot is of the aptitude ncurses based interface. Note the highlighted line. I suspect this does something similar to what keep-all is supposed to do but it is permanent. I removed the x before adding the nm-unstable/sid packages then i purposly tried to use aptitude to install them (remember we had to use apt-get before so it didnt remove a crap load of packages). When i tried it just now it didnt ask nor did it even try to remove them. I think this option be be the solution. If not then im totally lost. This is what i did.

After i installed the nm-testing packages i rebooted. Now before i installed the nm-unstable packages this is what i did

Switch to root

Code: Select all

su -

Enter the root password

Start aptitude

Code: Select all

aptitude

Now when aptitude starts it will look similar to the above screen but it wont be on the preferences portion. Now with the mouse click on options and the preferences. Use the down arrow key until you find the "dependancy handling" section. Highlight "remove unused packages automatically". Now hit the spacebar to remove the "x". Hit "q" to exit the preferences. Then hit "q" again to exit aptitude. Now install the nm-unstable packages just like before but instead of using "apt-get install" use "aptitude install".

Now like i said this may not get us anywhere at all and we may very well end up right back where we started (installing nvidia kills the network connection). But its also very possible that it will solve the problem.

Thanks Drama...the surgery went very well and she was sitting up already yesterday...the therapist will be working to get her walking today and they're figuring she'll be coming home maybe Friday...lot of pain but they're controlling most of it with Morphine...this is her 2nd, so we pretty much new what to expect...

This may be our best bet...tried again last night when I got home & no joy...at first, I added the repo's there at the end as you advised, reloaded in Synaptic, connection quit...then I unchecked them, reloaded, and connection came back...then I connected and then check the repo's again, updated, restarted, no connection (even tho' it shows I'm connected)...I've left it at this so far...when I get back today, I'm going to reinstall starting with 'Part 6', and using what you've suggested above with "Aptitude"...

I noticed that during all this, the "linux-header" pkgs have never been installed, just the "linux-image" pkgs...do you think that may be part of the problem also?? Another thing is that there are no updated pkgs for Network Manager, and if the Headers don't have anything to do with it, then maybe just reinstalling NM may get it back going again...

Anyway, I'll try it again when I get back today...I'm holding off on writing anything up on this to add to the How-to until this is figured out...as always you know I sincerely appreciate your help in this...catch ya'll later

Give my best regards to Mrs Saddle!

SaddleTramp wrote:Thanks Drama...the surgery went very well and she was sitting up already yesterday...the therapist will be working to get her walking today and they're figuring she'll be coming home maybe Friday...lot of pain but they're controlling most of it with Morphine...this is her 2nd, so we pretty much new what to expect...

Glad to hear it all went well. My step father had back surgery about 6 months ago so i know it can be a rather long recovery process. I remember the kind of pain he was in. That was the first time i ever seen that man cry in my life.

SaddleTramp wrote:This may be our best bet...tried again last night when I got home & no joy...at first, I added the repo's there at the end as you advised, reloaded in Synaptic, connection quit...then I unchecked them, reloaded, and connection came back...then I connected and then check the repo's again, updated, restarted, no connection (even tho' it shows I'm connected)...I've left it at this so far...when I get back today, I'm going to reinstall starting with 'Part 6', and using what you've suggested above with "Aptitude"...

That is extremely weird that network connection dies just by enableing the repos. That one really has me scratching my head. I was originally thinking that it was removing something important when you went to run the commands to install the nvidia packages. But just enableing the repos shouldnt be pulling anything out because we arent installing or removing anything just enableing the repos and updating the package list.

Can you post the following files? Both when the connection is working and then after it dies. I want to see if there are any differences.

/etc/network-manager/interfaces
/etc/network/interfaces
/etc/resolv.conf

Those are the only 3 files i can think of that are directly related to network connectivity.

SaddleTramp wrote:I noticed that during all this, the "linux-header" pkgs have never been installed, just the "linux-image" pkgs...do you think that may be part of the problem also?? Another thing is that there are no updated pkgs for Network Manager, and if the Headers don't have anything to do with it, then maybe just reinstalling NM may get it back going again...

The headers normally arent installed unless you pull them in yourself. The only exception is build-essential. Build-essential might automatically pull them in. I cant remember for sure. I always remember pulling in the headers when i was ready to build my drivers using "aptitude install linux-headers-$(uname -r)". You could try reinstalling the network manager packages. That might work. Im still lost as to why the network connection is dying simply by enableing to repos though.

Drama: more tired than I thought (running back and forth to hospital and such), I totally borked the Debian install (half asleep and weren't paying close enough attention to what I was doing)...Doc said this morning that she may be coming home tomorrow (Sat.)...I'll get back to working on it this weekend and will post those files you mentioned above...sorry bro'..don't mean to hold you up from anything and I've yet to get the nVidia write-up done...

SaddleTramp wrote:Drama: more tired than I thought (running back and forth to hospital and such), I totally borked the Debian install (half asleep and weren't paying close enough attention to what I was doing)...Doc said this morning that she may be coming home tomorrow (Sat.)...I'll get back to working on it this weekend and will post those files you mentioned above...sorry bro'..don't mean to hold you up from anything and I've yet to get the nVidia write-up done...

No worries bro. Personal life ALWAYS comes first. Take as much time as you need.

Your not holding me up though. If anything im holding myself up. I been in the process of converting my sister,mother and step-father over to debian from windows. Teaching them everything i know along the way. Sometimes they get it sometimes they just look at me like "what the fu*k did he just say....speak english". So i havent even worked too much on the howto myself. My test partition/install that im using for the howto hasnt even been touched in almost a week.

Anyway like i said take as much time as you need. There is plenty of time for us to try and figure out this issue later on. The howto is still in its infancy.

Give the MRS. my best.