Cable modem & DHCP (one minor problem)

[wchandle at hotmail.com (Wendell)]

I've noticed similar problems. I'm currently using mandrake 6.5. Intel Pro
100B. Media 1/RR with M1's LanCity cable modem (only model I believe they
allow in my area - Waltham, MA.)

Linux boot gets successful IP address 1 out of 4 times. (Solaris 8 has yet
to get a successful IP lease, same machine!) It does get some data - it
knows the domain & DNS #'s, but not the PC's IP address. I though this was
all due to something I was doing wrong (I had reinstalled the Linux OS from
scratch several times before I got my first good lease on a reboot - I was
beginning to believe that the mandrake build came from Redmond, WA!) but
I've noticed on the same PC that when I do an "ipconfig /release" then
"ipconfig /renew" it also takes several "/renew" tries to get an IP address
in Win2K Pro OS. Apparently Win2K will wait longer for a successful IP lease
at boot  than either it does during a release/renew or the Linux OS does at
boot. To recap Chris' question: Is there a way to lengthen Linux's DHCP
timeout on boot or otherwise make the process more efficient on the user's
side?

Also, I remember someone posting a suggestion (don't know if a BLU member or
ng post) that suggested that Linux's DHCP client was outdated, and
recommended installing a replacement package. Any ideas on this?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Christoph Doerbeck A242369" <cdoerbec at cso.fmr.com>
To: <discuss at Blu.Org>
Sent: Friday, April 07, 2000 1:16 PM
Subject: Cable modem & DHCP (one minor problem)


>
> hey folks,
>
> Finally! my cable modem has been installed.  Here's a quick synopsis of
> my setup:
>
> + 3COM cable modem
> + SUN Sparc20 running RedHat 6.1 (configured as firewall)
> + 2 Pentium boxes behind the firewall as happy as can be
>
> When MediaOne came out, we configured using a Win95 machine.  Once that
> worked, I snagged the hardware address for the NIC and used it on the
> Sparc20's 2nd interface:
>
> ifconfig eth1 hw ether 11:22:33:44:55:66
>
> The original Win95 machine is now off the network and powered off!
>
> Here's the problem: DHCP acquisition fails 4 out of 5 times.
> I have to bring up the interface several times before the IP is
> finally received,
>
> ifup eth1
>
> I have also tried using `pump -i eth1` directly from the command line,
> but get the same results.  The windows system is also very slow at
> acquiring the IP, although I can't tell if it's just more leniant on the
> timeouts.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> - Christoph
>
>
> -
> Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with
> "subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" on the first line of the
> message body to discuss-request at blu.org (Subject line is ignored).
>
-
Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with
"subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" on the first line of the
message body to discuss-request at blu.org (Subject line is ignored).