keep losing internet connection in linux.

**misswham** · September 23rd, 2008

I started losing internet connection yesterday but have been having a few problems with the connection running slow anyway. I looked up and saw the connection icon that looks like 2 tvs and it was searching for internet address. it would circle and stop and start searching again. So today it did it over again. I have rebooted and it seems to be ok now. What does this sound like could be happening? I havent changed anything on my pc.

**Korijn** · September 23rd, 2008

Can you give us some details? Like, do you have a router in your home network? Is your internet wireless or wired? If it's wireless, is your computer far away from your router?

Regardless, please open up a terminal window and type the following:

Code:

sudo ifconfig

and then copy & paste the result here.

Hopefully I'll be able to help you out a bit better with that info.

**Crafty Kisses** · September 23rd, 2008

You may diagnose these network settings by activating and deactivating the wireless network interface from the Terminal, which shows some diagnostic messages:

Code:

sudo ifdown wlan0
sudo ifup wlan0

You may diagnose the network adapter status with commands:

Code:

ifconfig
iwconfig
dmesg
/var/log/messages

I also want to see the results of this command:

Code:

lshw -C network

I'm thinking it could also be packet loss, it certainly sounds like it.

Packet loss can be caused by a number of factors, including signal degradation over the network medium, oversaturated network links, corrupted packets rejected in-transit, faulty networking hardware, maligned system drivers or network applications, or normal routing routines.

Some network transport protocols such as TCP provide for reliable delivery of packets. In the event of packet loss, the receiver asks for retransmission or the sender automatically resends any segments that have not been acknowledged.

You might want to check if there is any interference with like a phone or a microwave or even possibly a lamp. I know it sounds stupid but my lamp for some reason was causing some interference with my router, that can all lead to packet loss.

**twitch2197** · September 23rd, 2008

my computer does that sometimes too. it's trying to assign an ip address to your computer from the router. a reboot, or even a logoff/login, usually fixes it for me.

**misswham** · September 23rd, 2008

this is the result from sudo ipconfig

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:19:21:02:c1:9c
inet addr:192.168.15.100 Bcast:192.168.15.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::219:21ff:fe02:c19c/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:7215 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:7501 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:6049269 (5.7 MB) TX bytes:1720513 (1.6 MB)
Interrupt:19 Base address:0x2000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:297 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:297 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:14844 (14.4 KB) TX bytes:14844 (14.4 KB)

i am using a linux router but i am on a wired connection from comcast. my pc is a gateway. this just started happening 2 days ago.

**misswham** · September 23rd, 2008

sorry not linux router and linksys router with a cable modem but not using wireless when it happens.

**Korijn** · September 24th, 2008

Right now I'm thinking it might be the fact that you don't have a static IP. If you could provide me with a little more data I can help you out. Please copy & paste the contents of the file /etc/network/interfaces by typing the following command in the terminal:

Code:

gksudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

It says in the result of your ifconfig that there have been no errors or packets dropped. So interference probably isn't an issue, especially since you are on a wired connection.

You could also run all the commands Codename suggested. They all provide incredibly useful feedback.

**misswham** · September 26th, 2008

i put that last command in and it asked for my password and then it took me to another page and it only had a few words at the top and when i went to close it it asked me if i wanted to save the past 2 minutes so i sure didnt know what that was.