Can't Activate eth1

[rlsj]

I have a LAN with several computers and a hub. The hub connects upstream to a computer running Slackware, which acts as the gateway to the Internet. I wish to replace Slackware with Debian, but the distros are sufficiently unlike that separate modeling seemed required.

I have installed Debian Etch on an old Pentium-II with two NICs, connecting one to the upstream hub and the other to a downstream laptop running Windows/XP. Everything runs fine upstream, but
the command, "ifup eth1" produces

SIOCADDRT: Network is unreachable
Failed to bring up eth1.

Yet "ifconfig" reports the following for eth1:
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:C5:B0:34:18
inet addr:192.168.2.22 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::200:c5ff:feb0:3418/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:56 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:7370 (7.1 KiB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x7000

I also note that the little green LED on the physical downstream NIC does not light up. The laptop reports "Network cable unplugged," yet if I transfer the upstream cable from the Debian machine to the laptop, the laptop can access the hub (after restoring the laptop's original network address, of course).

IPs are:

System Gateway (beyond the hub): 192.168.1.1 (Slackware machine)
Upstream NIC on Debian machine: 192.168.1.21
(Note: it works; I'm submitting this using it.)
Downstream NIC on Debian: 192.168.2.22
Laptop: 192.168.2.9

The problem is the inability to activate eth1. Would appreciate your comments.

--Robert Smith: rlsj@ipass.net

[HROAdmin26]

Google is your friend.

SIOC ADD ROUTE - Failed. You're either adding a a route that's not local to your NIC, or maybe not adding any route at all. This may be an expected message for your setup. Note that the ifconfig shows that ETH1 is UP. Can you ping 192.168.2.9? If so, it's up.

Edit: CAT5 cable between the 2 machines needs to be a crossover cable.

[rlsj]

HROAdmin26:

You wrote,
>CAT5 cable between the 2 machines needs to be a crossover cable.

Perfect! That's what I forgot. I had another 5-port hub lying around and connected it between the laptop and the Debian machine. Now eth1 comes up and the machines can ping each other. Thank you, thank you!

The laptop cannot ping the Internet gateway, 192.168.1.1, behind the big hub, so I have more work to do. I seem to recall in Slackware you must do something positive to activate forwarding between the NICs. Back to the manuals!

When you're grasping at straws you might change any and everything. So first I intend to reinstall the whole of Etch.

Thanks again!

--rlsj