No network connection

[Amano]

This is one of those problems that come out of nowhere, so I can't begin to guess what caused this, but I do have one possible lead.

Ok, here's the story; I have static settings on my network card, and everything was working fine. During my last session, I installed tons of packages but before you ask, none of these were any type of network package (I was installing codecs and media engines and librairies). Anyway, I finished installing, watched a DVD, then shutoff my system to go do something else. Then, when I restarted it an hour later, no internet...Nothing.

The only clue I have is that when I restarted the PC, it took unusually long to boot. I pressed 'esc' during the boot up and saw that Linux was stuck on something to do with ipv6. After a while, it loaded completely, minus network connectivity.

I have a router, and I can't access that either. Sadly, I don't have anymore info than that. I suppose ipv6 needs to be reconfigured somehow, but I didn't even know there was something called ipv6 until this problem came up. If anybody has suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

[Amano]

I got some more info. These are some of the messages I get during boot up that might be related:

---------------------------------------------------------
Network: etc/sysconfig/network/scripts/functions is missing

loopback interface failed

-----------------------------------------------------------

The messages below disappeared after I disabled the software firewall in yast:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

extended ipv6 support disabled

enabling syn flood protection
Ip forwarding failed
ipv6 privacy failed

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

So IP forwarding is on, and ipv6 is enabled now that the firewall is off, but that functions file is missing and the loopback interface doesn't work...

BTW, I'm running SuSE 10.0.

[framp]

Could you please post 'ifconfig' ?

[Amano]

Thanks for your reply, but it's moot at this point; I tried removing and reinstalling certain packages to get the 'functions' file back, and my system is going nuts. I'll have to do a reinstall...

This is the 5th time in one week; I'm seriously starting to consider ditching Linux and sticking with Windows. The difficulty in finding help (I searched the net for 2 hours looking for a solution to one problem, but couldn't find a concise, comprehensive explanation), the fact that installing simple packages such as codecs and media players results in weird, unpredictable behavior (my files in seemingly unrelated directories being deleted), and the unnecessary complexity inherent in accomplishing simple tasks (installing drivers, changing minor settings) are really telling me Linux is more trouble than it's worth. So far, I haven't experienced the advantages -- I read that reliability was supposed to be an advantage, which is a laugh. Why so you use Linux?

Sorry to go off on you like that; I'm REALLY annoyed...

[framp]

I was uses to use Windows a long time ago - and started to use Linux (was SuSE 7.3 at this point in time) and I found SuSE very userfriendly to install and customize and managed to get a running Linux. I don't know why you decided to start with Linux. But frankly - you get Linux for free (money) but you have to spend time (which actually is free, isn't it ? ). A lot of people started to use Linux and were disappointed like you the first time (every Linux guru started as a noob ....). You have to beware of this fact: A lot of people create SW in their spare time for free for everybody in the world - and there ins nobody who creates ONE nice look and feel for all these tools/applications. That's one of the biggest problems for Linux from my point of view. But that's the way ist works.

You have to be patient - in particular when you start to use Linux. You have to create backups - every time before your modify/update your system - just to roll back to the previous state. You have to find the right community/foren/irc channels ...

If you look for some new OS because you are disappointed by others - stick with Linux - but you have to be patient! Otherwise you have to stick with the OS you are using right now.

[Amano]

I'll try and keep that in mind.