Ethernet not working with SteamOS

[totallyNotMe]

Hi all,

I just installed SteamOS for the first time. It's telling me that I can't connect to the internet. The same cable and hardware worked fine under a Windows install, but not SteamOS. Here is the mobo ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387 ), and the LAN chipset specifically is Realtek 8111DL.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks
Les

[Player]

Try in Terminal:

dhclient eth0

(or eth1, etc.). For some reason I cant update the repository on recovery mode until I use this command.
then

apt-get update

if the update is working then you can connect to internet.

[ProfessorKaos64]

Realtek is so evil on Debian stable in any capacity. Ethernet wise, it should be fine. It is wireless that has traditionally given me issues. Regardless to reach the terminal to try the above suggestion, make sure you enable the desktop mode in the Steam settings page, and when you get there, click the activities word in the top left to get to the Gnome3 overlay where you can type "terminal". Alternatively, you can hit the windows key on a keyboard to pop up the Gnome3 overlay.

The Realtek firmware[packages.debian.org] should already be present, but if not, i'll try to work with you to add the Debian repo's and the firmware if absolutely necessary. Myself and some here should be able to troubleshoot a few things before that stage though. Often times Steam can be odd and say it can't connect to the internet, but a restart or two solves it for me. This is only sometimes, and not very often for me.

[totallyNotMe]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the replies. I am at work right now, and so won't be able to try these until tonight. I will say, I am a total noob when it comes to Linux. This my first attempt at even using it. I really appreciate you offering your support on this :) I have been pretty excited to get this up and running.

Thanks again
Les

[totallyNotMe]

Hello again,

I typed "dhclient eth0" and 1, but it errored with "bash: dhclient: command not found" each time. I did a quick search around the matter, and found a handful of suggestions to install 'this' or 'that' but I don't know if any of that is what I really should do. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks
Les

[totallyNotMe]

I forgot to mention, but I tried the apt-get update w/o the dhclient part. That didn't work. It implied I didn't have the proper permissions, and I figured it was because the dhclient part didn't work.

Thanks

[totallyNotMe]

I found this forum post ( https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/616187204114507189/ ). Do you know if "sudo ifconfig eth0 up" might work for me, in place of the "dhclient eth0"?

Thanks

[NeptNutz]

Reset the BIOS with the jumper. It won't affect the install.

ProfessorKaos64 is correct. It's the Realtek chipset. I have the same on my Steambox with an ASRock mobo. That sucker has a mind of its own sometimes and blinks out in Windows XP more often than SteamOS. I got so pissed at one point, I just re-installed XP from the ground up! I also took my sweet time selecting the XP driver (from the motherboard manufacturer) and installed it first, even before the video drivers, etc. It's been a lot happier since then. Thankfully, it's not an endemic problem.

PS - There are some pesky parentheses stuck in your hyperlinks..

[totallyNotMe]

Hi NeptNutz,

I will try to reset the BIOS that way tonight. Are you hoping that will just make my LAN issues go away? That would be sweet :)

Also, I fixed those links. Thanks for pointing it out

Les

[NeptNutz]

Originally posted by les_bloom:

I will try to reset the BIOS that way tonight. Are you hoping that will just make my LAN issues go away? That would be sweet :)

Yes. It was really getting annoying before I reinstalled Windows XP. It would be fine in SteamOS, and then Windows XP would kill the ethernet port somehow (totally dark, no lights), so that when I rebooted into SteamOS, it stopped working there too. That's when I had the "Ah-ha!" moment.

It's happened rarely since, but it goes away and I have not had to open the case since.

Good luck!

[totallyNotMe]

I cleared my BIOS with a jumper, but unfortunately it didn't fix my issue. SteamOS still says it can't connect to the internet.

I tried that "sudo ifconfig eth0 up", but it requires me to enter a sudo password. I have never set a sudo password on this machine. I am guessing that it's because I just haven't gotten that far in the install process; due to not having my networking working?

Any other help would be appreciated.

Thanks again

[totallyNotMe]

So, I think maybe I will just go buy a network card. They are usually pretty cheap. Can someone recommend one that is known to work really well on SteamOS?

Thanks

[ProfessorKaos64]

les_bloom, for a list of wifi dongles / cards that should be fine and supported by default are listed here[linux-wless.passys.nl] and also here[linuxwireless.org]. On the first link, look for the thumbs up. I have had good luck with any adapter that is used for a Raspberry Pi. I've had rotten luck with Broadcom or Realtek. Intel chipsets have been fine in the past with me.

The one I have is this one[www.amazon.com]. It is a USB adapter without any gain antennas, but works well for me. Depending on your system, you could go with an internal card, but I've found it far easier to deal with the little USB adapters as long as your signal is fine in your home. If you look on Newegg's Networking cards[www.newegg.com] list, you can narrow this down by manufacturer. The details should show the chipset. But again, a good target is to find one used on a Raspberry Pi, dude to Raspbian being a popular distro (which is Debian) for it.

[totallyNotMe]

Hi ProfessorKaos64,

I am fortunate enough to have wired Cat6 in my home, and so do not want to use a wireless card in this box. The links to those Linux pages all seem to specialize in wireless talk. Do you know of any similar sites for wired cards? I did some searching last night, but didn't find any repositories like the ones you shared.

I like your suggestion to look for devices that are Raspberry Pi supported. I searched around that area, but all talk is focused on usb to ethernet adapters. That isn't too surprising given the nature of the Pi. Again though, I would rather not go this route.

I have the luxury of using a PCI slot for an ethernet card, and would rather go that route.

Thanks again

[ProfessorKaos64]

In that case an Intel card or tplink should work fine. Intel seems to be pretty well supported.

[totallyNotMe]

Hello again ProfessorKaos64,

I found this ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G1XA5134 ) on newegg. It's from Intel, and it says no software included and a system requirement for Linux of 2.2.5. Does that mean it should be just plug and play for SteamOS? I understand that SteamOS is a Linux 3.XX build?

Thank you again