I installed Ubuntu 11.10 on my Dell Optiplex 745 today. I could not connect to the internet with the LiveCD, but I installed it anyway. It still doesn't work. This is the first time linux has been installed on this computer. Windows XP connects with no problem.

I have a Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller.

I have tried removing Network Manager and using dhclient but it doesn't work either.

I also tried

modprobe tg3and then

dhclient eth0The last command runs forever. I dont know if thats good or bad. when i do

ping google.com or try to open a page with firefox, i get a connection error.


lspci output:

flyingfisch@Office-OptiPlex-745:~$ lspci
    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82Q963/Q965 Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
    00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82Q963/Q965 PCI Express Root Port (rev 02)
    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82Q963/Q965 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
    00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82Q963/Q965 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
    00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
    00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
    00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
    00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
    00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
    00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 02)
    00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
    00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
    00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
    00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
    00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev f2)
    00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HB/HR (ICH8/R) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
    00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
    00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
    00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
    03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5754 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02) EDIT2:
I don't know, maybe i am not running tg3 correctly?
When i run modprobe tg3, it does not run forever. It just finishes with no output. Like this:

# modprobe tg3
# _ dhclient loops forever though. Is that OK?

modprobe just loads the module so the computer can use it. It does not run it(I believe)

What you might want to do is try to get an updated version of the driver's .deb installer from a comp with internet and install it with dpkg

As I said, Windows is able to cnnect to the internet. Unfortunately, I cannot find the linux tg3 driver on the internet in .deb format. Maybe it comes with Ubuntu? How can i check to see if i have it installed?

And then, how do I make Ubuntu use it?

Looking around I saw somebody had the same problem and saw they needed to run

Code: [Select]

modprobe bnx2maybe try that if not I found a driver selection page here http://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet_nic/downloaddrivers.php looking at them the each have a linux driver

Yeah, mine uses the tg3 driver.

So I would do

modprobe tg3

and then what?

He has tried to connect via command prompt, since he used dhclient

It's very unusual to see wired networking fail to work on Linux. Maybe you're missing some firmware for that card model, or the driver for that particular, outdated version of Ubuntu has a problem ?
Unless you're into the Unity interface (in which case you should use Ubuntu 12.04, as it's somewhat less immature and less buggy in 12.04 than in 11.10), you may want to use Mint: it's very close to Ubuntu, but the Cinnamon desktop environment offers a desktop which feels like, well, a desktop.

He has tried to connect via command prompt, since he used dhclient

It's very unusual to see wired networking fail to work on Linux. Maybe you're missing some firmware for that card model, or the driver for that particular, outdated version of Ubuntu has a problem ?
Unless you're into the Unity interface (in which case you should use Ubuntu 12.04, as it's somewhat less immature and less buggy in 12.04 than in 11.10), you may want to use Mint: it's very close to Ubuntu, but the Cinnamon desktop environment offers a desktop which feels like, well, a desktop.

Yes, I am using the unity interface. I have Ubuntu 11.10.

However, it looks like my computer may be the problem. I am looking at this right now: http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc/documents/optiplex-745.html

I wasnt sure if he had done so since he had run modprobe

Yeah, I am doing everything from terminal because I uninstalled network manager.


EDIT:

I am downloading Ubuntu 12.04 to see if it fixes the problem. It seems that 12.04 has been run on Optiplex 745s before.

EDIT:

If all else fails, I can put arch on it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HCL/Desktops/Dell

EDIT:

I booted the Ubuntu 12.04 LiveCD and it still cannot connect to the internet. I did "modprobe tg3" and it didn't seem to do anything. What should I do?