fails to acquire valid IP on DHCP lookup

[curtiscu]

I've a Dell Inspiron 530 laying around doing nothing so figured I'd convert it into a media center. I've read about a bunch of different linux media options, and LinuxMCE gets a lot of praise from all quarters.

I've done several installs now and while on the surface they look like they completed successfully, none are working properly. Issues range from nasty flickering media home page display (or whatever the main LinuxMCE UI is called), to the thing not being able to acquire a DHCP address properly form the network.

The Linux MCE install sets itself to 192.168.80.x, but my network is on 192.168.1.x. My G4 OSX mac has no problems acquiring DHCP address when the same cable is plugged into it, and jumps onto the 192.168.1.x network with no problems.

The ~25 minute video demo of LinuxMCE looked awesome and got me to blow 4 hours on trying to get it to work, but until it can do a basic DHCP address grab, I'm seriously unimpressed.

 

C.

[ivanp]

curtiscu, You havent provide us with ANY relevant information about Your system. Is Your Core setup with 2 NICs? What are Your components? Which LMCE are You usins, 710 or 810?

For a starting point I would advise You to read these Wiki articles:
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Network_Settings
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/DHCP_Plug_and_Play
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/FAQ

After reading those articles if You still have problems feel free to ask here, but keep in mind that You must, at least, try to describe Your situation/problem as much as You can so others can help You out. Feel free to check out my wiki article (in my sig), i try to keep it up to date with all the stuff i am trying in LMCE. And trust me, LMCE is more awesome then in that famous demo video, YOu just have to follow some recomended setup.

[colinjones]

its seems clear that he hasn't read/understood the requirements for an LMCE environment, the dual NIC and separate network piece in particular

curtiscu - if you wish to vent, don't do it here. if you are really looking for help, then I suggest that you take a different approach in your style of writing, you are likely to alienate people by venting bile.

ivanp's links are ideal for your reading to get a base, the other thing I would recommend is understanding the difference between a "core" and "Media Director" in the context of the network setup, particularly from the first link he gave you.

By the way, a laptop is almost never a good choice for your core - the core needs to be on 24/7 providing gateway services, DHCP and many other services to your LMCE environment, a laptop typically doesn't suggest that you intend to do that, also the 2 NIC requirement is more difficult to satisfy. Note: the core is the DHCP server, so it is not going to grab anything from DHCP on the internal side (NIC 2), it supplies addresses and must be the only DHCP server on the LMCE network. The first NIC (external) network will happily grab a DHCP address from your router or whatever.

[curtiscu]

ivanp, excellent help thank you, I will check them out, hopefully they'll help.

colinjones, yes I've vented here, sorry it offends. I found a great ~25 minute promo video for LinuxMCE singing the praises about how an installation requires one bit of user intervention (choosing the drive to install the bundle onto) and it was all nice and seamless after that.  I could be wrong, but I don't seem to remember it discussing any caveats, dual-nic requirements, pay attention to differences between any versions (like core, media director) etc. I found the video linked from the LinuxMCE site here:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Video

quoting from that doc - "CAVEATS: Not much. So far most users have reported it works as expected on the first try so long as the video card is compatible. The Quick install DVD I used in the video is more foolproof than the CD, however, you have to watch out for the network connection as mentioned below under the "The setup wizard".

then I followed the directions in this section of the guide:
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Video#.5B0:27.5D_The_setup_wizard

I have *one* nic, and when it didn't work I configured a static IP on the correct network as suggested by that section of the setup guide, and it still didn't work, I was unable to browse web from the KDE desktop.

lastly colinjones, things that irk me most about new software is when it doesn't work, I have to spend hours trying to make it work, and it doesn't work as advertised/live up to the hype. to be clear, YOU risk alienating new users by incorrect setting of expectations and also YOUR tone. I'm less likely to try this software because of YOUR response, and more likely to try it because of ivanp's response.

sorry the tone of my posting is so .. frustrated, but it's 2009, and yes I *expect* DHCP to just work after seeing that video. rather than just getting bent out of shape on that comment, I advise taking it as useful criticism. you could change your video to highlight installation caveats, give more detail on requirements, etc. to correctly set user expectations, or change LinuxMCE to reflect the expectation level set in the video.. i.e. that this is mature enough to just work as advertised.

regards.

C.

[tschak909]

Please read the FAQ. And yes, the video does specify two NICs.

I have gone over this requirement repeatedly, but it is required to get everything plug and play out of the box to:

* use two NICs
* use a supported NVIDIA video card (6200 works best)
* use supported tuner cards. PVR 150/250/500/USB2, and HDHomeRun work best.

Sorry you had so much trouble, but if you pay attention to the hardware used in the video, and to the FAQ, it is just as easy as it is in the video.

-Thom