[ubuntu-uk] Hooking up a machine running Ubuntu to a Mark 1, BT HomeHub

[Simos]

On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 2:29 PM, Rowan <rowan.berkeley at googlemail.com> wrote:
> That's interesting, Simos, but the Hub has recognised and connected
> quite normally (via Ethernet) the Windows machine I am using now, since
> its last hard reset. However, in any case, please tell me where can I
> find the 'special steps'? To judge by the results from the Terminal that
> I posted just now, my problem is in the computer.

Since you can connect with another computer successfully, then there
is no need to perform a firmware update. You can google for 'homehub firmware
update' if you want to read more about this. If you google for
'homehub firmware tftp',
you can find Linux-specific instructions.

When troubleshooting such issues, it is important to have diagnostic tools.
I am not sure if this mailing list is suitable to go into that much detail.
You may want to try ubuntuforums.org, or the #ubuntu IRC channel on
FreeNode (google for 'freenode ubuntu').
If I were in your case, I would run a Terminal command (open Terminal
from Applications/Accessories):

sudo tcpdump -n -s 1500 -i eth0

This should show any network traffic that goes through your network
card. Each line is a packet.
You should be able to deduce the requests of your computer to obtain
an IP address,
and the reply (if any) from the HH with an IP address.

Another issue to mention is which distribution version you have, and
the type of network card (use 'lspci').
You may have an exotic Ethernet card.

It is quite weird you have these issues. When you have a proper
vanilla installation of Ubuntu,
you should not get these issues.

Simos

> Simos wrote:
>> On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 6:23 PM, Rowan <rowan.berkeley at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The engineers at LinuxCertified just drew my attention to this:
>>> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NetworkAdmin
>>> which is the relevant section of the official online Ubuntu manual, of
>>> which I had until now not been informed, so I guess I will find my
>>> solutions there.
>>>
>>
>> The HomeHub (Speedtouch) has this feature that when you reset the
>> settings (you keep pressed the button on the router for >15 seconds),
>> the device enters a special state that it tries to find a firmware
>> update. During this state, the DHCP server on the HH is not working.
>> In some cases, the HH is locked into this state, and you cannot use it
>> unless to perform a firmware update.
>> This looks to me the most plausible reason for your troubles. If the
>> HH was working properly, any computer should just connect by plugging
>> the ethernet cable.
>> If this is your case, then there is a special set of steps to solve the problem.
>>
>> Simos