[ubuntu-za] localhost - unable to access

[Robert Schumann]

To solve your problem, do the following:
1. Edit /etc/network/interfaces so that just above the line that reads 
"iface lo inet loopback" it also says "auto lo", like the other lines in 
the file. You will of course need to edit this using sudo, since it's a 
system configuration file.
2. Once you've done that, type "sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart".

There may be a way to do this using the GUI network admin tools, but I 
can't tell you what it is.

The problem was simply that the local loopback interface (lo, localhost 
or 127.0.0.1) was not activated. When you type "ifconfig" with no 
arguments you should get a list of active interfaces, and the fact that 
you got nothing suggests nothing is active (although perhaps this is not 
the case, since you clearly still have internet access). Anyway, the 
problem was that your lo interface does not have an IP address and the 
config file tells us that it is not automatically started when 
networking starts.

I don't know how this might have happened during a Feisty upgrade, but 
if you're sure it was not something you did then perhaps you should 
search/post on ubuntuforums to see if anyone else had a similar problem. 
It would be worth reporting if it is a common situation.

Robert.

Robert Holm wrote:
> On Tue, 2007-04-10 at 22:43 +0100, Robert Schumann wrote:
>   
>> Robert Holm wrote:
>>     
>>> Since installing Feisty beta I am unable to access localhost.
>>>       
>
>   
>> This sounds a little like your networking (or part of it) is just not on 
>> for some reason. Try "ifconfig lo" and "ifconfig", to see what 
>> interfaces are available - and post the results here. Silly question: 
>> you have restarted since upgrading, have you?
>>
>>     
> These return the following:
> rob at ubuntu:~$ ifconfig lo
> lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
>           LOOPBACK  MTU:16436  Metric:1
>           RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
>           TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
>           RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
>
> rob at ubuntu:~$ ifconfig
> rob at ubuntu:~$
>  
> As you can see, 127.0.0.1 is not listed. (I tried the same thing in Edgy
> and it shows 127.0.0.1)
>   
>> If there's no confidential information in your 
>> /etc/networking/interfaces, it would help if you told us what's in that 
>> file.
>>     
> /etc/network/interfaces contains the following:
>
> iface lo inet loopback
>
> auto eth0
> iface eth0 inet dhcp
>
> auto eth1
> iface eth1 inet dhcp
>
> auto eth2
> iface eth2 inet dhcp
>
> auto ath0
> iface ath0 inet dhcp
>
> auto wlan0
> iface wlan0 inet dhcp
>
> iface ppp0 inet ppp
> provider ppp0
>
> iface ppp0 inet ppp
> 	provider myisp
>
> auto ppp0
>
> The same file in Edgy, which works fine, is identical except
> that it does not have the last three lines.
>   
>> Since I haven't yet offered any useful fixing advice, and you appear to 
>> have internet access, I'll point you to a page G**gle told me about, to 
>> do with troubleshooting network problems:
>> http://www.lesbell.com.au/Home.nsf/b8ec57204f60dfcb4a2568c60014ed0f/ac6983ac71a95aebca256f3800170b4f?OpenDocument
>>     
>
> I had tried Google, and looked at several pages without finding anything
> relevant. I have now looked at this page but as far as I can see it
> refers to difficulty in getting the browser to access the outside world
> and I don't have any problem with that.
>
> Just by the way, please edify me on the use of * *, apparently in place
> of " ".
>
> Thanks 
>
> Robert H
>
>
>
>