The solutions to my occasional difficulties getting online with my Tosa which I had written about in this other blog post worked fine for a while, but then I had trouble getting online again.
After I thought I had all my connectivity problems resolved, and a clear list of what to do if my network settings got corrupted again, I was quite surprised when I had trouble getting online again.
I tried every trick in the book, and no matter what I did, I kept getting "Connection refused" messages in my pppd log, which also would then report "Failed to authenticate ourselves to peer," no matter what I did.
Many of my additional problems getting online access turned out to be due to changes in Qtopia's basic network settings file, but the rest had nothing to do with currupted settings, they were because I was using unreliable DNS server addresses.
I had several rather hair raising hours the other day. I was unable to get online at all, no matter which Zaurus I used or local phone number for my ISP I called. My pppd log showed messages saying "Connection refused" messages in, followed by "Failed to authenticate ourselves to peer".
Several phone calls and numerous failed logon attempts later, the technical support person I was talking with suggested that I switch the order of the primary and secondary DNS addresses I was using. And, sure enough, that resolved my problem. I got onto the net quickly and easily.
However, if you prefer to change Qtopia's settings on Qtopia based ROMs, and/or kernel configuration files from the command line instead, there are configuration files in two or three directories which need correcting:
/etc/ppp/
/home/zaurus/Applications/Network/modules
The files in /etc/ to be changed are /etc/resolv.prev and /etc/resolv.conf, which look like the following:
bash-2.05# cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 208.67.220.222
bash-2.05#
bash-2.05# sudo cat /etc/resolv.prev
# Domain name searches will fail until you point this to a real DNS server.
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 208.67.220.222
bash-2.05#
In many cases, there is also a set of resolv.conf and resolv.prev files in the /etc/ppp/ subdirectory, and those also need to be corrected. The files in /etc/ppp to be changed are /etc/ppp/resolv.prev and /etc/ppp/resolv.conf, which look like the following:
bash-2.05# cat /etc/ppp/resolv.conf
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 208.67.220.222
bash-2.05#
bash-2.05# sudo cat /etc/ppp/resolv.prev
# Domain name searches will fail until you point this to a real DNS server.
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 208.67.220.222
bash-2.05#
Note that you may need to use sudo to make yourself "root" on some ROMs to change some of these files.
Now, with regards to Qtopia's configuration files in the Network modules directory, there may be additional configuration files if you use IR, but on my both my sl5500 and my sl6000 using dialup on Sharp ROMs, the file names look like:
~/Applications/Network/modules/DialUp.conf
~/Applications/Network/modules/DialUp0.conf
~/Applications/Network/modules/DialUp1.conf
In these ~/Applications/Network/modules files, the lines to be changed look like:
dns1 = 63.89.1.250
dns2 = 63.89.1.262
If you are using a good DNS server and still having trouble getting online, be sure to read the sections below, and to take a look at my other post about networking settings, as well as any of the other pages below that may apply to your situation.
Sometimes my problems getting online are due to unexpected changes made to Qtopia's network configuration file. On my Tosa with Sharp ROM, it is located at /home/zaurus/Settings/Network.conf.
Upon examining my /home/zaurus/Settings/Network.conf file one time I was having serious difficulties getting online via dialup, I discovered the following problematic lines:
dialup_navi = 1
lan_auto = 1
Once I had removed the above two lines, I was able to reliably get online without any trouble at all.
It is not easy to examine every possible file that might be interfering with my ability to get online. So I generally run an "ls -lt" on all the files that affect my connectivity, to make it easier to identify which files may have become corrupted. However, it seems that Qtopia may store the information it uses without rewriting the Network configuration file, so "ls -lt" does not always turn up the problem.
On those occasions when everything else I try fails to get me online again, I have tried a "soft reset," turning off my Zaurus, pushing the Reset button at the back of my Tosa, and then turned my Zaurus on again, and even that did make me any more able to get online.
But then, when I ran an "ls -lt Settings/|head" again, after the reset, sure enough, I saw that my Network.conf had indeed been modified, and I immediately spotted the problematic change. What I saw was the following:
AutoResume = 1
And, taking an educated guess, I changed it to the following and got online without any trouble at all, once I had done that.
AutoResume = 0
So, if all else fails, try a "reset" and then check your configuration files again, you may turn up the problmatic file and then be able to edit the file appropriately and get online quickly and easily.
Why does this happen at all? I believe, at least on my Zaurus, it occurs after I open up my Opera browser while in the process of going online (rather than waiting until I am already online to open up Opera), and also after I disconnect from online without first closing Opera. Somehow, this often results in inappropriate, uncalled for changes to my various configuration files. If I stay alert and make sure I never open or close Opera at these times, then online connectivity works without a hitch.
Note that most of the following pages focus on
my experiences with dialup on Sharp ROM 2.38 on the sl5500.
The first three discuss the effects of Qtopia and of Opera browser on connectivity, and while
the examples are dialup on an sl5500, many principles apply to other models and ROMs.
Qtopia on the Zaurus
Operaand My Modem
Modem problem may be Qtopia issue
Please also note that while the focus is on the sl5500 on the next pages, I have added comments for later ROMs to the writeups, based on my experiences with Sharp ROM 1.12 on my sl6000L.
How to Disconnect When Network GUI Does Not Work
Reset CF Device or Modem
How to Halt Respawning of ttyS0
The following blog post talks about my difficulties getting online with my sl6000L because of misconfigured or corrupted networking setting and configuration files, and how I resolved them:
SL6000: Corrupt Networking Settings
And the following is a summary of what to check when having problems getting online, summarizing the recommendations of my blog posts about Dialup Networking Settings:
sl6000l: Dialup Settings Checklist