If you have a network connection which is not working properly, you can use a few tools to help diagnose the problem.
Most of the tools in this section require use of the Terminal, which you can open by pressing
→ → .ifconfig is intended to allow you to change the settings of your network connections. It can also be used to list information about the current connection.
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Press
→ → to open a Terminal. -
Type ifconfig eth1 in the Terminal and press Return. Replace eth1 with the name of your network interface if it is different.
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inet addr shows the current IP address of the connection.
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HWaddr shows the MAC address of your network device.
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A good way of checking if a connection is working correctly is to ping another computer on the network or the Internet.
To check if you are connected to the Internet:
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Press
→ → to open the networking tools suite. -
Select the Ping tab.
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Type
ubuntu.com
into the Network address box and then press . -
After a while, a graph should appear. Look at the number for Successful packets under Transmission Statistics
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100% successful packets - Your computer has a good connection to the Internet.
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Less than 100% successful - Your computer probably has a poor connection to the Internet or a poor wireless signal.
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0% successful packets - Your computer has a very bad connection, or is connected to an access point or router which is not connected to the Internet
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If you get an error message which says The address 'ubuntu.com' cannot be found, then you cannot reach a DNS server.
A good way of checking if a connection is working correctly is to ping another computer on the network or the Internet.
To check if you are connected to the Internet:
-
Press
→ → to open the networking tools suite. -
Select the Ping tab.
-
Type
91.189.94.249
into the Network address box and then press . -
After a while, a graph should appear. Look at the number for Successful packets under Transmission Statistics.
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100% successful packets - Your computer has a good connection to the Internet.
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Less than 100% successful - Your computer probably has a poor connection to the Internet or a poor wireless signal.
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0% successful packets - Your computer has a very bad connection, or is connected to an access point or router which is not connected to the Internet.
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If you get an error message which says The address '91.189.94.249' cannot be found, then there is no connection.
If the address is found then try the next stage.