Can’t get an IP address

[Morgs]

Hi. I’ve been running my vortexbox for about 5 years now with no problem. It has been connected to my network via an Ethernet cable with a static IP address in a cupboard.

I recently moved house house and set up the box as before and all was fine. Last week I installed new UniFi network kit and reattached the vortexbox via Ethernet. There are many other devices connected to this network both via Ethernet and wireless with no,issues. I couldn’t find the vortexbox on the network so attached a monitor to see what IP address it had. However the command line wasn’t showing an IP address even though it was set to static. I then accessed the boot menu to check the IP address was set to static and it was. I rebooted but still no address allocated. I then tried changing it to dhcp but still no IP address allocated. No obvious errors seem to be shown on the boot process.

I then decided to plug the vortexbox back into the old router just to see if it could get an IP address. However it still won’t get one even thought this was the router it was attached to for many years. I’ve also tried swapping out Ethernet cables but no luck.

I fear the network port port may be faulty and as this is part of the mother board it can’t be separately replaced.

One thing ang I did notice was that after unplugging the vortexbox (following a full shutdown) the box wouldn’t turn on via the front switch for about 10 mins - almost as if it wanted to warm up first. This may not be related but just wanted to mention it.

Any my advice or suggestions are most welcome. Thanks in advance.

[garym]

May not help, but I would do the following:

1. make sure VB is set to use DCHP and not static IP.
2. Then turn everything off (or unplug): modem, router, VB
3. Turn on modem, let fully start
4. turn on router, let fully start
5. Last turn on VB.

[Morgs]

Thanks for responding. I have tried this with two different routers but still no ip address unfortunately.

[garym]

Try attaching a monitor to your VB so you can see what is happening.

[Morgs]

Yes I did attach a monitor and everything seemed to boot up OK and it came to the usual login point. However where it usually shows you the Ip address it was blank and said "DHCP not working" or similar. I had set the IP address to static by amending the boot settings but have also tried DHCP - neither were giving an IP address. It is as if it is just not connected to the network leading me to think the network card has gone.

I am now wondering whether the switch it is connected to has caused the problem. The switch is from Unifi with PoE but this should only be triggered if it sense that power is required. I did some research and this shouldn't be a problem....but maybe it has blown the card!

I really want to try and get my VortexBox going again and my Linux knowledge is fairly limited. Could someone tell me how to check if the network card is OK?

[garym]

Move the VB temporarily (or use a long Ethernet cable) so that you can connect it via Ethernet cable directly to your router. If this works with dhcp then it means your POE is causing the problem.

[Morgs]

Thanks. I have tried that too already. I have a couple of old routers all set up for dhcp so have tried attaching the box directly to each of them. None of them would give the box an address.

Is is there a command I can run that will show me the status of the network card?

[garym]

Probably is, but I’m not a Linux guy. Try googling for such a command. This forum seems to be rarely used these days.

[pclinux1]

When you connect directly to your vortexbox with monitor and keyboard log on as root and type --> ip addr show

[garym]

Thanks. And when you login as root the password is
vortexbox

[Doris1997]

When you connect directly to your vortexbox with monitor and keyboard log on as root use password VortexBox and type --> ifconfig

[Morgs]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Much appreciated. Attached is a screen shot of when I type ifconfig Looks like the Ethernet card isn’t transmitting or receiving anything. I have tried different cables but no joy. Any suggestions?

[Morgs]

I want to do a final backup of the vortexbox as I think it is dying. However I can’t access the GUI now to do this. Previously I attached my USB drive and it would backup via the GUI option no problem. Could anyone tell me the commands to do an incremental backup via the command line please? Thanks. I last backed up about 6 months ago so just need the few changes that have happened since then.

[Doris1997]

Try a USB Ethernet network adapter?

[garym]

What a cute kid in the Doris1997 profile picture!