ethernet problems, cable unplugged?

[ardvark71]

Hi....

Well, I was in the process of researching a solution for you and it looks like you have solved the problem.

But, in case you have the same problems in the future, another option is to replace KNetwork Manager with wicd, as mentioned here. Instructions on doing this correctly can be found (somewhat) here and here.

Not sure why your connection glitched up though...

Regards...

[saturni]

i remember something now, i was messing around with macchanger a while back and somehow changed my eth0 mac address to all zeros. since i used wireless until recently i forgot all about it. now the problem is that i have to run the ifconfig commands and change the hw address every time i reboot. how can i change it permanently or reset it to it's default? i'm guessing the eth0 hw address is different than my wireles card address. i would just do a clean install of 12.04 or whatever we are on now but i don't have an external drive to copy my data to.

[SteveRiley]

Purge the macchanger package. Also, ensure that any config changes it makes are undone. I haven't used the package, and don't intend to, so I can't advise you where to look specifically.

And a side note... please understand that there's never a reason to alter your MAC address.

Edit. Please see post #20 for what I really meant to write here.

[Ole Juul]

Not to hijack this thread too much but this caught my attention.

And a side note... please understand that there's never a reason to alter your MAC address.

I've not come across a situation where I would want to change my MAC address, but vaguely thought that there may be good reason to obfuscate at some time. Perhaps to keep Google from making too many connections from their streetview data? Perhaps if you've set up MAC filtering on your router and forgotten the password or how to unplug it to reset? I don't know. So, why do you say that there is never any reason?

[SteveRiley]

Whoops, looks like the distraction I experienced while typing that resulted in the undoing of an edit I was in the middle of.

There's never a reason to alter your MAC address unless you're concerned with the privacy implications of developments such as wi-fi positioning systems. When MAC addresses were contained within a single broadcast domain, there was never a need to conceal them, because they weren't visible "on the outside." This is no longer true with technologies that use MAC addresses as identifiers in ways they weren't originally designed.

So the MAC address on your Ethernet port can safely be left alone. But the MAC addresses on all your wireless devices -- well, there's something to the notion of periodically spoofing them.

[Ole Juul]

So the MAC address on your Ethernet port can safely be left alone. But the MAC addresses on all your wireless devices -- well, there's something to the notion of periodically spoofing them.

Thanks, that makes sense. It's just the wireless that is developing security implications. I don't do many meetings now, so I don't have any laptops outside of my vintage collection anyway - and I should be so lucky as to have a Google streetview camera cruise by this way. Of course I could stick a wireless card in my new IBM 5155 luggable and drag it into a coffee shop.

[ardvark71]

Of course I could stick a wireless card in my new IBM 5155 luggable and drag it into a coffee shop.

And here we have something that I grew grew up with...and spent many an hour playing Gorf, (VIC-20 version,) Omega Race (VIC-20 version) and Scott Adam's Adventure series.

Regards...