Ubuntu

no networking after replacing network card

Asked by Michal Suchanek

After replacing my network card (actually mounting the hardrive into a different system but the issue is the same) there is no networking anymore.

There is /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules which lists the old MAC as eth0 and prevents the new card from becoming eth0.

There is /etc/network interfaces that lists all the eth intefaces generated so far (up to eth1) as "iface ethx inet dhcp".

However, the auto line only says "auto eth0 lo".

I am running Gutsy upgraded all the way from something really ancient.

Description: Ubuntu gutsy (development branch)
Release: 7.10

It looks like the system is not completely up to date yet so I will try to upgrade to the latest packages.

Scenarios that break this way and used to work before persistent net rules existed:

 - replacing your nic (or mainboard in case of onboard nic) when it dies or when you want a faster one
 - putting the hardrive into a different system or making a "mobile" installation on an USB stick or the like

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This question was originally filed as bug #214789.

Revision history for this message
ispyisail (freesco) said : 		#1

I've got the same problem!

I have changed my NIC and now the system can't detect eth0 etc

I assume you should be able to change cards without a system rebuild

Revision history for this message
ispyisail (freesco) said : 		#2

I solved the problem by deleting all entry's relating to older NIC in
/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

# PCI device 0x10b7:0x9050 (3c59x)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:60:97:2c:e8:f4", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

Then rebooting my machine

Then changing .........NAME="eth3" to ...........NAME="eth0" in
/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

for some reason it keeps counting up, eth5 eth6 etc

another thing i've noticed in Ubuntu 8.04 in /etc/network/interfaces
................................................
auto lo eth0 eth1
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
iface eth0 inet dhcp
..............................................

In the first line above you need to add "eth0 eth1"
in previous versions you only needed "auto lo"

Revision history for this message
Michal Suchanek (hramrach) said : 		#3

This is actually not an open question. The problem is known and so is the solution.

However, the solution requires manually removing or editing a file in the system configuration.

Since Ubuntu is a desktop oriented distribution, and on the desktop most people want their network just work no matter what NIC they use to plug in the cable Ubuntu fails to meet the expectations here.

My suggestion is that Ubuntu should include the auto rules for all detected NICs so that people who just want automatic networking get it, and people who want something else can edit the interfaces file.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#4

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.