Network starts (fails 50% of the time) very slow during boot.

[adiment]

I haven't posted a linux question in many years, but after Windows 7 started acting wonky on my home network I replaced it with Arch Linux (which I'm liking very much, seems like linux on desktop has matured all of these years)

I've been having this problem every time I install archlinux: When booting, the message "Starting Network" freezes up on "[BUSY]."  Half of the time it works and connects to DHCP, however the other half it fails.

Running 'dhcpcd' says forking in the background, and after restarting the daemon it works again.

This has been bothering me because  when I have to manually type that and fix it, my conky network graphs stay the same, even if I restart the daemon then x, and this overall slows down the boot process.

This doesn't happen on Windows. Is there any reason network would start very slow and fail half of the time? I'd like to use DHCP instead of setting up a static IP.

[worker201]

Who is acting as the dhcp server on your home network?  A smart router?  Or another computer?  Sounds like a communications problem, which is why I ask.

[adiment]

Just a standard Linksys wrt router (newer model, can't flash firmware to openwrt)..It could be the router, but its working with a Macbook Pro and a Vista laptop I just tested.

What's weird is that it works everytime after I run dhcpcd and restart the daemon, but during startup dhcp times out a lot of the time.

[davidnix71]

Can you move 'starting the network' to the end of boot? Maybe there is a service that should be running already that isn't, hence the timeout.

I boot my Westell ATM (adsl box) every time I boot my G4 laptop. Sometimes the internet comes up right away and sometimes it takes a loooong time. I have to watch the blinking lights to know when I'm connected. The ethernet light will flash when my laptop is trying to get an IP, but it never times out exctly, it just keeps retrying until it connects. I could leave the Westell on 24/7 but don't consider that good practice.

[adiment]

Just tried that and still no luck. I don't think its the boot order because half of the time it does work. I don't think its timing out too fast either, it has more than enough time to find DHCP.

What else I've noticed is that when it does time out and fail, running just dhcpcd makes it work again without even restarting the daemon. I'm running archlinux with everything up to date -- I'll try booting a live distro and see if the problem persists.

Also, its kind of weird you turn on your ADSL box every time you boot and leave it off when not in use. Does it run hot? Usually these devices can function for a very long time. I usually keep a computer on 24/7 as a fileserver/torrentbox and my modem has been on as well for many years without failure. However, I have been turning the computer off nightly to save power, which is why this network problem is annoying.

[davidnix71]

I've had phones destroyed by lightning. Since this is adsl and copper wire, I don't want to chance it. We just had the first cool weather of the season yesterday. It was in the 90's Saturday with thunderstorms.

Also, my computer and adsl box run off batteries hooked up to solar panels. It doesn't pull much power, but I see no reason for wasting it.

[Lead Head]

Maybe extend the DHCP lease on your router?

[zbeefy]

I know it's old topic but still valid!!! I had the same problem, and it finally worked when I removed all other eth's from /etc/rc.conf

Basically it just reads this:

eth1="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth1)

Problems seem to happen on computers that have more than one network card. Do you have more than one? If yes, write down the mac address of the one you're sure you're using so you always know it's the one, and see which eth number it uses from ifconfig -a, and put that eth# in rc.conf.  Don't have anything in the INTERFACES SECTION that is commented out or preceded with a "!", if you have "lo" interface listed there, get rid of it too. See if it helps.   

My network startup went down from 1 minute to under 5 seconds.

________________________________________________________________________________________
Some other people said that this might work too, but it didn't for me:                                                                                   
disable ARP check in /etc/conf.d/dhcpcd:                                                           
                                                                       
here: DHCPCD_ARGS="-t 30 -h $HOSTNAME" adding an -A like this DHCPCD_ARGS="-A -t 30 -h $HOSTNAME"
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[OmerTellez]

I've had phones destroyed by lightning. Since this is adsl and copper wire, I don't want to chance it. We just had the first cool weather of the season yesterday. It was in the 90's Saturday with thunderstorms.

Also, my computer and adsl box run off batteries hooked up to solar panel. It doesn't pull much power, but I see no reason for wasting it.

You have got right charging system.. It is enough to generate small power which all you need.