Detecting Belgacom adsl problems with Debian 2.2

This is a step by step description how to check the components making up your Belgacom ADSL connection. It also shows some "features" you normally
do not need in order to set up a connection.

The line from belgacom to your adsl modem

Some time after power up the LED on your alcatel speed touch modem should turn green.
The rightmost led should turn green otherwise the problem is with your modem.
If the second rightmost led stays blinking your modem does not see the sync signal from belgacom.
If both led show constant green your modem seems OK otherwise read how to handle modem problems.

The ethernet connection between your modem and your computer.

There should be a RJ45 cable between the ethernet outlet of your computer and the ethernet socket at the back of your adsl modem.
To check this you can setup an http connection between your computer and the adsl modem. (This should work even if the adsl modem does not see a sync signal.)

First setup your ethernet interface:

Your modem uses IP 10.0.0.138
It should now respong to a ping

# ping 10.0.138
PING 10.0.138 (10.0.0.138): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 10.0.0.138: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=1.2 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.138: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=1.1 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.138: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=1.1 ms

--- 10.0.138 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 1.1/1.1/1.2 ms

you should be able to access it from your browser:

# netscape http://10.0.0.138/

you should now get

netscape showing modem welcome screen

In normal cases you should not change anythinh on the modem settings.

If none of the previous tests (ping, http connection) did succeed

Check the ethernet cable and connection between your computer and the modem.
check if your ethernet interface is initialized after the ifconfig:

# /sbin/ifconfig eth1
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:60:97:4B:42:81
          inet addr:10.0.0.1  Bcast:10.255.255.255  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:862 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:834 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
          Interrupt:19 Base address:0xfcc0

If your cable and the ethernet interface seem OK, your modem may be misconfigured. Push with a thin object the reset in the back of the modem and retry the tests.

Beware from here on I feel very uneasy about the accuracy of this text.

It is not clear to me if this still works after Belgacoms switch to RAS PPPoE.

Connection to the ADSL gateway.

You should be able to get an IP adress by dhcp from the ethernet between your computer and the modem.
This can on debian 2.2 most easily be done with following steps:

/sbin/ifconfig eth1 down
edit /etc/network interfaces and insert (or change )

# eth1 is 3com PCI vortex boomerang interface
iface eth1 inet dhcp
        noauto

ifup eth1
You should now be able to see a pump or dhcp process running

# ps ax | grep pump

 1129 pts/4    S      0:00 pump -i eth1
 1148 pts/4    S      0:00 grep pump

Check the status of your ethernet interface it should now have an IP address:

# /sbin/ifconfig eth1
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:60:97:4B:42:81
          inet addr:10.254.4.37  Bcast:10.254.255.255  Mask:255.255.0.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:871 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:843 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
          Interrupt:19 Base address:0xfcc0

If you do not get a IP adress by dhcp my experience tell to power down the modem...
Ping the belgacom gateway:

# ping 10.254.0.1
PING 10.254.0.1 (10.254.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=250 time=29.5 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=250 time=964.3 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=250 time=1432.7 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=250 time=440.3 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=250 time=1314.4 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=250 time=1741.7 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=250 time=749.5 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=250 time=1425.9 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=250 time=1873.7 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=250 time=880.1 ms
64 bytes from 10.254.0.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=250 time=16.6 ms

Try to setup authorisation with telnet and Browser

I use this a s a test for the turboline server.

Telnet to 10.254.0.1:

# telnet 10.254.0.1
Trying 10.254.0.1...
Connected to 10.254.0.1.
Escape character is '^]'.
Session established

This is the normal output. You should leave this session open during the rest of this test.

Open a browser connection:

# netscape http://10.254.0.1/index.html

You should the DANA welcome screen:

Anything else means trouble within belgacom turboline. Contact 0800 22 700 (they do not seem to have an email address ?)