Hi,
I have this odd (to me) problem where all outgoing
access is blocked by the firewall after a cold boot,
outgoing access is restored (with one exception, the
modem itself) if I stop the firewall for a couple of
seconds and restart it. It then remains OK until the
next cold boot.
I'm using firestarter 0.9.2 with Xandros 2 deluxe,
which is based on debian testing. Kernel is 2.4.22.
I got firestarter from a package Xandros supplied on a
CD with their OS, formatted to install via their
apt-get front end, xandros networks.
When I started with xandros I was on a dialup
connection with a 3COM US robotic 56k external serial
faxmodem on com1, using ppp. I configured the
firewall using the firestarter gui, to use ppp0, start
on dialup, no DHCP, and accepted all the defaults - no
public access to anything. The dialup, firewall and
my browsing and mail functions worked well.
About 3 weeks ago I switched to ADSL using an ethernet
ADSL modem, the DLINK 300+. This acts as a kind of
minirouter in that it acts as a DHCP server and has
it's own pppoe client built into it, but it only has
connections for one computer and doesn't have a
firewall function.
The internet connection worked, and I ran the
firestarter wizard again to change my settings for the
always on ADSL. This time I selected eth0 (the ppp0
option is not available, presumably because I'm using
the pppoe client on the modem), use DHCP, and all the
other defaults. When I finished and clicked save I
got an error message
" No DHCP client configuration found. The firewall
will not be loaded automatically on a lease renewal.
Please make sure the external interface is configured
properly or deselect the DHCP option if you are using
static settings."
This seemed odd as DHCP seemed to be working and I can
see the assigned ip number in the network interface, I
wonder if it's because DHCP is running on the modem
not the pc. I only get the error message if I run the
wizard select DHCP and then save the result - just
opening and closing firestarter doesn't generate it.
Eventually I deselected the DHCP option, which got rid
of the error message - the problem with outgoing
access is the same whether DHCP is selected or not.
My problem is the blocking of outgoing access. Most
of the time when I boot up from a poweroff and I try
to connect to the net my connection is blocked. I
call up firestarter, click the 'stop firewall button'
- after I get the 'firewall stopped' message my
internet connection works. A bit of fiddling around
revealed that 1-2 seconds after getting the 'firewall
stopped' message I can click the 'start firewall'
button, which gives me the 'firewall running' message,
and my browsing and email still work fine. I've been
to grc and the firewall *is* working - at least all
the probe sees is my dynamic address and firestarter
is logging hits.
In short, most of the time (I haven't counted
precisely but about 90% of cold boots) after a cold
boot I have to stop the firewall momentarily and then
restart it before I can connect to the net. It
doesn't matter whether I'm logged in as root or an
ordinary user - same effect.
Once I've been through the stop/restart with the
firewall it seems to work OK until I next poweroff -
logging off and on, switching users and a warm restart
all have the firewall running but allowing me to
connect to the net (I've been through about 10 cycles
to check).
The only thing I need to have the firewall completely
stopped for is to connect to the modem - it has it's
own url for configuration but I can't connect to it
unless I stop the firewall.
I tried checking the 'start firewall on dialup' box to
see if that would delay the firewall start and allow
the connection to be established, it makes no
difference.
Leaving the modem on when I turn off the pc makes no
difference.
I have a dual boot with win98. The internet
connection works fine with win98 and McAfee firewall,
I can connect to the modem too with the firewall
running. Booting into win98 at any stage has no
effect on the way the firewall / internet connection
works in xandros.
I've only been using linux for about 5 weeks and it's
a steep learning curve! I don't know enough about
firewalls to play with them at a console level - I
don't even know where to look, and I have no idea what
would be happening in the 1 second or so the firewall
is stopped, to allow outgoing access to work properly
thereafter. I'd like to set things up so this stop /
start of the firewall isn't necessary, in case of
reboot when there's no-one at the pc I want to give
the root password to.
Leaving the pc on all the time isn't an option - we
get some really good electrical storms in summer, and
this is a domestic wiring setup.
I've posted the same enquiry at xandros forums - no
reply, I think it's too bizarre for them, they
suggested I try the real gurus on this mailing list.
I'd appreciate any suggestions,
thanks in advance,
Anna
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