Redhat 9: Can ping, Can lookup names, Can ftp, Can Not browse http...

Just as the subject says.

I am using PPP on redhat 9.

I am able to ping hosts on the internet by name or by ip address.
I am able to perform name lookups.
I am able to ftp.

I am Unable to open webpages with lynx and with mozilla.
When I try, the lookup is successful, i get the notification: Http
request sent: waiting for response.. but it just hangs there

The system is behaving as if port 80 packets are being filtered, but I
have no indication that they are.

iptables -L shows no rules

I know this ISP isnt blocking. I am able to browse with this account
from other hosts.

any ideas anybody?
-c

In comp.os.linux.setup 2boxers_at_comcast_dot_net wrote:
> When I try, the lookup is successful, i get the notification: Http
> request sent: waiting for response.. but it just hangs there

What if you use telnet to open a connection on port 80 of some web
server? Something like

telnet www.dilbert.com 80

and then request the / page? GET / HTTP/1.0 (two enter here)

Davide

On 19 Nov 2003 07:14:51 GMT, Davide Bianchi
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>In comp.os.linux.setup 2boxers_at_comcast_dot_net wrote:
>> When I try, the lookup is successful, i get the notification: Http
>> request sent: waiting for response.. but it just hangs there
>
>What if you use telnet to open a connection on port 80 of some web
>server? Something like
>
>telnet www.dilbert.com 80
>
>and then request the / page? GET / HTTP/1.0 (two enter here)
>
>Davide

This seems to work. I get html data.

What would cause telnet to work and not lynx or mozilla?

Also, if I set up an iptables nat on this interface, i get the same
issue at the workstation.

At the workstation, I can lookup names, ping names or addresses, ftp,
etc, but I cannot browse. The web browser just hangs.

Just to reiterate:

On the linux box, with or without any iptables modules loaded, when
using PPP i seem to be able to do anything but browse http.

If i route to a local gateway on the network that is connected to the
Internet, I am able to browse from this box.

This is undoubtedly PPP related. As to why I can telnet some pages
through PPP0, but cannot pull them down with lynx or mozilla, I have
no idea.

any more ideas?

Charles

In comp.os.linux.setup 2boxers <2boxers_at_comast_dot_net> wrote:
> This seems to work. I get html data.

Then there is nothing wrong with your network configuration, nor
with your firewall.

> What would cause telnet to work and not lynx or mozilla?

Are you using a proxy? Maybe the proxy is misconfigured

Davide

On 19 Nov 2003 14:36:23 GMT, Davide Bianchi
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>In comp.os.linux.setup 2boxers <2boxers_at_comast_dot_net> wrote:
>> This seems to work. I get html data.
>
>Then there is nothing wrong with your network configuration, nor
>with your firewall.
>
>> What would cause telnet to work and not lynx or mozilla?
>
>Are you using a proxy? Maybe the proxy is misconfigured

I am definitely not using a proxy from mozilla and it works through
the lan, just not through the ppp interface.

I did not intentionally set up a proxy for lynx either. If I recall,
this is done in lynx.cfg or by setting an environment variable-
neither of which I have done since I installed 3 days ago.

This is my 2nd redhat 9 install, but like my 50th linux install.

In redhat 9, is there a system wide http proxy somewhere that could
only effect ppp interfaces?

Other than iptables, what else in the 2.4.22 kernel can filter packets
for ppp interfaces or otherwise? I guess this question does not make
sense as the telnet seemed to work, but aside fromt proxy, what else
could be the cause?

Remember what I said? http doesn't work when the ppp box is acting as
an iptables nat either. A proxy should not affect these packets, but
regardless I dont think any proxies are in use.

Thanks for sticking with me on this.
Charles

Problem solved!

I recompiled the kernel, disabling three options:

I disabled socket filtering, PPP multilink support, and PPP over
Ethernet.

Disabling socket filtering also disables PPP filtering. Not that I
even had PPP filtering enabled in the prior kernel, nor was I passing
any filtering options to PPPd.

As far as I can tell, I wasnt using any of those features, but there
was certainly something happening specific to http only, and only for
the PPP interface, so they seems like logical choices to disable.

I wish I knew exactly what the issue was for knowledge sake, but for
now, I'll accept the working configuration.

Now I can browse from the box and from workstations through the
iptables nat.

Thanks again for the help.

Charles

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 12:08:59 -0500, 2boxers
<2boxers_at_comast_dot_net> wrote:

>Problem solved!
>
>I recompiled the kernel, disabling three options:
>
>I disabled socket filtering, PPP multilink support, and PPP over
>Ethernet.
>
>Disabling socket filtering also disables PPP filtering. Not that I
>even had PPP filtering enabled in the prior kernel, nor was I passing
>any filtering options to PPPd.
>
>As far as I can tell, I wasnt using any of those features, but there
>was certainly something happening specific to http only, and only for
>the PPP interface, so they seems like logical choices to disable.
>
>I wish I knew exactly what the issue was for knowledge sake, but for
>now, I'll accept the working configuration.
>
>Now I can browse from the box and from workstations through the
>iptables nat.
>
>Thanks again for the help.
>
>Charles

Correction... The above is not what fixed this issue. It only seemed
like that was it since using the new kernel and modules caused the
comtrol rocket port driver from comtrol not to load since new modules
and deps were created.

Using the comtrol rocketport driver from comtrol was the cause. This
driver compiled and worked seamingly flawlessly otherwise, but only by
using the module included with the kernel, the problem went away.

The still baffles me, but I have confirmed this to be the cause.

Using the driver I downloaded from comtrol worked for everything else.
Serial communications appeared to be fine with other services, but not
with http with lynx or mozilla. Perhaps some sort of character
mapping issue?

By simply unloading the comtrol rocketport driver and loading the
module rocket.o from the linux kernel char drivers, the problem is
truly resolved.

Has anybody else experienced this or anything similar?

Im still baffled why this driver could be causing it, but I am now
confident that I have nailed down the issue.

Charles