Raspberry Pi Zero Ethernet Problem

I'm having trouble connecting my Raspberry Pi zero to ethernet.

I have a Raspberry Pi 3 and four Raspberry Pi zeros. I'm a grad student in mathematics and I do a whole lot of parallel computing. I'm trying to set these up as a cluster to test my distributed code before I send it up to the university's very expensive computing cluster. I bought a handful of uxcell ethernet to micro USB adapters that you can find here: Amazon.com: uxcell Micro USB to RJ45 Network Card Adapter Converter for Windows 98SE Me: Computers & Accessories

When I plug ethernet into the Pi zero using this cable, the Pi zero is not being assigned an IP address. Is this adapter incorrect? I was hoping to use these cheap adapters as the grad student stipend isn't exactly CEO pay . As an additional note, plugging the ethernet directly into the Pi 3 works fine. The Pi 3 instantly recognizes the ethernet and has no problem connecting to the network.

I have tried using ip link and dhcpcd to get the network going on the Pi Zeros, but i'm stuck as I can't get them to recognize the LAN. I'm also positive that it isn't an issue with the router as I have used multiple routers (at home and at the university) and neither has worked. Thank you in advance for your replies.

0 shabaz over 9 years ago in reply to Former Member

Do you have a router connected? If so, unplug it, just to eliminate the possibility that DHCP is in (incorrect) operation.
Just use the switch for now.

Also, there is no way for a Linux box to look inside another Linux box to examine the IP addressing configuration and then self-configure with that configuration. No code or protocol exists to do that as far as I'm aware.
Can you paste or attach the entire content of your /etc/network/interfaces file, for the first Pi, and for the second Pi? I get that just the IP address will be different, but it will be good to see it in detail.

Also, a quick photo showing the router, Pi's etc would be great too. I can't see how it will help just yet, but I'm clutching at straws since your problem is bizarre.
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0 shabaz over 9 years ago in reply to Former Member

By the way, out of curiosity, please can you paste the output of:
ifconfig -a

For the Pi before and after you plug the second one in, and when then second pi takes over as you say.

Something like:

Step 1. Only Pi A connected

Step 2. Plug in Pi B

Step 3. wait until broken pipe and then delete from known_hosts and then reconnect

Step 4. unplug pi A

After each step, record the following:
ssh pi@ip_address_A
cat /etc/hostname (so we can see exactly which Pi you're connected to)
ifconfig -a

ssh pi@ip_address_B
cat /etc/hostname
ifconfig -a
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0 clem57 over 9 years ago

Did you original do this with a switch and not a router? If so, you do not have a mechanism to route/assign ip addresses only a router can do this. Look at OSI model to understand why.
Clem
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0 Former Member over 9 years ago in reply to shabaz

Just so you know, for some reason the Pi that I'm trying to set to IP address 10.0.0.30 is for some reason getting assigned 10.0.0.31. Also I have an arris 2 in 1 modem/router, so there's no way to take my router out of the equation. But yes Clem I do have a router being used. That being said, here's all the output that you requested:

The contents of /etc/network/interfaces on Pi number 1 (ssh pi@10.0.0.31 with cat /etc/hostname showing pizero1):

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)

# Please note that this file is written to be used with dhcpcd
# For static IP, consult /etc/dhcpcd.conf and 'man dhcpcd.conf'

# Include files from /etc/network/interfaces.d:
source-directory /etc/network/interfaces.d

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 10.0.0.30
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 10.0.0.0
broadcast 10.0.0.255
gateway 10.0.0.1

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual
    wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

allow-hotplug wlan1
iface wlan1 inet manual
    wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

The contents of /etc/network/interfaces on Pi number 2 (ssh pi@10.0.0.31 with cat /etc/hostname showing raspberrypi):

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)

# Please note that this file is written to be used with dhcpcd
# For static IP, consult /etc/dhcpcd.conf and 'man dhcpcd.conf'

# Include files from /etc/network/interfaces.d:
source-directory /etc/network/interfaces.d

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
        address 10.0.0.31
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        network 10.0.0.0
        broadcast 10.0.0.255
        gateway 10.0.0.1

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual
    wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

allow-hotplug wlan1
iface wlan1 inet manual
    wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

The results of ifconfig -a with only Pi number 1 plugged in (ssh pi@10.0.0.31 with cat /etc/hostname showing pizero1):

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:e0:4c:53:44:58
          inet addr:10.0.0.31 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::26a5:b629:f948:92c3/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:204 errors:1 dropped:1 overruns:1 frame:2
          TX packets:164 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:19673 (19.2 KiB) TX bytes:23792 (23.2 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
          RX packets:200 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:200 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:16656 (16.2 KiB) TX bytes:16656 (16.2 KiB)

The output of ifconfig -a on Pi number 1 after plugging in Pi number 2 (ssh pi@10.0.0.31 with cat /etc/hostname showing pizero1):

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:e0:4c:53:44:58
          inet addr:10.0.0.31 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::26a5:b629:f948:92c3/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:1134 errors:1 dropped:3 overruns:1 frame:2
          TX packets:329 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:96791 (94.5 KiB) TX bytes:42976 (41.9 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
          RX packets:200 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:200 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:16656 (16.2 KiB) TX bytes:16656 (16.2 KiB)

The output of ifconfig -a on Pi number 2 after "taking over" with Pi number 1 still plugged in (ssh pi@10.0.0.31 with cat /etc/hostname showing raspberrypi):

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:e0:4c:53:44:58
          inet addr:10.0.0.31 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::26a5:b629:f948:92c3/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:3566 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:767 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:239048 (233.4 KiB) TX bytes:101124 (98.7 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
          RX packets:200 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:200 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:16656 (16.2 KiB) TX bytes:16656 (16.2 KiB)

The output of ifconfig -a on Pi number 2 after unplugging Pi number 1 (ssh pi@10.0.0.31 with cat /etc/hostname showing rasperrypi):

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:e0:4c:53:44:58
          inet addr:10.0.0.31 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::26a5:b629:f948:92c3/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:3618 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:793 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:243745 (238.0 KiB) TX bytes:105906 (103.4 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
          RX packets:200 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:200 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:16656 (16.2 KiB) TX bytes:16656 (16.2 KiB)

A picture of my setup:

Where the source of the blue ethernet cable to the ethernet switch is coming straight from the back of the modem/router unit.
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0 clem57 over 9 years ago in reply to Former Member

Oh my gosh, I see the problem: they all have the same mac address 00:e0:4c:53:44:58 from Amazon.com: uxcell Micro USB to RJ45 Network Card
Which means the Chinese did not care to imprint unique ones for each adapter. I hope you can complain to where you got these.
Clem
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0 bwelsby over 9 years ago in reply to Former Member

shabaz clem57

That's strange, eth0 on both are showing the same hardware MAC address HWaddr 00:e0:4c:53:44:58
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0 bwelsby over 9 years ago in reply to clem57

You saw it too
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0 shabaz over 9 years ago in reply to Former Member

A couple of points:
First, you've got some typo in either your description, or in your config, because you first stated 10.0.0.31 but the file says 10.0.0.30 (see red highlights here)
Just so you know, for some reason the Pi that I'm trying to set to IP address 10.0.0.30 is for some reason getting assigned 10.0.0.31. Also I have an arris 2 in 1 modem/router, so there's no way to take my router out of the equation. But yes Clem I do have a router being used. That being said, here's all the output that you requested:

The contents of /etc/network/interfaces on Pi number 1 (ssh pi@10.0.0.31 with cat /etc/hostname showing pizero1):

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)

# Please note that this file is written to be used with dhcpcd
# For static IP, consult /etc/dhcpcd.conf and 'man dhcpcd.conf'

# Include files from /etc/network/interfaces.d:
source-directory /etc/network/interfaces.d

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 10.0.0.30
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 10.0.0.0
broadcast 10.0.0.255
gateway 10.0.0.1

Secondly, when you believe that you're connected to the second Pi by mistake, take a look at the ifconfig -a output, and examine the HW address (also known as the MAC address):
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:e0:4c:53:44:58

According to the output that you pasted, this MAC address is identical for Pi1 and Pi 2's network interface. This is not allowed. You may have cheap devices that (incorrectly) have the same MAC address. The manufacturer ought to supply them with totally unique numbers. If they are not unique, you cannot use them on the same network.
The driver or some utility for your network interface may have some way of programming a new MAC address, but I don't know anything about this area.
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0 Former Member over 9 years ago in reply to clem57

Wow you're right. I'll see what I can do about complaining to Amazon. They usually have excellent customer service.

Thanks everybody for your help!
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0 Problemchild over 9 years ago in reply to clem57

Um, yeah some rely on the fact it's unlikely that some one will have a load of these modules
Any way before you rush off you can try setting the MAC manually which may be easier than sending the whole lot back
Check the manuals but the command will be something like
ifconfig eth0 hw ether <mac address>
obviously as root

set the MACs to different values and you should be OK
Also you will need this to run each time you boot or insert the NIC
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