Cannot access Moodle for first time use

Baam

Hello there, hope you are doing fine.
I have 4GB Raspberry Pi 4B and 1GB Raspberry Pi 3B. I also have three SD Card. I have flashed latest Moodle Box image (4.4.0) into them using Balena Etcher and try them into my Pi, but I encounter the same problem, I have connected to the Moodle Box’s Wi-Fi, but I cannot access the website (http://moodlebox.home/ and http://10.0.0.1), I also have tried from my other laptop and phones, nothing worked. I am connected to the Wi-Fi, but I cannot access the website.
Before we get going, I have done my homework and read the forum for this kind of problem, if you another forum that related, please share, I would love to read and solve this problem. Here is the link to the forum I have read.

https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/297-moodlebox-connection-issues
https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/218-first-launch-error
https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/99-can-not-connect-to-moodlebox-home-in-browser
I also connect my Pi to my monitor, and saw this
[FAILED] Failed to start dnsmasq - a Lightweight DHCP and caching DNS server
See 'systemctl status dnsmasq.service' for details
After I issue the systemctl status dnsmasq.service on the terminal, it shows running, which is doesn’t be like a problem, but still, I cannot access the website.
For your information, my SD card is from SanDisk Extreme, which is great and should support this OS. I also have tried my SD card installed the Raspbian OS and everything works perfectly, but somehow, I encounter this kind of problem when I flash Moodle Box image. I also have tried the older 4.3.0 and 4.2.0 but ended up with the same problem, I couldn’t access the website.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Nicolas

Could you try to launch the following command in your MoodleBox shell:

sudo rfkill unblock wlan

and reboot?

Baam I also connect my Pi to my monitor, and saw this
[FAILED] Failed to start dnsmasq - a Lightweight DHCP and caching DNS server
See 'systemctl status dnsmasq.service' for details

This is normal (not a problem).

Baam

Thank you, Nicolas, for replying.

I also have done that, I issue 'sudo rfkill', and this come out.

ID  TYPE        DEVICE   SOFT       HARD
0   wlan        phy0     unblocked  unblocked
1   Bluetooth   hci0     unblocked  unblocked

actually, both before and after is the same.
Still cannot access the Moodle website.
Any other ideas?

Nicolas

What's the result of:

systemctl status hostapd.service

Baam

#Update

I also have tried connecting my Pi to home network by using the network cable, assigned to 192.168.1.150. Also in this network, I connect my laptop using cable, assigned to 192.168.1.100.

I have run ping and traceroute command, my laptop found and able to ping to my pi, but somehow still I couldn't access/open the Moodle website. It says,

This site can't be reached
moodlebox.home's server IP address cound not be found.
Try checking the connection
ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED

in other page says DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

FYI, I also follow your instruction to fix the DNS in here https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/218-first-launch-error/4

but still, couldnt open/access the Moodle website.

Nicolas

I'm lost. Maybe a faulty SD card?

Baam

Nicolas

the result is the service is running.
refer to this image

Baam

Nicolas

hmm, I don't think so, because i have tried all my three Sandisk SD Card. and the result is the same. im also lost. hehe

Baam

@Nicolas
is there is any other way to install MoodleBox? or install Moodle in Raspbian OS? Can that work?

Nicolas

Baam Sure, but it is a long and tedious process (hence the reason of MoodleBox existence).

I'd try to find what's the problem with MoodleBox and your configuration before to look after other ways. Maybe other users will have an idea… Waiting one day or two for other answers would be wise IMHO.

Ratna

Baam

If the Ethernet interface of your MoodleBox gets the IP address 192.168.1.150 and you want to open the Moodle sites homepage under http://192.168.1.150, you need to put exactly that, 'http://192.168.1.150', in $CFG->wwwroot.

Baam

Nicolas

Alright, thank you Nicolas for the insights.

I will check this post every day and update any issues.
let me know if you need anything.

Baam

Ratna
@Nicolas

here are some updates, after gain some insight from Ratna and help from Google to changing Moodle sites homepage under http://192.168.1.150, to 'http://192.168.1.150', in $CFG->wwwroot in config.php.

$CFG->wwwroot   = 'http://192.168.1.150';

I manage to access the Moodle site, however, if i change it back to $CFG->wwwroot = 'http://moodlebox.home';
I cannot access again and back to zero.

Does this ring anything to you?

Ratna

Baam We are going in circles on a network configuration issue. Google is notorious for sending people in circles!
;-)

What do you want to achieve:
a) What is the URL you want: http://192.168.1.150 or http://10.0.0.1 or http://moodlebox.home or all three or something entirely different?

b) Where is the client device: Is that device connected to the wi-fi hotspot of the MoodleBox or is it connected to a Ethernet LAN to which MoodleBox's Ethernet port is connected to?

Baam

after i edit the config.php file to this

$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://moodlebox.home';
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://192.168.1.150';
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://10.0.0.1';

I can access the Moodle site from http://192.168.1.150 and http://10.0.0.1' only. this http://moodlebox.home is not working at all as the beginning.

Baam

Ratna

Thank you for holding on to me,
Let me clear this out. So, so far,

I have my laptop and my Pi connected to my home router while my phone connects to the Access Point from my Pi.
My home router IP is 192.168.1.1
My laptop IP is 192.168.1.100
My Pi IP is 192.168.1.150 and at the same time 10.0.0.1

Ratna a) What is the URL you want: http://192.168.1.150 or http://10.0.0.1 or http://moodlebox.home or all three or something entirely different?

by default, i would love to access Moodle using default URL (http://moodlebox.home/) but i could not access it.
thus, after few hours digging and try and error.
i only can access the Moodle site after changing the in $CFG->wwwroot in config.php.

Baam
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://moodlebox.home';
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://192.168.1.150';
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://10.0.0.1';

Ratna b) Where is the client device: Is that device connected to the wi-fi hotspot of the MoodleBox or is it connected to a Ethernet LAN to which MoodleBox's Ethernet port is connected to?

My client devices would be my laptop and my phone. My laptop connected to the home router via ethernet cable same as my Pi while my phone connected to the access point by the Pi.

Ratna

Baam

My client devices would be my laptop and my phone. My laptop connected to the home router via ethernet cable same as my Pi while my phone connected to the access point by the Pi.

Then leave the MoodBox at its default $CFG->wwwroot = 'http://moodlebox.home'; and,

a) make sure that your laptop resolves the domain moodlebox.home to 192.168.1.150. The easiest method is called the "hosts file". If the laptop is Linux, it is enough to put a line
192.168.1.150 moodlebox.home moodlebox
in its /etc/hosts file. Windows has a similar thing.

A more sophisticated method would be to add a DNS record to the same effect to the DHCP configuration of the router.

b) if your smart phone connects to the wi-fi access point (hotspot) of the MoodleBox, it should resolve moodlebox.home to 10.0.0.1. I don't know why it doesn't do that in your case. Often if you try to visit http://10.0.0.1 initially, it jumps to http://moodlebox.home and will stay there.

Baam

Ratna

Ratna add a DNS record

DNS record? sound like a new idea. I will look into it later

Ratna if your smart phone connects to the wi-fi access point (hotspot) of the MoodleBox, it should resolve moodlebox.home to 10.0.0.1. I don't know why it doesn't do that in your case. Often if you try to visit http://10.0.0.1 initially, it jumps to http://moodlebox.home and will stay there.

it does jump to http://moodlebox.home when i try to go to http://10.0.0.1, but however, in the page it says ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED and in other page says DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN so I cannot access the Moodle website

@Nicolas
this may sound like a silly question, where do you configure to go to http://moodlebox.home ? in the Moodle config or something? or is there is any documentation i can read? i would like to try and error changing the URL for testing.

Ratna

Baam

in the page it says ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED and in other page says DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN so I cannot access the Moodle website

Means your device doesn't know what moodlebox.home is, i.e. it does not resolve moodlebox.home to 10.0.0.1. The expected behaviour is, when a device gets the IP address through DHCP it also gets the IP address of a DNS server. That DNS server, in this case also running in the MoodleBox, resolves moodlebox.home to 10.0.0.1. Your device somehow does not behave that way.

I don't know nothing about smart phones and their OSes, but if you provide as much information as possible about your smart-phone and how you connect it to the MoodleBox wi-fi, others might be able to help.