Howdy,
Bear with me, I started using Linux 2 days ago And im a Super-noob.
I got the generall idea of how mandrake works, but im having a few prolems...
Im running Mandrake 10.0 with KDE, hot off the FTP, and my NIC is about 5 seconds away from an encounter with the wall.

At boot I hit Esc, thus toggling verbose mode, every thing seems in order, until the part where kernel feels like initializing Eth0.

i get somthing like (cant remember exactly what it says off the top of my head):
Eth0: initiailizing..... [Failed]
Eth0: (somthin concerning internet)..... [Failed]

im posting from a windows box, so i jotted down the relevant stuff on paper(im on another machine, and since i have no network, i cant exatly push the txt file over).

"Uname -r" returns:
2.6.3-4mdk

"/sbin/lspci" didnt work,(i just typed in into Konsole, not sure how that stuff works)

"Dmesg" gave me, among other things:
8139too Fast Ethernet Driver 0.9.27
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for Device 0000:00:0e.0
Eth0: Realtek RTL8139 At 0xd59ad000, 00:48:54:8b:cd:50, IRQ 10
Eth0: Identified 8139 Chip Type 'RTL-8139c'
(2 or 3 lines concerning Floppy an cd-rom Drives)
NET: registered Protocol family 17
Eth0: Link Down

Thx in advance
-Dan

try netconfig or netconf

the module for this card is 8139too make sure there is a "modprobe 8139too"command somewhere in your start up scripts like rc.modules,modules.conf I use slackware so all I had to do was uncomment the line with "modprobe 8139too" in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules
your distro may not be the same as mine
to me it sounds like you need to have a "ifconfig eth0 up "command somewhere in your start up scripts to test wether this is the problem try "ifconfig -a" if eth0 shows up in it's output the card is working
read the man pages for ifconfig ,(dhcpd if you don't have a stact ip address)

it sounds like your ether net card is configured it just needs to connect up to the net with something depending on how your network is set up

I think that this point this is a networking question

I took a peek at /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and couldn't add an autoprobe line because i didn't have proper permissions. Isn't there An administrator group or somthing you can add your user profile too in order to get full system access?
And just out of curuiosity were are the startup scripts hidden in linux's mess of a folder structure?

Ifconfig returned Eth0 and Lo

Sorry about the Noobness.
-Dan


Btw, Would moving my NIC to another PCI slot or reserving an IRQ in BOIS cause linux to re-evalutate it's hardware options at boot? just trying to suggest thins that may magicly work.

config files for boot are in /etc/
boot scripts in most distros are in /etc/rc.d/

your network card is working. the network just isn't getting autoconfig'd

Is there Some way to give a user full system access privilages? Im having a bit of trouble editing my start up scripts and config files.

you won't be able to configure much on the system without root access. Don't you have the root password?

I know the Password, I think, How would i go about entering this? <- N.m.
Figured it out....

I also tried Using the 8139cp driver over the 8139too, but when i go through the setup an Choose "Use a different driver", I pick "8139cp" hit next get a promt for Autoprobe or manual config, looking promising, Tried both opt's, But it just goes right back to the "Choose driver or use current: Eth0 rtl8139(8139too)" Screen. so how do i change the damn (excuse the language) Driver?

it's not a driver problem. you're wasting your time there.
get what your network settings are supposed to be, and enter them with one of the network tools.

Just out of curiosity, Is dead activity LED's in the back of the card a symptom of a poor config job, or is the card not working entirely?

Because that's where i'm stuck, if the card is in the slot, power is coming through the PCI bus and the correct drivers are in place, Should the light not come on? And, the activity light on my hub Flashes erraticly for 5 seconds and turns orange, which im guessing means an auto shutoff of that port for protection purposes.
...Having said that, i just realized i might have a CAT5 problem. no?

Nevermind, i got pissed right off with that crap, went to the local tech gurus and discovered that my card was buggered, Bought a new D-Link card.

Thanks for the help anyways.