installed Fedora core 4 on my inspiron 9300 on a seperate partition for a dual XP/core 4 machine. been close to a decade since i've messed with *nix. wasn't a pro back then, but got the jist.

install went completely flawless, video and sound worked right off the bat. but when first booting up it couldn't get an IP for eth0. set to auto DHCP.
hardware =
Cable modem
D-link 614+ wireless router (but connected to my 9300 via etethernet wire) + 3 XP boxes & Core 4 9300

the router is on default settings.

in the 'Red Hat Network' i can see 'Windows Network' is it able to see the windows workgroup my room-mates XP boxes are in or is this from the XP partition? opening the icon doesn't show the workgroup.

everything's peachy on the XP partition of my 9300. Internet's fine, accessing shared folders on the network is a go.

the IRQ in 'Unknown' in the broadcom 440 in Network Devices, is this OK?

lspci shows an entry for the broadcom440 and an unknown broadcom entry.

ifconfig sends like 11k and transmits 3k if i'm not mistaken

I'd love to post the lsmod, lspci, ifconfig but how? XP partition is NTFS.

So I don't have networking, can i burn a cd that windows will read?

hopefully this is something dumb (on my part) and configuration-based.
help. please. and thanks.

Can't you save it to a file and then copy it to a floppy or something?

Write them down or something then post them.....
Sounds like the module moght not be loading proply

post the following,

- Your lspci
- lsmod
- netstat -s

Then we can see whats happening with the IRQ's

9300 doesn't have a floppy, BUT . . i remembered that pin drives are FAT. sorry, it was late and i was tired.

here's lspci, lsmod, ifconfig eth0, netstat -s (and thanks for your help!):


/******************************************************************/

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M22 [Radeon Mobility M300]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)03:01.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b3)
03:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 08)
03:01.2 Class 0805: Ricoh Co Ltd SD Card reader (rev 17)
03:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 4318 (rev 02)

/******************************************************************/

lsmod

Module Size Used by
vfat 13377 1
fat 54621 1 vfat
usb_storage 73225 1
parport_pc 28933 0
lp 13001 0
parport 40585 2 parport_pc,lp
autofs4 29253 2
rfcomm 42333 0
l2cap 30661 5 rfcomm
bluetooth 56133 4 rfcomm,l2cap
sunrpc 167813 1
pcmcia 29025 2
ipt_REJECT 5569 1
ipt_state 1857 3
ip_conntrack 41497 1 ipt_state
iptable_filter 2881 1
ip_tables 19521 3 ipt_REJECT,ipt_state,iptable_filter
video 15941 0
button 6609 0
battery 9413 0
ac 4805 0
md5 4033 1
ipv6 268097 8
ohci1394 41353 0
ieee1394 304441 1 ohci1394
yenta_socket 21449 1
rsrc_nonstatic 12737 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 50909 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
uhci_hcd 35152 0
ehci_hcd 41037 0
snd_intel8x0m 19589 0
i2c_i801 8781 0
i2c_core 21569 1 i2c_i801
snd_intel8x0 34689 1
snd_ac97_codec 75961 2 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0
snd_seq_dummy 3653 0
snd_seq_oss 37057 0
snd_seq_midi_event 9153 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 62289 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 8781 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 51185 0
snd_mixer_oss 17857 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 100169 4 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 33605 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 57157 12 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_o ss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 10913 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 9669 3 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
b44 27077 0
mii 5441 1 b44
dm_snapshot 17413 0
dm_zero 2113 0
dm_mirror 26029 0
ext3 132553 2
jbd 86233 1 ext3
dm_mod 58101 6 dm_snapshot,dm_zero,dm_mirror
ata_piix 9413 2
libata 47045 1 ata_piix
sd_mod 20545 5
scsi_mod 148105 3 usb_storage,libata,sd_mod


/******************************************************************/

ifconfig

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:43:7A:FE:F3
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:37 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:12256 (11.9 KiB) TX bytes:3092 (3.0 KiB)
Interrupt:11


/******************************************************************/

netstat -s

Ip:
3347 total packets received
0 forwarded
0 incoming packets discarded
3347 incoming packets delivered
3347 requests sent out
Icmp:
0 ICMP messages received
0 input ICMP message failed.
ICMP input histogram:
0 ICMP messages sent
0 ICMP messages failed
ICMP output histogram:
Tcp:
2 active connections openings
2 passive connection openings
0 failed connection attempts
0 connection resets received
2 connections established
3339 segments received
3339 segments send out
1 segments retransmited
0 bad segments received.
0 resets sent
Udp:
8 packets received
0 packets to unknown port received.
0 packet receive errors
8 packets sent
TcpExt:
1 TCP sockets finished time wait in fast timer
1206 delayed acks sent
Quick ack mode was activated 1 times
5 packets directly queued to recvmsg prequeue.
293 packets directly received from prequeue
279 packets header predicted
4 packets header predicted and directly queued to user
41 acknowledgments not containing data received
1470 predicted acknowledgments
1 congestion windows recovered after partial ack
0 TCP data loss events
1 other TCP timeouts
1 DSACKs sent for old packets
1 DSACKs received



/******************************************************************/

So are you saying that you can't access the network at all? You can't ping anything on the internet (such as google) nor can you ping anything on you local network. Is that right?

Can you then post the output of dhclient eth0? Also try and see if network works after that.

adz, thanks! and no i was not able to ping anything. 'network not available.' i was unable to activate eth0, everytime i tried i couldn't get past 'Determining IP information for eth0'

i ran dhclient, it took a long time (3-5 minutes), but i finally got another promt, no output (should it have told me anything?).
after i did that i tried to activate eth0 and got an exception (i'll post the text below).
so i then tried to activate it again and it worked! and i had a ssssssslllllllllllooooooooowwwwwww internet connection. pinging the router outlived my patience. i rebooted and still got the 'icmp open socket: permission denied' on bootup, no IP. but activating eth0 after boot was fine, but the connection is still slow. pinging the router was sucessful and looked like this (not the entire output):

/********************************************************************/

[root@katia ~]# ping 192.168.0.1
PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=127 time=1130 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=127 time=131 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=127 time=1131 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=127 time=132 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=127 time=1133 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=127 time=133 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp*_seq=6 ttl=127 time=1134 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=127 time=134 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=127 time=1134 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=127 time=135 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=127 time=1146 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=127 time=147 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=127 time=1167 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=127 time=166 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=127 time=1164 ms

/********************************************************************/

so hey, at least i'm able to connect. but i have a fast cable connection. and i'm getting sub-dialup speed. any suggestions?

here's the output from the network device activation crash:

/********************************************************************/

Component: system-config-network
Version: 1.3.26
Summary: TBfbab0e94 GUI_functions.py:447:gui_run_dialog:AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'connect'

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/system-control-network", line 171, in on_activateButton_clicked
(ret, msg) = dev.activate()
File "/usr/src/build/556832-noarch/install/usr/share/system-config-network/netconfpkg/NCDevice.py", line 372, in activate
File "/usr/src/build/556832-noarch/install/usr/share/system-config-network/netconfpkg/NC_functions.py", line 571, in generic_run_dialog
File "/usr/src/build/556832-noarch/install/usr/share/system-config-network/netconfpkg/gui/GUI_functions.py", line 447, in gui_run_dialog
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'connect'

Local variables in innermost frame:
xml: <gtk.glade.XML object (PyGladeXML) at 0xb7958bbc>
stdin: 0
dlg: None
string: <module 'string' from '/usr/lib/python2.4/string.pyc'>
img: None
title: system-config-network:

Network device activating...
root: /
gtk: <module 'gtk' from '/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/gtk-2.0/gtk/__init__.pyc'>
command: /sbin/ifup
CancelException: netconfpkg.gui.GUI_functions.CancelException
label: Activating network device eth0, please wait...
catchfd: (1, 2)
searchPath: 0
argv: ['/sbin/ifup', 'eth0', 'up']
closefd: -1
dialog: None
swindow: None
os: <module 'os' from '/usr/lib/python2.4/os.pyc'>
lbl: None
select: <module 'select' from '/usr/lib/python2.4/lib-dynload/selectmodule.so'>
errlabel: Cannot activate network device eth0!

/********************************************************************/

just in case another snapshot might help you:

/*****************************************************************************/

[root@katia ~]# ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:43:7A:FE:F3
inet addr:192.168.0.101 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::211:43ff:fe7a:fef3/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2861 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2684 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1530936 (1.4 MiB) TX bytes:412959 (403.2 KiB)
Interrupt:11

/*****************************************************************************/

[root@katia ~]# lsmod
Module Size Used by
vfat 13377 1
fat 54621 1 vfat
parport_pc 28933 0
lp 13001 0
parport 40585 2 parport_pc,lp
autofs4 29253 2
rfcomm 42333 0
l2cap 30661 5 rfcomm
bluetooth 56133 4 rfcomm,l2cap
sunrpc 167813 1
pcmcia 29025 2
ipt_REJECT 5569 1
ipt_state 1857 3
ip_conntrack 41497 1 ipt_state
iptable_filter 2881 1
ip_tables 19521 3 ipt_REJECT,ipt_state,iptable_filter
video 15941 0
button 6609 0
battery 9413 0
ac 4805 0
md5 4033 1
ipv6 268097 8
ohci1394 41353 0
ieee1394 304441 1 ohci1394
yenta_socket 21449 1
rsrc_nonstatic 12737 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 50909 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
usb_storage 73225 1
uhci_hcd 35152 0
ehci_hcd 41037 0
snd_intel8x0m 19589 0
i2c_i801 8781 0
i2c_core 21569 1 i2c_i801
snd_intel8x0 34689 1
snd_ac97_codec 75961 2 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0
snd_seq_dummy 3653 0
snd_seq_oss 37057 0
snd_seq_midi_event 9153 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 62289 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 8781 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 51185 0
snd_mixer_oss 17857 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 100169 4 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 33605 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 57157 12 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_o ss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 10913 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 9669 3 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
b44 27077 0
mii 5441 1 b44
dm_snapshot 17413 0
dm_zero 2113 0
dm_mirror 26029 0
ext3 132553 2
jbd 86233 1 ext3
dm_mod 58101 6 dm_snapshot,dm_zero,dm_mirror
ata_piix 9413 2
libata 47045 1 ata_piix
sd_mod 20545 5
scsi_mod 148105 3 usb_storage,libata,sd_mod

/*****************************************************************************/

[root@katia ~]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M22 [Radeon Mobility M300]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)03:01.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b3)
03:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 08)
03:01.2 Class 0805: Ricoh Co Ltd SD Card reader (rev 17)
03:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 4318 (rev 02)

I've heard that the broadcomm drivers are all very new and not very stable that could be your problem. Especially since you had a crash. That's exceedingly rare.

But just to see, can you bring the interface down (ifconfig eth0 down), unload the b44 and mii modules (rmmod b44;rmmod mii). Then open up two new xterms and in one execute tail -f /var/log/syslog and in the other tail -f /var/log/messages and watch these windows for outputs. Then reload the modules (modprobe mii;modprobe b44 post any outputs - there may not be any), then bring the interface up again (ifconfig eth0 up). If all that occurs without errors then try dhclient eth0. Throughout the whole process keep an eye on the two "tail" windows and report any output.

hey adz, thanks alot for your help, i've been away from a wired connection until today, but i just tried out what you suggested.

[P(re).P.S. but first, if it's a driver issue, am i just flat out of luck? where can i go to learn more about the developement of the drivers, docs, whatever?]
[P.S. also, i ultimately intend to primarily use the wireless card to connect, but figured it would be easier to make sure the OS was configured correctly by using the wire. should i just go ahead and try and work out the wireless instead?]

there was no syslog file in the log folder, the only syslog was anaconda.syslog, which i don't think is relevant (please correct me if i'm wrong).
i recieved no output in the 'main' terminal window, the one i used to take the interface and modules down and up.
here's the messages i got:


[root@katia ~]# tail -f /var/log/syslog
tail: cannot open `/var/log/syslog' for reading: No such file or directory
tail: no files remaining
[root@katia ~]# tail -f /var/log/messages
Oct 18 14:15:21 localhost fstab-sync[2411]: removed all generated mount points
Oct 18 14:15:21 localhost fstab-sync[2462]: added mount point /media/cdrecorder for /dev/hdc
Oct 18 14:15:57 localhost gdm(pam_unix)[2697]: session opened for user root by ( uid=0)
Oct 18 14:15:58 localhost gconfd (root-2801): starting (version 2.10.0), pid 280 1 user 'root'
Oct 18 14:15:58 localhost gconfd (root-2801): Resolved address "xml:readonly:/et c/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory" to a read-only configuration source at position 0
Oct 18 14:15:58 localhost gconfd (root-2801): Resolved address "xml:readwrite:/r oot/.gconf" to a writable configuration source at position 1
Oct 18 14:15:58 localhost gconfd (root-2801): Resolved address "xml:readonly:/et c/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults" to a read-only configuration source at position 2
Oct 18 14:16:05 localhost gconfd (root-2801): Resolved address "xml:readwrite:/r oot/.gconf" to a writable configuration source at position 0
Oct 18 14:16:11 localhost kernel: codec_semaphore: semaphore is not ready [0x1][ 0x700300]
Oct 18 14:16:11 localhost kernel: codec_write 0: semaphore is not ready for regi ster 0x32


/***************** and then after reloading the modules and interface ************************************/


Oct 18 14:28:18 localhost kernel: b44.c:v0.95 (Aug 3, 2004)
Oct 18 14:28:18 localhost kernel: ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
Oct 18 14:28:18 localhost kernel: eth0: Broadcom 4400 10/100BaseT Ethernet 00:11:43:7a:fe:f3
Oct 18 14:28:19 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Link is down.
Oct 18 14:28:21 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
Oct 18 14:28:21 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX.
Oct 18 14:28:23 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
Oct 18 14:28:31 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
Oct 18 14:28:38 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
Oct 18 14:28:49 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 21
Oct 18 14:29:02 localhost dhclient: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.2
Oct 18 14:29:02 localhost dhclient: Copyright 2004 Internet Systems Consortium.
Oct 18 14:29:02 localhost dhclient: All rights reserved.
Oct 18 14:29:02 localhost dhclient: For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP
Oct 18 14:29:02 localhost dhclient:
Oct 18 14:29:03 localhost dhclient: Listening on LPF/eth0/00:11:43:7a:fe:f3
Oct 18 14:29:03 localhost dhclient: Sending on LPF/eth0/00:11:43:7a:fe:f3
Oct 18 14:29:03 localhost dhclient: Sending on Socket/fallback
Oct 18 14:29:07 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
Oct 18 14:29:10 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
Oct 18 14:29:13 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
Oct 18 14:29:20 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
Oct 18 14:29:24 localhost dhclient: No DHCPOFFERS received.
Oct 18 14:29:32 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
Oct 18 14:29:40 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
Oct 18 14:29:53 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 15
Oct 18 14:30:04 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Link is down.

/******** hooking up mouse ****************/
Oct 18 14:30:04 localhost kernel: usb 5-2: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
Oct 18 14:30:05 localhost kernel: input: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Microsoft Microsoft 3-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM)] on usb-0000:00:1d.3-2
/***************************************/

Oct 18 14:30:05 localhost hal.hotplug[3236]: DEVPATH is not set (subsystem input)
Oct 18 14:30:07 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
Oct 18 14:30:07 localhost kernel: b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX.
Oct 18 14:30:08 localhost dhclient: No DHCPOFFERS received.
Oct 18 14:30:08 localhost dhclient: No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.

/******************************************/

after this i was unable to activate eth0 like before. i tried running dhclient again to no avail.

Well there are no errors being spewed up which is what I was looking for. You may have to try a static configuration. Bring the interface down and up again (don't unload the modules) to start afresh and then set up routing to your LAN with route add -net 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev eth0. Then set up a route to everywhere else with your router as your gateway by route add default gw <your router's IP address>. Then try pinging yourself, your router and an external website.

By the way, what kernel version are you running and did you compile it yourself?

Not necessarily. You maybe just need to get a newer kernel or just compile one youself. Sometimes there are problems with precompiled kernels or with a certain version.

It's up to you. If it was me then I'd want the wired connection to work but it depends on you not me. If you're never ever going to use the wired connection then it's an option.