I have been trying to get this box to connect to the internet in Linux (it's a dual boot system and I'm in w-me now). I am new to Linux and could use a couple of pointers on where to start.

What happens is this, when I attempt to activate my connection through my Eth0 device it will generally fail (suggesting that I check the cable). However, sometimes it actually works connects.

I haven't been able to find any pattern to this behavior. I do know that (in w-me) IRQs can be problematic, but I have no idea how to find out what Linux is doing with regard to IRQs, or even if that is likely to be the problem here.

Any help would be appreciated and I'll be happy to give more info as soon as I know what info to give :-).

What network card driver are you using? You may be able to find this out by 'lsmod', that'll list all your currently loaded modules. If you don't see one that looks like it could be your network card, just paste them all and someone will point that out for you.

What sort of setup are you running? Linux box -> Hub/switch or Linux Box <-crossover-> some-other-box ?

When it does work, how long does it work? Does it work consistantly after it works right the first time? Do you have any similar problems at all in windows?

Well, below is the lsmod info... I assume that pcnet32 might be what we're looking for, but just in case, here it all is:

Module Size Used by Not tainted
pcnet32 18016 0 (autoclean)
mii 3944 0 (autoclean) [pcnet32]
emu10k1 68136 0 (autoclean)
ac97_codec 13544 0 (autoclean) [emu10k1]
sound 73108 0 (autoclean) [emu10k1]
soundcore 6276 7 (autoclean) [emu10k1 sound]
parport_pc 18756 1 (autoclean)
lp 8868 0 (autoclean)
parport 36480 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
autofs 12948 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ipt_REJECT 3896 6 (autoclean)
iptable_filter 2380 1 (autoclean)
ip_tables 14648 2 [ipt_REJECT iptable_filter]
sg 35980 0 (autoclean)
sr_mod 17912 0 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 11984 0
scsi_mod 106200 3 [sg sr_mod ide-scsi]
ide-cd 35196 0
cdrom 33472 0 [sr_mod ide-cd]
nls_iso8859-1 3484 1 (autoclean)
nls_cp437 5116 1 (autoclean)
vfat 12844 1 (autoclean)
fat 38328 0 (autoclean) [vfat]
keybdev 2880 0 (unused)
mousedev 5428 1
hid 21700 0 (unused)
input 5792 0 [keybdev mousedev hid]
usb-uhci 25868 0 (unused)
usbcore 77696 1 [hid usb-uhci]
ext3 69984 2
jbd 51220 2 [ext3]

As for the box comment I made earlier, I should have computer or machine (I was thinking of some other not so nice terms :-). As for what the set up is (server, etc), I don't remember what type of install I used when I set it up. BTW, I am running RedHat (9?).

When it works, it usually will stay connected until I reboot the system. It only works one time out of about 20. Windows never has this problem (which allows me to actually come here and try to solve this).

Finally, it occurs to me to mention that I really have had a trial-and-error education in computers, and this may actually be something obvious that I was lucky enough never to run into before :-).

Turns out I solved it myself. It was all in the routing. The only thing I can't figure out now is why it worked at all before!

Anyway, thanks blindsight (hmm amaurosis..blindsight... are you a relative?