im sure this has been said b4..especially in this particular forum.
but i am very much a linux noob.
i am a windows geek and i understand basic tcp/ip stuff.
but this problem seems endemic to linux.

i installed fedora core 2.6.5 on a p3 700mhz hp peice of junk i previously
had xp on. i was using a 3com 3c900b nic and it was fine.

when i loaded fedora everything went smoothly till i booted up and i saw it said that the network cable was unplugged. the leds do light up on both nics.

of course i checked my rj45 and i already know my router is set to give a dhcp ip/dns info etc. just to be sure i swapped out a realtek rtl-8129 into a totally different pci slot. seems like same respone (kudzu came up and detected it correctly (it woudl seem anyway)

when i go into hardware tab in network configuration it does say the status is "ok"

in network device control status says "inactive" and clicking activate says "cannot activate network device eth0" "users cannot control this device"

if anyone has any idea why this happens please lemme buy a clue!
please make any suggestion simple for a windows geek like myself.

--edit
i read a post somewhere else on site w/ a similar problem.
someone asked what happened when they typed dmesg | grep eth
(after the 15 mintues of trying to figure out which key was | )
i got
divert: not allocating divert_blk for non-ethernet device lo
divert: not allocating divert_blk for non-ethernet device sit0

yeah me!...but what does it mean?

looks like you were logged on as a regular user instead of as root. Only root can control network devices. Logon as root and try it.

This can also be done from the command line: ifconfig eth0 up (eth0 being the device name). As for those statements from dmesg, they aren't relevant, although I've never seen those particular ones. "lo" is the machines' loopback device, "sit0" is used for tunneling (eg ipv6-in-ipv4)

is it strange that i am getting this error in the first place?
it acts like the rj45 is not even connected...
regardless...
i do know that at a terminal that i can su and type in my root password..
is that good enough? or do i have to log in at boot up as root?
i was a bit confused because i was thinking it was like windows..
2 identitites...1 admin and 1 user..
but there is a user id and 2 passwords for linux correct?
the root password gives you access to things that are sensitive?
or am i wrong and there is a root log in name?
such a noob question i know..but im pretty sure it is the first thing i said
regardless....
if i open a terminal window and su...and enter my root password
i would think that would only authorize commands at that prompt to be
authorized as root commands.
is that correct?
thank you very much for your responses

If you want to use the graphical network utility, you'll have to logout of kde/gnome/whatever and login as root. It sounds like you just need to use it to activate the network card.

That's right. You're only root in that one "shell" until it is closed or you CTL+d.

No, it's basically the same - root is the SUPERuser. A user with complete priviledge over the system. root will have it's own pasword, the one you set during install.

That's ok!

im a bit confused...
im thinking you meant ipconfig and not ifconfig
but i get command not found using either...
i also used su incase it was a command that could
only be used as root.
so the command line is now [root@localhost myname]#
and i have no clue from there.
another thing...
do i want to change the "localhost" name? can/should i?
why would i want to?
just seems strange

you should have this command:
[root@localhost myname]# ifup eth0

"localhost" is your hostname. The name you give your computer to distinguish it. You don't have to change it unless you have other computers on the same network talking to each other. There will be a place to change it in the wizards when you log onto X as root.

ok..
after i su and type in my root password
i get [root@localhost myusername]#
i type in ifup eht0 at the # and i get
bash: ifup: command not found
i am using the 0 and not the o
pls help me!

you should be doing "su -" instead. This gives root his environment ($PATH, aliases, etc). So "su -" then "ifup eth0" or "ifconfig eth0 up". If you still aren't getting online, give us the output of
ifconfig
route
cat /etc/resolv.conf

If none of this works you can always logon to X as root and go see what the graphical tools say.

i su -
i type ifup eth0
i get /sbin/ifup : configuration for eth0 not found
useing hardware browser....(which i have no real idea of how to use but
context is a beautiful concept)
i click on network devices i see
rtl-8129 in selected device and device info says
manufacturer realtek
driver 8139too
device /dev/eth0

driver si wrong? 8139 vs 8129?
im ready to give up and install mandrake because it
found everything when i installed last time..
someone give me a clue please!

--edit. im glad i can touch type fast....these were done as root in terminal after su -
i did the # route and i got this..(or this is a fair approximation anyway)
kernel ip routing table
destination gateway genmask flags metric ref use iface
169.254.0.0 * 255.255.0.0 u 0 0 0 lo
127.0.0.0 * 255.0.0.0 u 0 0 0 lo

#ifconfig and i got
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:16436 metric:1
rx packet:3284 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
tx packets:3284 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
rx bytes:3534499 (3.3 mb) tx bytes:3534499 (3.3 mb)

# cat /etc/resolv.conf
does nothing... no output at all..
just goes to next prompt
what is cat anyway?
seems to kick me out of prompt and just sit there.
i have to close terminal and start again.
im telling you im an ABSOLUTE BEGINNER :>

am i insane for typing all this out?
will there be an end to my pain and suffering?
is there a linux that is designed for poets?

thanx in advance :>