During my machine bootup for Linux, it reaches a point where it is detecting the network settings using DHCP for eth0, and it pauses for what seems like 10 seconds or so. How can I reduce this pause?

I have a combo router/DSL modem attached to the ethernet port on my NFORCE2 motherboard.

Everything works fine, just wondering how to speed up the boot time.

Mine does the same thing. I think its normal. It's just detecting the network.

It may take that much time negotiate an IP address from your router which is acting as a DHCP server. It may speed things up if you configure your PC with a static IP address.

I took your advice.

Here's what I did.

I go onto the router by entering its IP into my browser address bar http://192.168.1.254

and accessed the control panel.

Then I turned off DHCP.

I then found IP passthrough, and I enabled "user configured pc"

I then went into the Mandrake control center and accessed networking, and I turned off DHCP there. I chose an IP address for my pc

192.168.1.##

I used this as subnet mask 255.255.255.0 (standard for most PC's I think)

and for a DNS server I used the modem address

192.168.1.254

And I rebooted.

eth0 detection took about 2 secs instead of fifteen seconds, and networking worked like a charm.

Strangely enough, I had a more difficult time configuring my Windows XP to operate using the fixed IP - the jargon in the M$ dialog windows is annoyingly inaccurate and so user friendly that someone with actual knowledge has trouble navigating. But I did it ok, restarted, and everyone can access the net and both operating systems boot more quickly.

Thanks!!!