Strange network problem after compiling new kernel..
 

hi everybody,
Recently I upgraded my Redhat 7.0 kernel into kernel version 2.4.4...when I compiled this new kernel, there was no errors, and sure enough, when I ran it, it worked fine. Everything's detected, including my ethernet card, and i could connect it to network and browse the net. This RedHat is installed on my laptop, dualboot with my Win2k.

After rebooting once again, I ran into a problem. Before rebooting, I've configured the eth0 interface and gave it an ip and everything, like i said it could connect to the LAN in the office here, and I could go on the net. But after rebooting, even though the ip remains the same, I found out that I couldnt get on the network (LAN) and i sure couldnt connect to the net anymore. I checked the /etc/hosts file, everything looks to be right, then i checked my network configuration using linuxconf. Nothing wrong there too. Hmm...then using linuxconf, I changed the ip to another unused one on the network, then changed the eth0 interface using ifconfig, so that it could use the new ip. Then i tried accessing the network again. Success!

OK..i tried rebooting again..and got the same problem! This time, I changed again to the old ip, basically repeating the steps that I took earlier...only this time it took several ip changes, ifconfig changes for it to work. And this happens everytime i reboot , or after i used my win2k partition and then get back to linux. In win2k, nothing of the sort happens, i can always connect to network and all. So what's the deal here? Did i accidentally left out some vital part that causes this to happen? Please help..

Thanks, sorry that was a bit lengthy :P
Suzana

Try the following :

1) start machine
2) watch for 'bringing up interfaces -- eth0
3) ifconfig -a
That should list all your interfaces, their IP's and wether they're up or down.
4) If up, ping something.
5) If down,
ifup eth0
where eth0 is the name of your network interface.

6) If there's a problem it should tell you.
7) If there's no problem your network startup scripts are probably not running, or barfing somewhere. (But I'd imagine you'd see a nasty red line in your startup if that were the case).

Slick.