I'm getting frustrated.

I have XP running on one machine attached to a switch. Older system now running RH9 also connected to switch. aDSL is connected to uplink port on switch. My ISP allows multiple logins so I've never needed a router.

XP seems to have no trouble when I leave the LAN settings to automatically configure IP addresses and what not. And before when I had the Linux box running XP, they could share easily. Now with RH9 I have the hostname set, but all other settings are left to DHCP. Under network settings, the DNS tab shows my hostname, and seems to fill in DNS information. The host tab displays 127.0.0.1 - dropship (hostname) - then a network address that it supplied looking like localhost.network or something like that.

On the network config... it says that eth0 is inactive and when I try to start it runs for about a minute and says unable to figure out IP address and won't start. Same thing during boot when eth0 tries to start... I get a [FAILED]. I am able to ping dropship but not my XP.

I'm new to Linux and trying to learn. What do I need to do to get these two sharing. I've been playing with Samba, but I think my problem is DHCP first.

Thanks for the help.

Not too sure what that "switch" is, but on your linux machine, run the command "dhclient eth0" and see what it says, and do a ifconfig and see what the eth0 thing turns up or not.

As for bootup, you need to edit /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth0, and add BOOTPROTO=dhcp (don't know if you did this or not)

Thanks for the reply... The switch I mean is a network hub.

I checked the ifcfg-eth0 file and dhcp is loading as you suggested. But I don't remember if I tried dhclient... What would I know (or wouldn't know) when I run that and what should I do next?

It's just my first week with Linux and I'm at work so I don't have it in front of me.

dhclient would broadcast a DHCPREQUEST on the interface (eth0) that was defined, and whatever server exists would give a DHCPREPLY (i think). So do a dhclient eth0, and post the results here, and I'll see if i can help your problem

Does your ISP use PPPoE? I had a problem onece with my old DSL provider when they mad the switch to that protocol. I had to get a program to get my DSL working with that protocol. I've been out of the loop on Linux for about 2 years, and am now getting back into it, so there may be something already shipped with Linux that supports this now. Also, does your DSL DHCP server set your hostname? I know with my broadband I needed a command called dhcpcd to get mine to work. I had to type in: dhcpcd -H eth0