LinuxQuestions.org - eth0 not working in SMP kernel mode (but works in UP mode!)

Dear all,

I'm having a rather strange problem. I just fresh-installed Centos3 on my laptop (P4 dualcore 1.8GHz, 2GB ram, 120GB hdd), but I cannot make it "see" the network by no means in smp kernel mode. The strange thing is that the inteface runs perfectly in up (uniprocessor) kernel mode. I even did a full yum update in this mode (which updated lots of packages), and despite yum now says that there are no more things to update, the problem persists. I am using the kernel 2.4.21-52.ELsmp.

I've tried configuring the adapter both using dhcp and fixed-IP methods, but they both fail (note however that they both work in up mode!). I am attaching below some relevant command outputs that might help to understand the problem.

Thanks so much in advance for any help/comment/ideas!

Regards,

Jorge Luis.

(P.S. For those wondering why CentOS3, I specifically need this release because I need to run a design SW that is only supported in RHEL3)

==============
Errors - using DHCP
==============

# uname -a
Linux LetsBeGreat 2.4.21-52.ELsmp #1 SMP Thu Sep 27 18:23:04 EDT 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

# /etc/init.d/network start
Setting network parameters: [ OK ]
Bringing up loopback interface: [ OK ]
Bringing up interface eth0:
Determining IP information for eth0...PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 2015ms, pipe 4
failed. [FAILED]

==============
Errors - using fixed IP
==============
# /etc/init.d/network restart
Shutting down interface eth0: [ OK ]
Shutting down loopback interface: [ OK ]
Setting network parameters: [ OK ]
Bringing up loopback interface: [ OK ]
Bringing up interface eth0: [ OK ]

# ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:A9:47:0E:83
inet addr:192.168.0.21 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

# ping 192.168.0.1
PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.0.21 icmp_seq=0 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.0.21 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.0.21 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 4021ms, pipe 4

============================
Example of interface working in UP mode
============================

# uname -a
Linux LetsBeGreat 2.4.21-52.EL #1 SMP Thu Sep 27 18:31:25 EDT 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

# ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:A9:47:0E:83
inet addr:192.168.0.21 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:35 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:35 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:24548 (23.9 Kb) TX bytes:3976 (3.8 Kb)

# ping 192.168.0.1
PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=128 time=0.129 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=128 time=0.063 ms

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1018ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.063/0.096/0.129/0.033 ms, pipe 2

# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.0.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
169.254.0.0 * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
default letsbegreat2.ms 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0

# ping www.google.com
PING www.l.google.com (64.233.169.147) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1012ms