I've tried going into the Network configuration and staticly setting 'Address=194.254.0.2' 'Subnet mask=(blank)' and 'Default Gateway Address=255.255.0.0' in Linux. Now when I do a 'route -n' it says:
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
194.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo

And when I try 'ping 169.254.0.1' it outputs:
PING 169.254.0.1 (169.254.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 169.254.0.2 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 169.254.0.2 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 169.254.0.2 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
...........etc.

Sorry, but i'm not incredibly network savy. So I'm not sure what exactly needs to be disabled to remove the autoconfiguration on the network.

BTW the light on the hub where the cable from the linux box is going to still isn't on.
Thanks for anyones help.

I've just noticed you are using very odd IP addressesand you need a mask - try:
Machine 1:
IP: 192.168.1.5
MASK: 255.255.255.0

Machine 2:
IP: 192.168.1.6
MASK: 255.255.255.0

If they aren't conencted to the internet there is no need to specify a gateway. If they are then use the IP address of the computer with the internet connection.

BTW when i boot up linux it gives me a message window saying:
"Could not look up internet address for localhost. This will prevent GNOME from operating correctly. It may be possible to correct the problem by adding localhost to the file /etc/hosts"

My /etc/hosts file only has two commented out lines in it and that is it.

My 'DNS' and 'Hosts' tabs don't have anything in thier fields in RedHat.

I've set the IP and Masks to what you suggested and both machines have no problem talking to eachother in windows but linux still does even with those settings.

Is that hub light still off? I guess normally you'd think the hub and card would either both be on or off, but if you mistakenly had a crossover cable and the card autodetected... I think I'd try another cable.

The thing is that cable works just fine when I boot with Windows 98 rather than Linux. I'm beggining to wonder if Linux didn't detect the network card correctly. But I don't get a [FAILED] response in the Linux boot sequence when it loads eth0. Does the fact that the /etc/hosts file is empty have anything to do with it?

/etc/hosts should have at least:
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain

Temujin_12,

FYI - As david_ross said, you can put the stuff you copy from your terminal within the [ code ] tags to preserve the formatting.

For instance:
[ code ]
whatever you copy and paste goes here
[ /code ]
But, don't put the spaces after the '[' or before the ']'. I did that here just so you could see how they are used.

Example:

I've forgotten what is important, but my /etc/hosts has:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.1.nn myname myname.myworkgroup (except with real numbers and names)

The rest of the office is on DHCP, but I'm stuck with a fixed IP because the terminal emulator they use to get to me requires it.

*arg* I just read this thread for the first time and I notice quite a few small problems... I wish I had seen it earlier. Lets start over and combine all the suggestions above.

With regards to your original configuration, you have your machines setup with DHCP but you don't have a DHCP server! *ah* no wonder you don't get an IP back. Microsoft takes the liberty of assigning a 169.254.0.x address when no DHCP server is found where Linux, more appropriately, fails to assign an ip address when no DHCP server is found - this is the cause of your "fail" when starting that adapter.

Secondly, when you setup your computers such that machine 1 is on the 169 network, machine 2 is on the 194 network... they won't talk.

So... before you check anything else, lets get your network configured correctly. Either install a DHCP server into your network -OR- (and a better option for testing) setup your machines with static ip addresses. i.e. Machine 1, 192.168.0.2 & Machine 192.168.0.3 - Notice that they are both on the 192.168.0.0/24 network.

Once that is done... go back to the default routing table. If you have trouble here, let us know and we'll help you sort it out.

Lastly, make sure your firewall isn't being overly restrictive and blocking all communication.

Keep us posted and we'll continue from there!
Cheers,
J.

I don't doubt you a minute, but I still don't understand. ifconfig was used to set a fixed address to match the Windows DHCP defaults, yet it didn't work. And what did any of that have to do with the hub light being off?

BTW, A cheap router between your modem and LAN will demand to assign the addresses, if that is in the forseeable future.

gernt, you are right that the hub light remaining off sounds like a problem. Have you tried plugging the cable into a different port on the hub?

Everything else... well... All those symptoms are indicitive of a network configuration problem. I'm not convinced that his linux box has been configured with the correct info to be on the same network as his Windows machine.

Here's some things we need to look at, please re-post your current...
1. Your ifcfg-eth0 file
2. Your /etc/sysconfig/network file (should include NETWORKING=yes)
3. Results from "ping 127.0.0.1" on your linux box
4. Results from "route -n" on your linux box
5. Results from "iptables -L"

Thanks,
J.

Ok, here is what I've done.

1) Changed my TCP/IP IP to '192.168.0.2' with a subnet mask of '255.255.255.0' on machine 1.
2) In linux I went to System Tools >> Network Device Control and set it to 'Statically set IP addresses' and set them to: IP address '192.168.0.3' Subnet Mask '255.255.255.0'

Still no light on the hub....
BTW...
And here are my outputs from the commands and files JordanH asked me to post (I'll try to use the [ code ] command)

It doesn't sound to me like this network has a DHCP server. Setting one up would be the optimum solution, I would think.

I know this must be exasperating, but if you get ping to work, the rest follows. One thing you can try is to get a crossover cable and connect two computers directly without the hub. (Label the crossover cable clearly - otherwise it isn't obvious and you end up putting it where it shouldn't go). Please be sure the IP address is still OK by doing an ifconfig. It should show eth0 at the expected address. Then you can try to ping 192.168.0.2 from the linux machine, and 192.168.0.3 from the other. If this still fails, maybe your card is not compatible with linux.

Your configs look good now.

When you restart your network, does it still fail to bringup the eth0 card?