Hi Folks,

On a dual boot PC, If I boot Linux after WinXP the network connection to the outside world is completely dead. The only way to get functioning Linux networking after WinXP is to turn the computer off, pull out the power cord, wait for 10 seconds, plug the power cord back and restart Linux. Nothing else will make it work.

This started about about a week ago on a PC that had dual boot working perfectly for 9 months. I tested 4 different distros (Mint, PCLOS, Mepis & DSL) and they all behave the same.

My mobo is Gigabyte GA-945GMF-S2, using the on-board network adapter.

Anyone knows what to do?

TIA

How does it connect, through a router? Is it just hooked strait into the modem? Did you change anything recently? Any updates to either OS?

What happens when you reboot back into Windows? Does your NIC function then?

In Linux:
- Is the NIC recognized?
- Is the NIC status up?
- What does ifconfig tell you? Do you get an appropriate IP?

Having to actually unplug the power supply indicates that your NIC is somehow shutdown. Maybe a power save setting in the BIOS or Windows?

The computer is connected with a cable to a router. WinXP installation is set to autoupdate, so it might have been changed. I know that the network adapter driver was updated a couple of days ago (which is after the problem started) but that didn't solve it. It seems like the Linux distros I used recognized the network adaper correctly, but ifconfig didn't return any IP address for it. I tried "ifconfig eth0 up", but that didn't help. I didn't change the power setting in Windows or BIOS.

There was another post, but I can't find it now, that suggested that the "new" WinBlows driver might be putting the ethernet card into "sleep" state, or waiting for Wake on Lan, when it shuts down. Try looking through the options.

Cheers.

You might check the links Simon Bridge posted here, especially the last one.

Since you didn't link to any mobo info, nor give any specific info on on-board network adapter's chip, nor mention the driver used, it's hard to say how applicable Simon's post is.

Hi archtoad6,

The link You supplied seems to be invalid, however I worked around it by installing Vista (ugh) which doesn't present the problem.

Thanks

It works now -- the letter 'o' got dropped from "showthread" when I pasted the link -- go figure.

I hope we can be pleasantly surprised that Vista really doesn't cause the same trouble.