This is my problem:

When starting up laptop my network card is ALWAYS assigned an IP address, but 1 out of 5 times I have no network connectivity. I am unable to ping gateway or any other LAN/WAN devices. I reboot and the the problem is fixed. The weird thing is it doesn't always happen. I can force it to happen by rebooting a few times.

Hardware:

Dell Inspiron 8200 Laptop
Cisco A/B/G PCMCIA Wireless Adapter

Software:
Slackware 10.2 / 2.6.13
Atheros Wireless driver

I have done the following:

• Verified the gateway is accepting and returning the DHCP request EVERY time
• Verified the affected laptop cannot ping any address when the problem exists
• Verified the affected laptop can be pinged by gateway and another LAN machine; WEIRD!
• Verified the wireless hardware is working correctly

I'm welcome to any suggestions?

Are you pinging by IP or hostname? Sometimes what appears to be a connection problem is actually a DNS problem. Check /etc/resolv.conf

I have pinged by IP address. DNS is not even in the picture.

Hi:

Seems like you are having an IRQ problem with the card.

Does it happen if you take it out and plug it back?

IRQ asignation is randomized every time you start your PC or connect a new device, hence the random error.

reserve an irq in bios for your PCMCIA,if your Bios allows it

Cheers

Have you confirmed there is no IP address conflict at work? Have you verified the IP address you're assigned is both correct AND unique?

Maybe posting output from /sbin/ifconfig might help.

Peace...

Look at the command "route". Check if it's different when it works or not.
And don't reboot, just type as root:

/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 stop
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 start

You can even put it in a script in /usr/bin and make this script executable.
Then modify /etc/sudoers in order to run it as non-root.