I have a hp omnibook xe3 with slack 10.1 (kernel 2.6.12) which is the only OS on the computer. I use dhcpcd to get my IP from my WinXP pro sp2 box with ICS using DSL.

The problem - my internet connection stops randomly, and almost always stops when I am downloading a file either from Firefox or Epiphany or Mozilla. If I dhcpcd -k and then dhcpcd all is ok for a while. I also can just exit the app and wait a few minutes and try again and sometimes it will connect fine.

It also happens to my smb shares to and from winxp.
I downloaded, compiled, and installed dhcpcd just to see if a self compiled version would work better, but the same thing happens.

I am also unable to ping anywhere when it cuts out.

I have disabled the power off settings on both ethernet cards in my winxp box and my card in my hp is a Intel Corp. 82801CAM (ICH3) PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller (rev 41) from lspci.
I was using the eepro100 module, but dowloaded and compiled the e100 from intel, but same thing still happens.
I disable hotplug just to see, but it still happens.
I have tried to use dhclient but just can't get that figured out.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

hey man it happened to me too, but once every one to two weeks. Your netcard is fine, and so is mine. Our netcards are popular! They have been on the market since 1996, your e100 and my sis900. The problem is not hardware.

It's just a minor annoyance for me, so I didn't bother to fix it. It sounds like it's giving you ulcers over there, your situation is different from mine I bet.

I think that it's dhcpcd's configuration and or the dhcp protocol that the dhcpcd client or your Win boxen maybe using. dhcpcd is capable of using 2 different version of the dhcp protocol, try either one to see if the problem ceases. dhcpcd has some options that specify how long to hold a lease. Possibly Windows box maybe using a different version of the dhcp protocol or a version with a few Micro$oft tweaks to it. Check the dhcp server configuration in windoze to verify that it doesn't terminate the lease after a certain time.

give me some feed back man.