Not sure if this helps but noticed the user is using a cable modem connected to Time Warner. I have the same type of connection on my amd64 system and I’ve noticed similar issues of not always being able to get connected via dhcp. And like the original poster I sometimes switch between systems using this connection. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
What I’ve found is that I can’t get a new connection to Time Warner as long as it thinks my previous lease hasn’t expired or been released. I either have to release the connection before switching between systems (NetBSD, FreeBSD, Linux, etc) or I have to reboot the Time Warner cable modem which seems to force the return of the lease on my assigned IP address. When I do this I’ve always been successful getting a dhcp setup using either dhclient or dhcpcd.
