I have been having this problem for a long time but it seems worse now that I have recently built a new 2.4.1 kernel and started using it. I have a 3Com 900B netcard. With earlier Mandrake releases, my system insisted on using 3c59x and this seemed to work. I am now using 3c90x because 3c59x no longer works, but even 3c90x barely works. The problem before and now is that during bootup, when it gets to initializing eth0 using dhcpcd, there is an innordinant delay of something like 45 seconds to a minute or so followed, usually (now) with a [Failed] and then a continuation of the bootup process. That is with my present 2.4.1 kernel. Previously, with a 2.2.17-21mdk kernel, the delay was there but it usually ended with success, but the delay is unacceptable. I have tried, with both 2.2.17 and 2.4.x kernels, to compile the 3c59x driver into the kernel or build it as a module. I have done the same thing with the 3c90x driver. In neither case does it work as it should. If I build it into the kernel, instead of a long delay, it is and INSTANTANEOUS failure, regardless of which driver I try. As a module, it takes forever for dhcpcd to fail and bootup to continue. After bootup, I end up having to manually run "ifup eth0" multiple times, and each time I need to immediately begin doing something like browse the web or download mail or ping a target in order to help dhcpcd succeed. If I do NOT do one or more of these things, dhcp (or pump) invariably fails to assign an IP address. Before it ends with [Failed] and while I am waiting, I have full network connectivity. Only upon the appearance of [Failed] do I lose it. In general it takes me about 3 tries for dhcpcp to be successful in assigning an IP address. What is up with this? I had thought that 3com cards were among THE most well supported cards in the linux world. With my problems (the card is fine and it is ONLY a linux problem since if I boot up to windoze, there is no problem at all) and the others that appear in this list from others, I am beginning to think that the 3com card is a DAWG and best placed in the trash. What is the deal here? How do I fix this? What settings for the card could I try (and how)? -- Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.
