no wired network connection with 13.1 32-bit xfce

I installed openSUSE 13.1 32-bit xfce on a ThinkPad 600E. Installation went OK, but the system will not connect to the local network. It uses a PCMCIA card and cable to connect to a router. The card and router lights show activity. Network manager reports it is requesting a connection, but then disconnects. The card is set up as eth0, and uses the correct driver. It cannot ping the gateway (192.168.1.1).

When I move this same PCMCIA card and cable to another laptop running openSUSE 13.1 32-bit KDE, it immediately gets an IP address from the router, and is connected to the local network.

I have compared network and firewall setting on the two machines, and they seem to be the same. I used both network manager and ifup on the xfce system to try to get connected, but nothing works.

KDE is doing something right that xfce is not duplicating. Any idea what needs changing?

Thanks,
Howard

You should start by examining /var/log/messages for any messages that relate to the network interface concerned. Assuming you have it configured to be managed with ifup, what happens when you try to bring the interface up manually with

ifup <name of interface>

/var/log/messages contains lots of lines like

2014-02-10T21:31:28.661013-08:00 600E-oS131 dhcpcd[1471]: eth0: timed out
2014-02-10T21:31:28.675329-08:00 600E-oS131 dhcpcd[1471]: eth0: trying to use old lease in `/var/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-eth0.info'
2014-02-10T21:31:28.691375-08:00 600E-oS131 dhcpcd[1471]: eth0: broadcasting for a lease
2014-02-10T21:31:48.694211-08:00 600E-oS131 dhcpcd[1471]: eth0: timed out
2014-02-10T21:31:48.708388-08:00 600E-oS131 dhcpcd[1471]: eth0: trying to use old lease in `/var/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-eth0.info'
2014-02-10T21:31:48.724501-08:00 600E-oS131 dhcpcd[1471]: eth0: broadcasting for a lease

ifup gives

600E-oS131:/home/howard # ifup eth0
600E-oS131:/home/howard # 

I booted the laptop into Puppy Linux, and it got an IP address of 169.254.159.225 which makes no sense to me. Local network is 192.168.x.x. With that, Puppy Linux could not get to the internet or any local machines.
Thanks,
Howard

Do you have a valid link?

ethtool eth0

When you issued ‘ifup eth0’ did you get an address at that time?

ifconfig

I booted the laptop into Puppy Linux, and it got an IP address of 169.254.159.225 which makes no sense to me. Local network is 192.168.x.x. With that, Puppy Linux could not get to the internet or any local machines.
Thanks,
Howard

That is a default address assigned when DHCP fails.

600E-oS131:/home/howard # ethtool eth0
Settings for eth0:
No data available
600E-oS131:/home/howard # 
600E-oS131:/home/howard # ifup eth0
600E-oS131:/home/howard # ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:80:C7:DC:99:90  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:10944 (10.6 Kb)
          Interrupt:3 Base address:0x300 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:3360 (3.2 Kb)  TX bytes:3360 (3.2 Kb)

600E-oS131:/home/howard # 

Howard

Run ethtool after you have done ‘ifup eth0’

In any case, no address assigned. Did you configure this card with YaST first?

I configured the card with both YaST and network manager. YaST sees the card as

CreditCard 10Base-T 
MAC : 00:80:c7:dc:99:90
BusID : 1.0
• Device Name: eth0
• Started automatically on cable connection
• IP address assigned using DHCP4

I ran ethtool after ‘ifup eth0’ but got the same result

600E-oS131:/home/howard # ethtool eth0
Settings for eth0:
No data available
600E-oS131:/home/howard #

YaST loads the correct driver. Card and router lights indicate traffic, but the laptop does not get a network address.
Thanks,
Howard

Well, I think it’s time we knew more about your network hardware (chipset) and driver in use

/sbin/lspci -nnk

Hopefully, others can advise further

For hardware, 600E,

600E-oS131:/home/howard # /sbin/lspci -nnk
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge [8086:7190] (rev 03)
    Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge [8086:7191] (rev 03)
    Kernel modules: shpchp
00:02.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCI1251A [104c:ac1d]
    Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:00eb]
    Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
    Kernel modules: yenta_socket
00:02.1 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCI1251A [104c:ac1d]
    Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:00eb]
    Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
    Kernel modules: yenta_socket
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Cirrus Logic CS 4610/11 [CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Accelerator] [1013:6001] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: IBM CS4610 SoundFusion Audio Accelerator [1014:1010]
    Kernel modules: snd_cs46xx
00:07.0 Bridge [0680]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA [8086:7110] (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE [8086:7111] (rev 01)
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
    Kernel modules: ata_piix, pata_acpi, ata_generic
00:07.2 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB [8086:7112] (rev 01)
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
    Kernel modules: uhci_hcd
00:07.3 Bridge [0680]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI [8086:7113] (rev 02)
    Kernel modules: i2c_piix4
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Neomagic Corporation NM2200 [MagicGraph 256AV] [10c8:0005] (rev 20)
    Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad 570 [1014:00dd]
    Kernel modules: neofb
02:00.0 USB controller [0c03]: NEC Corporation OHCI USB Controller [1033:0035] (rev 43)
    Subsystem: Adaptec Device [9005:0016]
    Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
    Kernel modules: ohci_pci
02:00.1 USB controller [0c03]: NEC Corporation OHCI USB Controller [1033:0035] (rev 43)
    Subsystem: Adaptec Device [9005:0016]
    Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci
    Kernel modules: ohci_pci
02:00.2 USB controller [0c03]: NEC Corporation uPD72010x USB 2.0 Controller [1033:00e0] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Adaptec Device [9005:0c1e]
    Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
    Kernel modules: ehci_pci
02:00.3 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link) [iOHCI-Lynx] [104c:8023]
    Subsystem: Adaptec Device [9005:0037]
    Kernel driver in use: firewire_ohci
    Kernel modules: firewire_ohci
600E-oS131:/home/howard # 

and for the 600E network

600E-oS131:/home/howard # ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:80:C7:DC:99:90  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:16074 (15.6 Kb)
          Interrupt:3 Base address:0x300 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:3360 (3.2 Kb)  TX bytes:3360 (3.2 Kb)

600E-oS131:/home/howard # 

In comparison, for the X41 that connects to the network as soon as the same card is plugged in

howard@X41-os123:~> /sbin/lspci -nnk
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller [8086:2590] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad Z60t [1014:0575]
        Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller [8086:2592] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0582]
        Kernel driver in use: i915
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller [8086:2792] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0582]
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2660] (rev 03)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 [8086:2658] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0565]
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.1 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 [8086:2659] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0565]
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.2 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 [8086:265a] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0565]
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.3 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 [8086:265b] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0565]
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.7 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:265c] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0566]
        Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller [8086:266e] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0581]
        Kernel driver in use: snd_intel8x0
00:1e.3 Modem [0703]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller [8086:266d] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0576]
        Kernel driver in use: snd_intel8x0m
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge [8086:2641] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0568]
        Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller [8086:2653] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:056a]
        Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:266a] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:056b]
        Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:167d] (rev 11)
        Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad Z60t [1014:0577]
        Kernel driver in use: tg3
04:00.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II [1180:0476] (rev 8d)
        Subsystem: IBM Device [1014:0555]
        Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
04:00.1 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter [1180:0822] (rev 13)
        Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad X60s / Z60t [1014:0556]
        Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
04:02.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection [8086:4220] (rev 05)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:2711]
        Kernel driver in use: ipw2200
howard@X41-os123:~> 

which X41 network manager sees as

Type: Wired Ethernet
Connection State: Connected
IP Address: 192.168.1.143
Connection Speed: Unknown
System Name: eth2
MAC Address: 00:80:C7:DC:99:90
Driver: xirc2ps_cs

and also X41

X41-os123:/home/howard # ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0A:E4:3F:8B:6D  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:16 

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:13:CE:D4:8D:57  
          inet addr:192.168.1.145  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::213:ceff:fed4:8d57/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:141701 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:83091 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:203088320 (193.6 Mb)  TX bytes:10578497 (10.0 Mb)

eth2      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:80:C7:DC:99:90  
          inet addr:192.168.1.143  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::280:c7ff:fedc:9990/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:89 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:49 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:7757 (7.5 Kb)  TX bytes:10528 (10.2 Kb)
          Interrupt:4 Base address:0x3300 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:175 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:175 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:11694 (11.4 Kb)  TX bytes:11694 (11.4 Kb)

tun0      Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  
          inet addr:10.188.1.6  P-t-P:10.188.1.5  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:124197 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:73652 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 
          RX bytes:172728992 (164.7 Mb)  TX bytes:4247083 (4.0 Mb)

X41-os123:/home/howard # 

Anyone see the problem here?
Thanks,
Howard

Going back to your original statement

Network manager reports it is requesting a connection, but then disconnects. The card is set up as eth0, and uses the correct driver.

  1. It might be useful to examine/report the connection errors in /var/log/NetworkManager.

FWIW, this may (or may not) be relevant, but I stumbled across one Ubuntu thread where the user reports that NM has problems detecting the carrier state of a particular Xircom card.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1981329

  1. You might try switching to ifup instead (via YaST) and configure the card there. See if that makes the difference with getting a working connection with this hardware.

I’ve been back and forth between Network Manager and ifup a few times. The last entries in /var/log/NetworkManager are

2014-02-10T20:38:40.317581-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Auto-activating connection 'Ethernet connection 1'.
2014-02-10T20:38:40.345106-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) starting connection 'Ethernet connection 1'
2014-02-10T20:38:40.373317-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): device state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none') [30 40 0]
2014-02-10T20:38:40.397522-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> NetworkManager state is now CONNECTING
2014-02-10T20:38:40.421497-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
2014-02-10T20:38:40.470010-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
2014-02-10T20:38:40.497189-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
2014-02-10T20:38:40.526438-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
2014-02-10T20:38:40.570522-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...
2014-02-10T20:38:40.598682-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): device state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none') [40 50 0]
2014-02-10T20:38:40.630943-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) successful.
2014-02-10T20:38:40.692663-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) scheduled.
2014-02-10T20:38:40.726257-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
2014-02-10T20:38:40.769827-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) started...
2014-02-10T20:38:40.805552-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): device state change: config -> ip-config (reason 'none') [50 70 0]
2014-02-10T20:38:40.832862-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Beginning DHCPv4 transaction (timeout in 45 seconds)
2014-02-10T20:38:40.863082-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> dhclient started with pid 1900
2014-02-10T20:38:40.904712-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Beginning IP6 addrconf.
2014-02-10T20:38:40.941901-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete.
2014-02-10T20:38:41.376146-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): DHCPv4 state changed nbi -> preinit
2014-02-10T20:39:01.311820-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): IP6 addrconf timed out or failed.
2014-02-10T20:39:01.333060-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) scheduled...
2014-02-10T20:39:01.409616-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) started...
2014-02-10T20:39:01.432063-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) complete.
2014-02-10T20:39:26.332469-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <warn> (eth0): DHCPv4 request timed out.
2014-02-10T20:39:26.533629-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): canceled DHCP transaction, DHCP client pid 1900
2014-02-10T20:39:26.557535-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv4 Configure Timeout) scheduled...
2014-02-10T20:39:26.599805-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv4 Configure Timeout) started...
2014-02-10T20:39:26.638797-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): device state change: ip-config -> failed (reason 'ip-config-unavailable') [70 120 5]
2014-02-10T20:39:26.670826-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> NetworkManager state is now DISCONNECTED
2014-02-10T20:39:26.702113-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Marking connection 'Ethernet connection 1' invalid.
2014-02-10T20:39:26.745718-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <warn> Activation (eth0) failed for connection 'Ethernet connection 1'
2014-02-10T20:39:26.769615-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv4 Configure Timeout) complete.
2014-02-10T20:39:26.792094-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): device state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none') [120 30 0]
2014-02-10T20:39:26.834913-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): deactivating device (reason 'none') [0]
2014-02-10T20:42:05.059786-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <warn> /sys/devices/virtual/net/lo: couldn't determine device driver; ignoring...
2014-02-10T20:42:05.068027-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <warn> /sys/devices/virtual/net/irda0: couldn't determine device driver; ignoring...
2014-02-10T20:42:10.622150-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> caught signal 15, shutting down normally.
2014-02-10T20:42:10.718390-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): device state change: disconnected -> unmanaged (reason 'removed') [30 10 36]
2014-02-10T20:42:10.726259-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): cleaning up...
2014-02-10T20:42:10.734313-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): taking down device.
2014-02-10T20:42:11.128591-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> exiting (success)

I’ve been using ifup most recently, but have not succeeded with it.

I’ll dig into the link you posted.
Thanks,
Howard

Well, there is obviously a problem with DHCP, but the cause is not clear to me

2014-02-10T20:38:40.863082-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> dhclient started with pid 1900
2014-02-10T20:38:40.904712-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Beginning IP6 addrconf.
2014-02-10T20:38:40.941901-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete.
2014-02-10T20:38:41.376146-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): DHCPv4 state changed nbi -> preinit
2014-02-10T20:39:01.311820-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): IP6 addrconf timed out or failed.
2014-02-10T20:39:01.333060-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) scheduled...
2014-02-10T20:39:01.409616-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) started...
2014-02-10T20:39:01.432063-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) complete.
2014-02-10T20:39:26.332469-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <warn> (eth0): DHCPv4 request timed out.
2014-02-10T20:39:26.533629-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): canceled DHCP transaction, DHCP client pid 1900
2014-02-10T20:39:26.557535-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv4 Configure Timeout) scheduled...
2014-02-10T20:39:26.599805-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv4 Configure Timeout) started...
2014-02-10T20:39:26.638797-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> (eth0): device state change: ip-config -> failed (reason 'ip-config-unavailable') [70
120 5]
2014-02-10T20:39:26.670826-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> NetworkManager state is now DISCONNECTED
2014-02-10T20:39:26.702113-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Marking connection 'Ethernet connection 1' invalid.
2014-02-10T20:39:26.745718-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <warn> Activation (eth0) failed for connection 'Ethernet connection 1'
2014-02-10T20:39:26.769615-08:00 600E-oS131 NetworkManager[608]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv4 Configure Timeout) complete.

Can you try configuring with a static IP/gateway instead?

I’m pretty sure something between the network controller and the card is no longer supported on this 600E. Its sound card long ago lost its kernel module.

Anyway, as part of my on-going experimenting, I installed 13.1 32-bit LXDE, and got wireless working with a PCMCIA card - Netgear WN511B, after installing the broadcom packages from Packman. I’ll probably experiment with xfce again, but I think the wired network problem is really in the old hardware.

Thanks for your efforts to find a solution.
Regards,
Howard

Well, at least you have a means to get connectivity.

I’ll probably experiment with xfce again, but I think the wired network problem is really in the old hardware.

Thanks for your efforts to find a solution.
Regards,
Howard

Well, we have it a shot I guess. Yes, the age of the hardware is likely a factor.