Greetings, I am wanting to use a linux live cd on the guts of my roommates old pc which consists of a SY-K7VME soyo motherboard with built in eth/vid/snd etc and a cd drive, the problem is that I cannot seem to get the ethernet to acquire an IP. I am using an Ambit 60678EU cable modem and a wireless/wired netgear WGT624 v2 (wired option of course). I removed the hdd from this newer pc and ran the live cd and it acquired an IP just fine from both my modem and my router so I don't believe they are at fault, but I have also tried 2 other NIC pci cards on the soyo system and neither of them worked either. I have tried manually entering in the IPs in multiple variations on all the NICs with no luck as well, it will go through and look like it has an IP but my router doesnt show anything except the MAC address without an IP, nothing will ping or load (and I am entering in the correct data).. My hunch is that linux doesnt have driver support for these NICs, (they are older NICs I pulled as spare parts, one is a 3com and the other im not sure, and the onboard is probably the newest one, a VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine II] Embeded Ethernet Controller on VT8235..) and I am just seeing if there is a way to get support for them if this is the case (or to get it working by some other means if this is not the case) such as downloading a driver or something.. I couldn't find any linux drivers for the motherboard from the manufacturer.. and I am not too sure how the linux community handles situations like this without programming something themselves (which is far too complicated for me)

anyway.. here are some command results i typed in if they help at all (this is a failed dhcp attempt with just the onboard NIC, i could get the other configs if needed, its just a pain though since Im using the floppy drive on a digital camera as a USB drive) any suggestions or help is appreciated, thanks.

knoppix@2[knoppix]$ ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:2C:A5:27:1C
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:12 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xce00

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:124 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:124 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:12982 (12.6 KiB) TX bytes:12982 (12.6 KiB)

knoppix@2[knoppix]$ lsmod | sort
8250 42844 0
Module Size Used by
ac97_codec 20236 1 via82cxxx_audio
af_packet 24328 0
agpgart 31440 6 sis_agp,intel_agp,efficeon_agp,amd64_agp,ali_agp,v ia_agp
ali_agp 9216 0
amd64_agp 13640 0
apm 22252 2
autofs4 19076 1
cloop 19232 1
efficeon_agp 10144 0
i2c_core 20992 1 i2c_viapro
i2c_viapro 10512 0
ieee1394 297432 2 sbp2,ohci1394
intel_agp 22300 0
mii 8320 1 via_rhine
ohci1394 33460 0
ohci_hcd 21764 0
parport 33480 1 parport_pc
parport_pc 38724 0
pcmcia 23696 0
pcmcia_core 43268 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
rsrc_nonstatic 14080 1 yenta_socket
rtc 13900 0
sbp2 24584 0
serial_core 21120 1 8250
sis_agp 9988 0
snd 46820 1 snd_mixer_oss
snd_mixer_oss 18304 0
sound 71684 2 via82cxxx_audio,uart401
soundcore 11104 5 snd,via82cxxx_audio,sound
uart401 13124 1 via82cxxx_audio
uhci_hcd 31632 0
unionfs 68088 1
usb_storage 68544 0
usbcore 102492 5 usbhid,usb_storage,ohci_hcd,uhci_hcd
usbhid 42464 0
via82cxxx_audio 27656 2
via_agp 11392 1
via_rhine 23172 0
yenta_socket 22152 0
knoppix@2[knoppix]$ lspci -v
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [KM400] Chipset Host Bridge
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 8
Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: dde00000-dfefffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: d5d00000-ddcfffff
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at e400 [size=32]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
I/O ports at e800 [size=32]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
I/O ports at ec00 [size=32]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
Memory at dfffff00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32
I/O ports at fc00 [size=16]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 5
I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 74)
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine II] Embeded Ethernet Controller on VT8235
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at dc00 [size=256]
Memory at dffffe00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [S3 UniChrome] Integrated Video (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Unknown device a723:10fd
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Memory at de000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Expansion ROM at dfef0000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

knoppix@2[knoppix]$ dmesg | grep -i eth
eth0: VIA Rhine II at 0xdffffe00, 00:50:2c:a5:27:1c, IRQ 11.
eth0: MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x7869 advertising 05e1 Link 41e1.
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 4003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Transmit timed out, status 0003, PHY status 786d, resetting...
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1