Auto eth0 suddenly stopped working LM10

[splive]

Hi, I've been using 64bit LInuxMint 10 for ages now without any problems then suddenly last week, turned the machine on and the Internet didn't auto connect, I right clicked the network icon in the system tray and "enable networking" was ticked, I un-ticked it, then re-ticked a couple of times and the Internet connection sprang to life and connected.
I now have to repeat this process everytime I power up the machine, sometimes it works after 3 or 4 "enables" but sometimes many more?

I'm pretty new with the techy side of linux, so go easy on me, ifconfig gives the following output when the connection is fine:

Code: Select all

$ ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 1c:6f:65:5e:2c:5b 
          inet addr:192.168.2.4  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::1e6f:65ff:fe5e:2c5b/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:114111 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:75564 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:146045717 (146.0 MB)  TX bytes:7064018 (7.0 MB)
          Interrupt:41 Base address:0x6000

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:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:100 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:100 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:12584 (12.5 KB)  TX bytes:12584 (12.5 KB)


Gigabyte GA-MA78LUS2H mobo onboard ethernet
Mint 10 Julia 64 bit Kernel 2.6.35-30 Generic
GNOME 2.32.0

really appreciate any help.

[splive]

Update to this little bug that I still can't seem to resolve:

When I start the system up, if I leave the machine idle for 5 mins the auto eth0 is still not connected, but if I then right click the networking icon and 'disable networking', then immediately 'enable networking', the eth0 connects fine, if however I try to do this as soon as the system boots up, I can repeat the above steps some 20 times before it finally connects. It's as if, something is taking time to settle down? weird.
I've run updates and everything is up to date.

Anyone?

[xernos]

Probably you give as wrong model motherboard - i suppose this should be GA-MA78LMT-US2H.

Your Ethernet controller probably is RTL8111D - so in your place i will try that card on other system (maybe this is hardware problem) and check is there any new version of bios.

You can also install realtek linux drivers and black list "r8169" kernel module (adding to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-network.conf and run "update-initramfs -u").

http://www.realtek.com.tw/DOWNLOADS/DOW ... DOWN=FALSE

You can also add to your /etc/rc.local rmmod and modprobe to reload standard driver r8169 in the end of boot process.

Sorry for my english.

[AlbertP]

That's true, for 8111/8168 you can install the r8168 driver (also available from http://code.google.com/p/r8168/) which works better. But in Mint 13 r8169 is supposed to work well again. Mint 13 will be released in a few weeks. Also, Mint 10 has reached end of support.