Another possible workaround (didn't try Ben's one, I just discovered
this thread today):

Save the attached script in /root/bin/flo-check-network-connections
(using bash because of $RANDOM). Change the line:

interfaces="eth0 eth1"

to list the interfaces that have the problem (and that you want to be
up; if you have unused interfaces that are managed by the buggy driver,
you can omit them from the list)

In /etc/init.d/networking, replace the line:

if ifup -a; then

with

if ifup -a; /root/bin/flo-check-network-connections; then

The script, when called, does the following:

- if all listed interfaces are up and have a proper "inet addr"
setting according to ifconfig, do nothing;

- otherwise, try to fix the problem by doing several
"modprobe -r r8169; modprobe r8169" in a row, followed by an
"ifdown -a / ifup -a" sequence (you may pass arguments to the script
here, that are passed along to ifup and ifdown).

Yes, this clunky procedure does work for me, contrary to the
"cold boot / wait 30 s" workaround I found in another bug report;
you might want to modify $max_attempts, which I have set to 15 by
default; it has always worked for me in about 1-3 attempts.

The script returns exit status 0 if success (i.e., the listed interfaces
are properly initialized [maybe were already so before the script was
called]), 1 otherwise.

Of course, this is just a workaround for an annoying problem. A proper
fix in the kernel would be most welcome. :-)

HTH.

--
Florent



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Would be even better with the script actually attached...

--
Florent
#! /bin/bash

interfaces="eth0 eth1"
max_attempts=15
exit_status=1

for attempt in $(seq 1 $max_attempts); do
all_intf_ok=1
for intf in $interfaces; do
ifconfig $intf | grep >/dev/null "^[[:space:]]*inet addr:"
|| { all_intf_ok=0; break; }
done

[ $all_intf_ok -eq 1 ] && { exit_status=0; break; }

echo "Ethernet interfaces not properly initialized."
"Trying to fix that (attempt $attempt)..."
n=$(echo "($RANDOM % 3) + 2" | bc)
for i in $(seq 1 $n); do
modprobe -r r8169; modprobe r8169
done

ifdown -a "$@"
ifup -a "$@"
done

exit $exit_status