I am currently trying to comparison benchmark Linux against Windows NT Server in a file serving envrionment on a small network (less than 40 users). The problem that I have been having is that Linux doesn't like to keep its IP address. What happens is that once I get the server's networking up, it takes a couple of hours (sometimes days) for it's IP to 'take effect'. No changes to its network config are made during the down time. Once the IP starts working, I can ping, telnet, etc. from any machine on the network. Then, all of the sudden it becomes unavailable, and you can no longer ping it. I have had similar problems with Corel distributions. The machine has a 3Com 905TX 10/100 network card in it, which has been switched out with other cards to eliminate the possibility of a faulty NIC. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

is this with a static or dhcp assigned IP # ?

It is a statically assigned IP address. I have tried using DHCP, but this method usually doesn't work.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe something in your bios is putting the card to sleep.After a switch-out of the nic and trying another distro and using a static IP#
there should be nothing stoping you from accessing that box.Can you ping and telenet out from the box?