I demand that Francois Romieu may or may not have written...

Darren Salt [off-list ref] :
[...]

quoted

Whoops. I'd not noticed the -rc4 patches...

quoted

These seem to help a little: mii-tool can reset it and bring the link up
regardless of RTL_CFG_{1,2}. After that, RTL_CFG_1 allows sending to work,
and RTL_CFG_2 allows both sending and receiving to work (tested by trying
to get an IP address via DHCP).

Did you need to play with mii-tool to have DHCP working or did it work
automagically (assuming the -rc4 patches + the RTL_CFG_2 change of course)?

The former. Without that, the connection is persistently re-negotiated
(though, according to the switch's LEDs, it's fine before the module is
loaded).

-- 
| Darren Salt    | linux or ds at              | nr. Ashington, | Toon
| RISC OS, Linux | youmustbejoking,demon,co,uk | Northumberland | Army
|   Say NO to UK ID cards. http://www.no2id.net/

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.