Internet connection worked for months now fails

[Shimon]

I am on 2.4.27-2-386 Debian and using Linksys with DHCP one machine on Windows XP another with Linux. The internet connection worked for several months and now after being idle for a month I have rebooted and it does not set up the eth0 with an address.

ifconfig shows eth0 but with no address.
running /etc/init.d/networking restart
produces these:
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database.

Exiting.

Failed to bring up eth0.
done.

I have tried changing cables, rebooting while the Windows machine disconnected from the Linksys, hard reset on the Linksys, and setting up a static IP. Nothing works.

Does anyone know the procedure to verify what is missing to receive a response from the Linksys within Linux. The Linksys is fully functional with the Windows machine and yet the Linux machine cannot talk to it. Could it be something trivial I am missing? I have gone through other posting of similar type and the solutions offered are not working on my machine.

Hoping for some lead. Thanks,

Shimon

[engineuity]

are you wired or wireless. Sometimes after I leave my connection for a few days/week, the dhcp offer has expired. I usually just do a soft reboot of the router (connect to the page and navigate to the spot where the "reboot" button is). It seems that if your in a semi high volume spot where there may be a few wireless computers, they can eat up your valid dhcp offers not letting you onto your own router.

Cant explain why it wont work after you did a hard reboot though... If you are wireless, try getting a wired connection. If you can then list what kind of hardware you have (age of computer, laptop/desktop, wireless card). Could be buggy drivers?

[Shimon]

First, the connections are wired. The Debian Linux is on a 2.6GHz Intel Celeron D in a P4S800 Asus mother board with an on board Fast Ethernet card. This machine is less than 1 year old desktop. The Windows machine is a 5 year old Intel 1.7GHz with Windows XP (2 years) desktop and the Linksys with four ports (no wireless) about 5 years old.

I have read instructions of setting up an Ethernet card saying I need to add an alias of eth0 for tulip. I did not find one existing but there were warnings in the file not to change for it is generated. I went into the generating file and it says it is obsolete and I had to abandon this lead. I can only assume that if "tulip" is the driver it must have been set up and I don't know how to verify that I have all the details to facilitate the connection.

Do you think the problem is in the router or is it the Linux not able to reach the router?