strange eth problem with RHEL on T60

[danda821]

I have install RHEL AS 4 update 3 on T60. When plug in a cable to the intel 1G eth port (the otherside is connected to a router), everything works fine. But when I unplug the cable, run ifconfig -a shows no eth0 and corresponding MAC address.

On my old T23,eth is there even the cable is not plugged in. T60 only shows eth (MAC address) when there is a working eth connection. Is that normal? I need to use the MAC address when there is no eth connection. Thanks.

[teetee]

does '#ifconfig eth<NUMBER> up' bring you anything? Maybe the system was configured to bring the interface down (local if-down) automatically when it lost connection.

[danda821]

Problem solved after add
alias eth0 e1000
to /etc/modprobe.conf