> The switches I'm currently using are unmanaged netgear 24 port > (or 5 port) cheap switches so there is no way to change this. > I've tried using a crossover cable so the switch was eliminated > altogether - same results. I also tried using a 3COM 3C39036 > 100 Mbit switch in default mode (I'll learn how - then try > setting the portfast later to see if it helps.) I observed the same problem, and mentioned it here at the end of march. unfortunately, I then got buried in work, and didn't get a chance to debug it. I'd observed that kickstart failed for my dells with intel gige on the motherboard. But only when hooked up to netgear equipment. Failed on both a netgear gige switch, as well as a netgear 10/100 hub. Worked okay on a cheap linksys switch though. I also observed the same failure. Namely, I could manually walk through an install, but kickstart always failed to fetch its config file. Interestingly, it successfully used dhcp to get an ip address. I'm certainly interested in whatever results you end up with. seph