Comment 28 for bug 87078

I've just been assisting a user on #ubuntu who was experiencing this error message when trying to connect two PCs via cross-over cable.

There are a huge number of reports in forums blogs and mailing lists across the Internet, but few concrete solutions.

The best hints I could find were:

* disabling the Wake-on-LAN function in the system BIOS, and
* doing a complete cold boot - that means even disconnecting the power cable from the mains for 30 seconds (this ensure the 5V standby power is definitely removed) so the card loses any settings the standby + WOL mode might retain.

This second option solved the issue for the person I was assisting.

Also, some people report that on dual-boot systems with Windows, booting Windows and making sure it can use the network adapter, then doing a wam restart into Linux will also solve the issue temporarily.