Comment 2 for bug 133374

same problem here with a different driver, from syslog:

NetworkManager: <info> eth0: Device is fully-supported using driver 'skge'.
NetworkManager: <info> nm_device_init(): waiting for device's worker thread to start
NetworkManager: <info> nm_device_init(): device's worker thread started, continuing.
NetworkManager: <info> Now managing wired Ethernet (802.3) device 'eth0'.
NetworkManager: <info> Deactivating device eth0.

after unplugging en replugging the network cable, doing a 'networking restart' or ifdown/ifup, dhcp kicks in properly

NetworkManager: <info> Will activate wired connection 'eth0' because it now has a link.

from /etc/network/interfaces:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

#iface wlan0 inet dhcp
#auto wlan0