Description of problem: xen doesn't create virtual machines on a T60 laptop unless a network cable is plugged into the network port and attached to a switch/hub. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): rhel5 gold + xen-3.0.3-26.el5 kernel-xen-2.6.18-8.1.3.el5 How reproducible: 100% Steps to Reproduce: 1. Boot Thinkpad T60 laptop ordered from Red Hat internal sourcing as of May 2007 without network cable plugged in with E1000 network port configured to static IP addressing 2. xm create -c rhel5n1 (where rhel5n1 is a working virtual machine) Actual results: xm create command reports error and doesn't create a virtual machine Expected results: xm create should create a virtual machine Additional info: I noticed that if I later plug in the e1000 network cable, xm create works. Then if I unplug the network cable, xm create continues to work properly. It also appears that ifcfg-eth1 is not properly configuring the E1000 network interface address during startup - but only setting it properly when the network cable is plugged in. Once the cable has been plugged in and xend restarted, the system works properly. This makes using xen difficult on the T60 requiring plugging the t60 laptop into a network port at some point before using xen. Reference bz 239201 which indicates the ipw3945 wireless card does not work at all with the xen kernel without changing start orders of init scripts. Note during this bug report I reverted all start orders to those start orders shipped with RHEL5. The ipw3945 wireless adapter can also not be used to boot the xen machines as a result.
Please provide more information if this is still a problem, - /var/log/messages - /var/log/dmesg - ifconfig -a - lspci -vv
This looks like a userspace issue, either with userspace xen or virt-manager and friends.
Apparently this was fixed by RHEL 5.2.