Here's ifconfig output before I use the applet to enable networking, and after it reports that the network is now enabled (after my manual intervention):
Before: eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:80:C6:FD:2A:ED UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:23 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:27 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:2803 (2.7 KiB) TX bytes:3013 (2.9 KiB) Interrupt:21 Base address:0xe800 After:eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:80:C6:FD:2A:ED inet addr:192.168.0.10 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::280:c6ff:fefd:2aed/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:32 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:61 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:4107 (4.0 KiB) TX bytes:9086 (8.8 KiB) Interrupt:21 Base address:0xe800 -- Wired network not enabled upon system boot https://launchpad.net/bugs/97278 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs