Petra Hofmann wrote:

> 1.  I can enter inet 10.10.1.5 (address of the router) and 255.255.255.0.
>     ifconfig ex0 will then return the above line.  However, if I reboot those
> setting are not saved.

  In addition to the address of the router, you also need an IP address
for your computer.  Then you create a file called /etc/ifconfig.ex0
(where 'ex0' ist the name of your ethernet interface), containing the
parameters to ifconfig.  The following example assumes an IP address of
10.10.1.99:

inet 10.10.1.99 netmask 255.255.255.0

> 2.  If I make the above changes, and touch ifconfig i can ping the card and
> ping 10.10.1.5 but I can't ping beyond that address.

  That's probably because you use the same IP address for your computer
and your gateway.

> 3.  I can watch the HP Lan switch port for this box and I can see the port
> become active and comm with the nic.  However, when dhcp begins the port
> disconnects.  Even after configuring the router ip the port does not come up.

  I can't comment on the dhcp client, since I haven't used it in years. 
'man dhclient' and 'man dhclient.conf' might help you here ...

  Cheers
      ,
   Rene