dhcp okay, but no http

[seph]

> Do the precisions have multiple NICs?

the precisions have only their onboard NICs. the dimensions have 2
nics though, so my cds already specify ksdevice=eth0.

> What is the NIC hardware in the Precision? Does its module take extended
> debug flags which can be passed on the kernel command line?  If so, you
> may be able to see something in the output of dmesg, after getting far
> enough to use the shell on Alt+F2.

lspci identifies it as:

  03:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet
  Controller (Copper) (rev 01)

dmesg says:

  Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - version 5.2.20-k1

passing the kernel debug flags, and seeing if that shows anything is
an excellent idea. I'll try that this weekend.

seph