False alarm, 2.6.35.6+latest git e1000e does not work any better.
I was just lucky.
One thing what was common, when it works, I get this line a little time
before dhclient start working:
eth0: IPv6 duplicate address fe80::219:d1ff:fe00:5f01 detected!
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Do what you love because life is too short for anything else.
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