I recently installed Ubuntu Desktop 13.10 and I am trying to set up static IP by changing the /etc/network/interfaces file from:

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)                                                                                                                        

auto lo

iface lo inet loopback



iface eth0 inet dynamic

to:

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)                                                                                                                        

auto lo

iface lo inet loopback



iface eth0 inet static

address 192.168.1.70

netmask 255.255.255.0

broadcast 192.168.1.255

network 192.168.1.0

gateway 192.168.1.1

dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8

Using whatever I gleaned from these FAQ/Tutorial Sites

• Ubuntu Network Configuration


• problem with static ip in ubuntu 12.04 lts server


• Linux Basics - Set A Static IP On Ubuntu


• Howto: Ubuntu Linux convert DHCP network configuration to static IP configuration

I have double checked those numbers, and they are the same values I use on 2 different computers at the office (NOTE: those 2 computers, raspis, are connected to a network switch then the router, whereas the desktop currently in question connect directly to the router). However, when I enable static addresses and restart, the machine does not get the ip address I requested (192.168.1.70), instead getting a different one (192.168.1.111) disabling the NIC altogether. I have also tried requesting a different ip address (192.168.1.199) in case the old one was taken, but that too results in the NIC being disabled.

I am asking this question here as google/SO does not seem to have an answer specifically pertaining to what users should do, and how they should proceed when simply "googling the problem" and quickly updating a single file does not result in static addresses. I am specifically requesting the following:

1. An answer as to why this may not be working (ie. whether this is Ubuntu 13.10 related).


2. How to debug the network initialization during boot.


3. How to finally set up static ip addressing.

EDIT:

As per Atari's requests, I tried setting the IP using the GUI instead of the command line. To do this, I had to purge the /etc/network/interfaces file first (by commenting out the static related lines), restarting, then trying again. If I do not do this, I can not even access the options of my NIC. This did assign a static IP to my computer, however, now I only have local access to and from it (via ssh) with absolutely no access to the internet.