diff --git a/defaultenv/defaultenv-2-base/network/eth0 b/defaultenv/defaultenv-2-base/network/eth0
index 7e731cae0..33fe7c1b2 100644
--- a/defaultenv/defaultenv-2-base/network/eth0
+++ b/defaultenv/defaultenv-2-base/network/eth0
@@ -14,3 +14,5 @@ serverip=
 #ethaddr=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
 
 # put code to discover eth0 (i.e. 'usb') to /env/network/eth0-discover
+
+exit 0
diff --git a/net/ifup.c b/net/ifup.c
index 7b6313629..409b338ec 100644
--- a/net/ifup.c
+++ b/net/ifup.c
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ static char *vars[] = {
 	"netmask",
 	"gateway",
 	"serverip",
-	"ethaddr",
 };
 
 static int eth_set_param(struct device_d *dev, const char *param)
@@ -70,14 +69,18 @@ int ifup(const char *name, unsigned flags)
 	cmd_discover = asprintf("/env/network/%s-discover", name);
 
 	ret = run_command(cmd);
-	if (ret)
+	if (ret) {
+		pr_err("Running '%s' failed with %d\n", cmd, ret);
 		goto out;
+	}
 
 	ret = stat(cmd_discover, &s);
 	if (!ret) {
 		ret = run_command(cmd_discover);
-		if (ret)
+		if (ret) {
+			pr_err("Running '%s' failed with %d\n", cmd, ret);
 			goto out;
+		}
 	}
 
 	dev = get_device_by_name(name);