maxim@MAIN:~$ sudo ethtool -i eth1
driver: e1000e
version: 1.0.2-k4
firmware-version: 1.1-0
bus-info: 0000:00:19.0

maxim@MAIN:~$ sudo ethtool -g eth1 
Ring parameters for eth1:
Pre-set maximums:
RX:		4096
RX Mini:	0
RX Jumbo:	0
TX:		4096
Current hardware settings:
RX:		256
RX Mini:	0
RX Jumbo:	0
TX:		256


maxim@MAIN:~$ ifconfig 
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:19:d1:ed:88:2a  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:3411 (3.4 KB)  TX bytes:2736 (2.7 KB)
          Interrupt:20 Memory:50300000-50320000 


Number of RX packets seems to increase
Wireshark doesn't see them


Example:

maxim@MAIN:~$ sudo dhclient eth1
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.2
Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/eth1/00:19:d1:ed:88:2a
Sending on   LPF/eth1/00:19:d1:ed:88:2a
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 18