The above error message basically means that eth0 i.e your network interface card is not setup correctly.

Some of the commands that can come handy in troubleshooting where the error lies are listed below

$ dmesg | grep eth0
(displays information about the ethernet controller card, mac address etc.)

$ cat /etc/sysconfig/network(displays the network settings)
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=localhost.localdomain
GATEWAY=192.168.122.1

$ cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfp-eth0

$ ifconfig eth0 down (to down the nic)
$ ifconfig eth0 up (to start the nic)
$ netstat -rn (display kernel routing IP table)
$ cat ifcfg-eth0 (eth0 configuration settings)
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
HWADDR=00:16:18:33:B3:CF
ONBOOT=yes

$ service network restart (restart the network settings)

$ ping -c4 google.ca(to check if the internet connection works)

$ traceroute google.ca (to check how the IP navigation path is set)

Refer Red Hat linux 5 configure network article for additional info