We just did a quick trip to the marsh (just about an hour base-to-base) to revive S8's networking.  I got it running with: su; ifdown eth1; ifup eth1.  I tried switching the USB positions of the stick and the modem, but they don't fit the other way.

After talking with Gordon, I'll try to implement his old script to check networking and do ifdown/up to attempt to revive.  2 trips to S8 in a day is fun, but I don't want to make a habit of it.