I did a kernel upgrade from Debian 3.0 default kernel to 2.4.25. I have included the NIC driver as modules during make xconfig. However, I've included EtherExpress Pro100 driver during kernel customization.

1) When I did a ifconfig, only the lo (loopback device) is shown.

2) When I did a 'ifconfig eth0 up', it says:
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flag: No such device

3) No entry is shown when I did 'dmesg |grep eth0'

All the network settings are correct in /etc/network/interfaces file. IP address, mask, gateway are still there.

Please advise...

Thank you very much !

try: "modprobe <nicmodule>"
then: "ifconfig -a"
if eth0 pops up, run: "/etc/init.d/networking restart"
"echo <nicmodule> >> /etc/modules" to load module on boot.

Thanks, that works perfectly

I post this in another thread, but thought that it is relevant to what we're discussing.

During the kernel customisation (make xconfig), I have Kernel Module Loader installed, which should load modules automatically as and when they are needed. I have a NIC that requires pcnet32.o to work and this driver is compiled as a module to the kernel. However, on bootup, this required module is not automatically loaded.

Although it does work after I manually added the module to /etc/modules, I'm curious as to why it wasn't automatically loaded by the Kernel Module Loader during bootup.

Thanks again !

Networking is usually one of those things you make statically into the kernel, unless its PCMCIA or somthing. Of course, thats not a hard and fast rule, just a rule of thumb for newbies. (Remember that all these threads are searchable, so makes sure to give solutions. I've been seeing people who are saying "Got it. " and leaving it at that.)