hi to all, i'm new here.. been using linux happily for years, figuring out pretty much everything from google or help from friends, however i'm stuck at the moment.

i've always had my linux setups (usually debian) on an average PC, using various PCI network cards, and once i've got my network basically set-up, i've been able to apt-get everything i've needed.

now the problem, i've just bought a laptop (ibm thinkpad, 500mhz with 256mb/ram.. came with XP home ), so i've scrapped the xp home install and tried using both debian and adamantix (for those who don't know, it's based on debian), and it's doing something strange here.. during the install, both the debian installer and the adamantix installer finds my PCMCIA network card and allows me to set it up there and then as eth0. ok sweet, problem is, once that's done, it is not detecting the network card at all. i plug my cat5 cable in and i have no led (HELLO I'M ALIVE) light on either the network card or my hub.

it's stopping me from using apt-get and i've tried to find others with this problem but i'm having trouble here. also, pcmcia-cs is installed, so i just don't understand what the problem is.


any help is much appreciated, thanks,
-jm.