have to bring up network manually after reboot

[Alex Hunsley <fakeAddress@privacy.com>]

Each time I reboot my debian box, I have to bring up the network manually.
If I just try "ifup eth0", I get the error "Operation failed". To get the
network back, I have to type the following each time:

insmod 3c59x
update-modules
ifup eth0

..and then my network is back. Is this normal? I'm sure the last time I
installed debian (last week) I only had to do the above guff once, then it
persisted, even after reboots.

A possible hint to problems could be that when I do "update-modules", I get the
message: 

   depmod: *** Unresolved symbols in /lib/modules/2.2.19pre17-ide/scsi/ibmmca.o

Any ideas how to avoid having to do this every time I boot?

thanks
alex