I don't know if this was resolved already...
I have Debian3 rc2. After installing from the CD, the command uname -r shows a 2.2 kernel. I want to use a 2.4 kernel for USB and IPTables support. I made two attemps to install a debian kernel image from two different tutorials and both times kernel did not find the standard netgear 311 nic card. It works in 2.2, though. I changed the nic to a linksys, and then a dlink (both cards are detected by suse 7.0 - 9.0 and Red Hat 7.1 - 9.0), and still got the same result. This leads me to the conclusion that there must be something I missed. Is there some other undocumented or little-known step to making a the standard Debian 2.4.18 kernel detect my NIC? ? Is there some way to install a 2.4.18 kernel while installing from the cd, and maybe avoid this hassle?
...but I went through the exact same thing, which ended up being a long thread on this list toward the end of December (search for Realtek 8139). With all the advice I got, I was never able to get a 2.4 kernel to recognize my NIC once I had installed from a 2.2 Woody. On the advice of Uwe and a few others on this list, I eventually opted for a Knoppix install, which solved all of my problems.
Later, on another system, I installed Woody from a BF24 setting as a couple of people recommended here, but when I upgraded, X got messed up. The next time, I installed only the basic system, then upgraded, and then installed X, and now I have a working Sid system, with NIC, good screen resolution, and USB mouse all working.
Chuck