boot error : /lib/modules/2.2.17/modules.dep ... no such file or directory

[Rob Byrnes <robbyrnes@ozemail.com.au>]

Hi all,

I have just reinstalled Potato onto my PC-64, and for some reason, the 
modules directory was not created during the install.  dmesg reports that 
no ethernet is present and during boot, modprobe complains:

depmod: can't open dependencies file /lib/modules/2.2.17/modules.dep ... no 
such file or directory

Why would this directory not be present on a clean install?

My ethernet card is an Intel EtherExpress Pro 10, and IIRC it worked when 
Debian (again potato) was installed previously

Cheers,
Rob