Manually bring up NICs not found at install and/or rebuilding Kernel

["John Purser" <jmpurser2@home.com>]

Hello,

I've repeatedly installed Woody (vanilla) and Potato on my IBM and neither
one recognizes the PCI NICs.  Red Hat and W2K get them first try but I don't
want either one on this box.

During the last attempted install of Woody I tried using the "Configure
Network" alternative but was told that there were no NIC's found which means
I have to load different modules in the kernel before I can configure.  So
either I dynamically load the modules or I have to rebuild my kernel or
someone gives me another option.

QUESTIONS:
Is there any way to bring up my NIC's without rebuilding my Kernel?

I've found a .deb file called kernel-source-2.4.6_2.4.6-1_all.deb at
E:\pool\main\k\kernel-source-2.4.6 on the first CD.  Is this my Kernel
Source?  If so how do I install this file.  My Kernel compiling instructions
assume I'm starting with a .bz2 file.

Any tips/suggestions on rebuilding my Kernel?

Would there be any advantage to installing potato and upgrading to Woody?
Potato doesn't recognize my NIC's either but at least tasksel works.

Thanks for the help.

John Purser