eth0 doesn't work under 2.4.9

[Vittorio <vdemart@supereva.it>]

At last, after an extenuating series of failures I've been able to
compile a tailored 2.4.9 kernel for my laptop under debian potato,
using many of the options I had been using when compiling the 2.2.19
one.

Now, it happens that while my 2.2.19 kernel at boot time recognizes
the eth0 card (an eepro100, built as a module) and I can issue either
ifconfig or ifup without problem, the new 2.4 kernel doesn't seem to
recognize it (compiled as a module) giving the following well known
error:

potato#ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.1
SIOCSIFADDR:no such device
eth0:unknown interface:no such device

If I issue 'modprobe eepro100' 'ifconfig' works properly but 'ifup
eth0' goes on failing.

Please help.

Ciao
Vittorio