Kernel Compile Issue

[Michael Kahle <michael.kahle@scc-wi.com>]

I am afraid that I will be kicked off of this list because of this silly
question.

But, I'm stumped, this could be because it's 12:31am and I'm tired.  Here
goes:

I am creating a custom kernel for Debian Woody.  For some reason I cannot
get my ethernet card to load as a module.  I have done the following:

make menuconfig
make-kpkg -rev lvm+raid.1 kernel_image
dpkg --install /usr/src/kernel-image-2.4.18.2_lvm+raid.2_i386.deb
init 6

The new kernel boots fine, but eth0 no longer can get an IP.  lsmod says
that I have no modules loaded.  I double checked to ensure that I didn't
build this into the kernel and I did!  So I did the same process a second
time, same deal only this time I made sure that I specified my NIC to load
as a module.  No dice, it is still built right into the kernel.  Now I guess
I don't really care if it is, the problem is that I can't get an IP from
DHCP.  I tried:

ifdown eth0
ifup eth0
dhclient eth0

None of these things give me an IP.  What am I missing.  You can be sure
that I have tested everything out, i.e. good cable, laptop can get an ip
from same port on switch, computer is plugged in etc.

Thanks for your time.

Michael