/etc/network/interfaces problem

["Thomas H. George,,," <georgeacct@spininternet.com>]

I have two boxes, one Woody with a 2.4.18 kernel and one Testing with a 
2.4.20 kernel.  The /etc/network/interfaces are identical except for the 
static addresses.  The Testing box signs on to the network at bootup, 
the Woody box does not.  Specifically, the interfaces file for the Woody 
box is as follows:

   auto wlan0

   iface wlan0 inet static
       address 192.168.2.105
       netmask 255.255.255.0
       broadcast 192.168.2.255
       gateway 192.168.2.1

On bootup ifconfig shows only the loopback interface while ifconfig -a 
shows the above values but wla0 is not up.  The command ifup wlan0 
produces a reponse that wlan0 is already configured.  If I then enter 
the following two commands:

   ifconfig wlan0 192.168.2.105
   route add default gw 192.168.2.1

the wlan0 interface comes up and the gateway to the internet is open.  

As stated above, the interfaces file for the Testing box is identical 
accept that the address is 192.168.2.104.

I don't understand why Testing comes up on bootup and Woody does not and 
I don't understand why entering values for the address and gateway which 
are identical to those in the interface file brings the Woody interface up.

Can anyone help?

Tom George