problems with networking on boot

[Lou Losee <llosee@hvc.rr.com>]

I am having problems getting networking to start up on boot.  I can get
it running manually, but it seems like there is an interface problem
between ifup/down and ifconfig.

I am running net-tools (ifconfig) 1.60.8 and ifupdown 0.6.4-4.6 but have
also tried this with net-tools 1.60.4 and ifupdown 0.5.4-4

After bootingthe system, there are no network interfaces setup.  If I
manually run ifup -av I get the following output:

Configuring interface lo=lo (inet)
run-parts /etc/network/if-pre-up.d
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 up
ifconfig: only one address allowed for interface `lo'
Usage: ifconfig [OPTION]... [SYSTEM OPTION]...
Try `ifconfig --help' for more information.
Configuring interface eth0=eth0 (inet)
run-parts /etc/network/if-pre-up.d
pump -i eth0  
run-parts /etc/network/if-up.d

However networking comes up fine if I issue the commands:
ifconfig lo up 127.0.0.1
pump -i eth0

Similarly, if I try ifdown -av I get:

Configuring interface lo=lo (inet)
run-parts /etc/network/if-down.d
ifconfig lo down
ifconfig: can not resolve `down': Unknown host
Configuring interface eth0=eth0 (inet)
run-parts /etc/network/if-down.d
pump -i eth0 -k
ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig: can not resolve `down': Host name lookup failure

With regards to the boot sequence, in /etc/rcS.d I have:

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           18 Dec  8 07:31 /etc/rcS.d/S40ifupdown -> ../init.d/ifupdown
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           20 Dec  8 07:31 /etc/rcS.d/S40networking -> ../init.d/networking

I tried searching bugs and the changelogs for ifconfig and ifupdown and
the forum archives but didn't see anything relavent.

Anyone have any ideas where/what to look at next.

TIA,
Lou