Debian Etch Acer Aspire 5050 network card not functioning after install

["Siju George" <sgeorge.ml@gmail.com>]

Hi,

I tried to install Debian Etch on Acer Aspire 5050.
I installed using a netinstall  CD and the network card worked fine.

After the install while booting into the new system I was stuck up
with the error

=================================================================
Loading ACPI modules:
             battery
ACPI: Battery Slot [BAT1] (battery absent)
             ac
=================================================================

it gets stuck there

if I give

acpi=off

in the boot options then I can get the login prompt but the network
card does not send out any packets.

#ifconfig -a

 shows the network card is up but it does not send out any packets.
Also it keeps on showing an error in the console

===================================================
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1
====================================================

Could some one tell me how to fix this error?

Thankyou so much

Kind regards

Siju