Thanks a lot for your reply.

here's the output of dmesg | grep eth using a linux mint live cd:

mint@mint ~ $ dmesg | grep eth
[ 1.865859] Driver 'sd' needs updating - please use bus_type met
[ 1.865871] Driver 'sr' needs updating - please use bus_type met
[ 3.060804] eth0: Broadcom 44xx/47xx 10/100BaseT Ethernet 00:0f:
[ 67.534548] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[ 70.816190] b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
[ 70.816194] b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX
[ 70.816293] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[ 81.492013] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
[ 151.592243] b44: eth0: powering down PHY
[ 151.980645] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[ 154.816170] b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
[ 154.816174] b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX
[ 154.816265] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[ 165.512023] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
[34938.880750] b44: eth0: powering down PHY
[34939.462715] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[34943.000162] b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
[34943.000167] b44: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX
[34943.000253] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[34953.960022] eth0: no IPv6 routers present


I'm a novice, but it sounds not quite perfect? Anyway, it works.

From Knoppix I got:

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ dmesg | grep eth
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ dmesg | grep eth
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$

Mysterious.

I'll see if I can find a driver on the CD...
I'm using Knoppix 6.2.1

Many thanks for your help
Matt