nothing really helped. but, i thought to give it another try so i loaded knoppix and as usuall just tried to setup the network (netcardconfig, nothing special) and for some strange reason it actually worked. i have no idea why since i've been trying the same thing for a while now. go figure. so this time i saved the settings and now it works every time i boot knoppix.
i only wish i knew how or why.
thanks for all the help though.