Hi,

The VIA chipset might be causing the troubles.

Search the foum on posts about 'VIA' and why not 'VIA ethernet '.
In one post someone mentioned the cheat code pci=biosirq.

One solution would be to simply buy a ethernet PCI card, they're not that expensive.

Could you tell if it works out, 'cause I'm gonna buy a new mobo and I'd like to know if there is a solution to the VIA problem.