What does the /etc/network/interfaces file look like that is where the IP for the card gets set and if auto eth0 is in there then it is brought up automatically on boot.

For static settings it should look similar to this you would need to replace the settings with yours.

Code:
>$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
# /etc/network/interfaces -- configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)

# The loopback interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The first network card - this entry was created during the Debian installation
# (network, broadcast and gateway are optional)
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
        address 192.168.0.1
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        network 192.168.0.0
        broadcast 192.168.0.255
        gateway 192.168.0.254
For DHCP

Code:
>$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
# /etc/network/interfaces -- configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)

# The loopback interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The first network card - this entry was created during the Debian installation
# (network, broadcast and gateway are optional)
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

You can remove or put a # character in front of the lines that are still left over from the knoppix kernel like the bttv, tuner and emu10k1 if they are not needed anymore. The modules being loaded are for the new kernel if you did not compile the others that are in the modules file then they would never have a chance to be loaded they do not exist for that kernel.