one more thing that may be of interest: % modprobe -c
found this: alias eth0 off and also # Options options 3c59x 3c59x options=4 options 3c59x 4 the latter ("Options") correspond to what i entered when trying to load the 3c59x module using modconf. the system hung for so long (30+ minutes) that i rebooted. thanks again, -b