[NCLUG] Help needed getting networking running in Debian

[Sivea Key]

I am trying to get 3 Debian 2.2 boxes running consistently on my LAN. I need
them to use a Linksys cable router for internet access. I have set up the
interfaces by editing them manually with vi per instructions in Linux Rute
Users Tutorial and Exposition and mapped them to each other and the router
in their respective /etc/hosts files. When I run ifconfig -a on 2 of the
boxes I do get properly configured th) an lo listed. On those two, when I
try to us the networking, however, it fails. Box 1 with a Netgear FA310TX
nic, gives the error "SIOCSIFFLAGS: Resource temporarily unavailable" when I
run ifconfig eth0 up. Pinging the router of course fails saying network is
unreachable. When I installed Debian, I compiled the Dec whatever Tulip
driver for that nic. (That's an AMD 1600)

Box 2 works to a point after reboot. I can run ifconfig eth0 up without
error but lynx says "Alert!: Unable to cnnect to remote host. . . .lynx:
Can't access startfile http://www.excite.com/" and the PING of the router
seems to hang after saying "PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes".
(That machine is a PentPro 200, BTW.)

Box 3 only lists the loopback when I run ifconfig -a in spite of the
/etc/network/interfaces file having been edited to contain address, netmask,
network, gateway and broadcast addresses (yes, I checked to be sure I really
changed them). When I run ifconfig eth0 up it says "unknown interface: No
such device". On boot up all the networking configuration after Setting up
IP spoofing protection say  the same thing. My guess is that the driver
isn't loading for some reason. But my books don't have enough information
for me to figure out how to get that working on startup (or any other time).

BTW, a friend did have 2 of the boxes (boxes 2 and 3) up and networking but
obviously it wasn't set in the startup scripts or something because when I
rebooted it was all gone. I need a permanent solution.

Thanks,
rank newbie
Sivea