Pcmcia Nic - Kernel config - Kudzu

[Dougga]

Hi

I'm having rather extreme problems with my laptop config
I have a Dell Inspiron 1100 and am attempting to configure the kernel to 
accept a new Wireless NIC.

After I compile the kernel as per the instructions on the driver development 
site, I load the new kernel and Kudzu seems to see my onboar Broadcom nic as 
something new.

I let it remove the old and install the "new" nic after which my machine won't 
activate either nic:  the PCMCIA wireless nic which was the target of the 
excersize nor the Broadcom onboard.

If I check 'service network status' it shows: lo eth1 & eth2
But active devices is only lo.

The hardware browser shows both onboard and PCMCIA nics
Onboard = /dev/eth1
PCMCIA= /dev/eth2

The network Configuration Utility shows a different setup:
inactive  eth0 Ethernet
inactive  eth2 Ethernet

I can change the eth0 to eth1 and restart the network service.
The output indicates that all three interfaces are brought up with no errors 
but ifconfig shows only lo.

Can anyone help navigate this nightmare?

Thanks