>>> >From the dmesg's "ne0: where did the card go?" , I traced the ne2000.c
>>> code(/sys/dev/ic), and found my card failed at:

This was the warning I saw when the I/O ports were mapped outside
the decoding capabilities of my laptop's chipsets (too many bits).

Any chance this is what's going on here?

-- 
==John Kohl <jtk@kolvir.arlington.ma.us>, <john_kohl@alum.mit.edu>
Open up your heart, // Treasure that which brings you joy. //
Love is your reward.
See this Haiku and other stuff on my home page, http://jtk.ne.mediaone.net/~jtk