> 	Usually interfaces without hardware is ~IFF_UP, so there should be
> 	no problem.  If it happens to be IFF_UP, xx_start() will check if
> 	the card is present or not, and if not present return some error
> 	(sorry forgot the exact error code).

Unfortunately, when the DHCP client runs, it's very common for no
interface to have the IFF_UP bit set, so the DHCP client can't use
this to differentiate between inserted and uninserted cards for which
configuration state is being maintained.

			       _MelloN_