ethernet configuration

i amtrying to setup a linux machine on my inspiron 1200.

Everything seemed straightforward until it came to configuring the ethernet connection. just does not seem to work.

problem :does not activate the eth0.

current state of the system -

OS : Red Hat Fedora core 10

1. on system settings > network, under hardware tab it shows hardware as 3com 3c501
2. on adding an ethernetconnection using this card, it adds; but on clicking on activate gives the following error message : "3c501 device eth0 does not seem to be present"

dmesg | grep eth
-----------------
has given the following output. (pardon .. have to type in what i see )
- divert: not allocating divert_blk for non-ethernet device eth0
- divert: no divert_blk to free, eth0 not ethernet

lspci
--------
has the following relevant output :
02.08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. :unkknown device 1068(rev 03)

cat /etc/modules.conf
----------------------
has the following relevant out put
-alias eth0 3c501

and btw, i have scoured the net for any likely solutions, but nothing seems to work

any suggestions ?

thanks in advance