auto-boot network card

[Bram Kuijper]

Hi all,

when I start up my Ubuntu Gutsy box, I always have to manually reboot my 
network card, using sudo ifdown [cardname]; sudo ifup [cardname], in 
order to get it to work.

My question is: why do I always have to start my network card manually?
Wouldn't it be logical if ubuntu just executes this ifdown/ifup 
automatically upon booting?

cheers,

Bram

PS 1: My dmesg is giving the following message on boot:
[   35.977149] e1000: eth0: e1000_probe: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network 
Connection
[   54.980261] e1000: eth0: e1000_watchdog: NIC Link is Up 100 Mbps Full 
Duplex, Flow Control: RX
[   54.980265] e1000: eth0: e1000_watchdog: 10/100 speed: disabling TSO



PS 2: My eth0 settings are simple, nothing more than:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp