possibly the driver as delivered doesn't recognize that specific version of the device, so needs a nudge to handle this specific device ID ?
[this is purely a wild a** guess]
Ok, so I see this on boot: Bringing up interface eth0: [ OK ] Bringing up interface eth1: sky2 device eth1 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization. [FAILED]
So just to clarify #modprobe "module name" *is* enough to load a module across reboots, but you must be correct in that that nic needs a nudge...
Thanks, jlc