Hi,


>Now the problem is - after all these files have been
>set (correctly), the NIC refuses to boot (i.e. it does
>not poweup) !
>  
>
"Does not powerup"...are you refering to the lights on the card? if so,
your network-cable or card might be broken.

>Is there any particular thing I need to do (more) ?
>
>here are all the files
>
>+---[ ifconfig.rtk0 ]-------------------------
>#ifconfig configuration for RealTek (nic0)
>inet 10.10.245.96 netmask 255.255.255.0 media
>100BaseTX
>+---------------------------------------------
>  
>
Please try with the following content:
#------------------------
up
10.10.245.96 netmask 255.255.255.0 media 100baseTX
#------------------------

And see if this helps.

One other thing..you are using a host "skanda.in". Since ".in" seems to be
a "regular" or "real" TopLevel Domain, you might get problems resolving
that someday.
The DNS-information of outside-nameservers and your /etc/hosts conflict
if there is
a domain with that name on the outside (didn't check).


>+---[ /etc/hosts ] ---------------------
># default part is omitted here
>10.10.245.96            skanda.in skanda
>+---------------------------------------
>
>
>+---[ /etc/myname ]----------------------
>skanda.in
>+-----------------------------------
>
Good luck & happy hunting ;-)

Roman