diff -urN linux-2.6.16.7/drivers/net/au1000_eth.c linux-2.6.16.7.new/drivers/net/au1000_eth.c
--- linux-2.6.16.7/drivers/net/au1000_eth.c	2006-04-17 23:53:25.000000000 +0200
+++ linux-2.6.16.7.new/drivers/net/au1000_eth.c	2006-04-23 01:42:48.000000000 +0200
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
  * Author: MontaVista Software, Inc.
  *         	ppopov@mvista.com or source@mvista.com
  *
+ *         Bjoern Riemer 2004
+ *           riemer@fokus.fraunhofer.de or riemer@riemer-nt.de
+ *             // fixed the link beat detection with ioctls (SIOCGMIIPHY)
  * ########################################################################
  *
  *  This program is free software; you can distribute it and/or modify it
@@ -1672,6 +1675,10 @@
 	aup->phy_ops->phy_status(dev, aup->phy_addr, &link, &speed);
 	control = MAC_DISABLE_RX_OWN | MAC_RX_ENABLE | MAC_TX_ENABLE;
 #ifndef CONFIG_CPU_LITTLE_ENDIAN
+	/*riemer: fix for startup without cable */
+	if (!link)
+		dev->flags &= ~IFF_RUNNING;
+
 	control |= MAC_BIG_ENDIAN;
 #endif
 	if (link && (dev->if_port == IF_PORT_100BASEFX)) {