EEPro100 missing msg from driver

our eth0 (10/100 Intel) hangs randomly ( no network communication 
possible) and the following msg is printed in dmesg.

/The EEPro100 chip is missing/

I tried rebooting the box but during eth0 shutdown, the machine hung.

Environment:
2.4.18, eepro100 1.24 (latest one)

running eepro100-diag gave the following.

/eepro100-diag.c:v2.09 7/15/2002 Donald Becker ([email protected])
 http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html
Index #1: Found a Intel i82557/8/9 EtherExpressPro100 adapter at 0xc880.
i82557 chip registers at 0xc880:
  ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff ffffffff
  Interrupt sources are pending.
   The transmit unit state is 'Unknown'.
   The receive unit state is 'Broken-15'.
  This status is unusual for an activated interface.
 The Command register has an unprocessed command ffff(?!).
Intel EtherExpress Pro 10/100 EEPROM contents:
  Station address FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF.
  Board assembly ffffff-255, Physical connectors present: RJ45 BNC AUI MII
  Primary interface chip i82555 PHY #-1.
    Secondary interface chip i82555, PHY -1.
   Sleep mode is enabled.  This is not recommended.
   Under high load the card may not respond to
   PCI requests, and thus cause a master abort.
   To clear sleep mode use the '-G 0 -w -w -f' options.
/
any idea?

thanx
ssk