Problems connecting Ether Express Cards to switch

Hi,
I have three computers in my local home network. Two of them have Intel 
Ethernet PCI cards (a desktop and a laptop) that refuses to talk to an 
external switch.

I have tried two switches now (an 8 port Linksys and an 8 port Netgear). 
The third computer which has a 3Com NIC works fine with the switches. 
Also, all three NICs work fine with a hub. So....its something specific 
to the interface between the EE Pro cards and the switch.

Is this a FAQ? I tried looking through the recent archives but failed to 
find the answer.

Thanks,
DS

PS: The relevant outputs from `lspci -vv` is as follows:

Desktop:
========
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] 
(rev 08)
         Subsystem: Intel Corporation EtherExpress PRO/100+ Management 
Adapter
         Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- 
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
         Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium 
 >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR+
         Latency: 32 (2000ns min, 14000ns max), cache line size 08
         Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 12
         Region 0: Memory at e3104000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
         Region 1: I/O ports at dc00 [size=64]
         Region 2: Memory at e3000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
         Expansion ROM at e0000000 [disabled] [size=1M]
         Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
                 Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA 
PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold-)
                 Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-

Laptop:
=======
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82801CAM (ICH3) Chipset 
Ethernet Controller (rev 42)
	Subsystem: IBM: Unknown device 0209
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- 
Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B-
	Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- 
<MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
	Latency: 66 (2000ns min, 14000ns max), cache line size 08
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
	Region 0: Memory at d0200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Region 1: I/O ports at 8000 [size=64]
	Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
		Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-




-- 
D. Sen, PhD
http://www.auditorymodels.org/~dsen