--- a/drivers/net/au1000_eth.c
+++ b/drivers/net/au1000_eth.c
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@
  * 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
@@ -835,6 +838,10 @@ static int au1000_init(struct net_device
 
 	control = 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 (aup->phy_dev) {