FC5/FC4 Update Problem With Newer Kernels

[Rod Haper <rhaper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've run into a problem trying to update a system from FC3 to FC5 ... or 
even FC4.  I updated one of my home systems (a clean install) from FC4 
to FC5 without a hitch.  So I decided it was time to update my wife's 
FC3 system (MS-6390 mainboard with VIA KM266 & VT8233A/8235 chipset, 
external Nvidia NV5M65 RIVA TNT2 video card,  onboard Realtek 
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ LAN adapter, etc.) to FC5 and then the rest of my 
system that are still running FC4.

I tar'ed and copied the /home file system to another system so my wife 
can continuing working and proceeded to do a clean install of FC5. I 
noticed that the installation process didn't detect the graphics card, 
mouse or ethernet NIC but pressed on to completion.  At FirstBoot, it 
was obvious that I had a problem with the "missing" devices.  On a whim, 
I decided to try a FC4 install which went just fine - everything was 
detected just fine and FirstBoot setup went smoothly running the base 
2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 kernel.  Then I ran a 'yum update' to update the 
system which pulled in the 2.6.16-1.2111_FC4 kernel.  When I reboot the 
system with the new kernel, I ran into the same problem of missing 
devices again.

I have the same problem with an old laptop (Dell Inspiron 8100) at work 
with FC4 - the PCMCIA ethernet adapter (Linksys EtherFast+ 10/100) is 
not found with newer kernels.  It stopped working after a couple of 
kernel updates - somewhere in the early 1400's builds.

It seems that some changes in the kernel internals is causing the 
hardware detection to fail and/or udev to not install the necessary 
devices.  I'd appreciate any suggestions and insights as to the cause of 
my problems and how to fix it.

--
Rod