Unfortunately, this is a laptop, so Acer has implemented an idiot-proof BIOS. There isn't any option to switch off the Ethernet card. I tried appending the various options to the DVD boot loader (-v -x -s -F) and I still didn't get anywhere. It's too bad that OS X doesn't work like FreeBSD where I can disable modules at the boot prompt before the kernel is loaded into memory.

Perhaps I should rephrase the question. Has anyone used an Intel gigabit ethernet card (PRO/1000) with their OS X build? iDeneb may have an issue, but perhaps another build may not.