I apologize, Endian uses br0 so if you run "ifconfig br0" from the shell of the Endian box you should see something like this:
root@gateway:~ # ifconfig br0
br0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1D:92:B3:09:42
inet addr:192.168.9.1 Bcast:192.168.9.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:180980 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:177979 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:31245596 (29.7 MiB) TX bytes:169687512 (161.8 MiB)
In this case 192.168.9.1 is the LAN address of me Endian box.
When you connected via the laptop did the lights on the NICs light? If then lit then you wouldn't need a crossover. From what you are saying though, it kinda just sounds like your install got hosed up. You may just want to try to re-install Endian OFF your network then connect your laptop and make sure it's all configured and working before you drop it on the network.
I don't have any other real thoughts, I'm sure there's something I'm missing but I'm not sure what it is right now.