ethernet interface with at91sam9260 not working

I developed a custom AT91SAM9260 based board. For ethernet, I have used 
Cortina lxt9972 MII mode. I successfully loaded the u-boot on the system 
via USB (ATMEL SAMBA). after loading the uboot (after setting 
ipaddr,ethaddr & serverip) i try pinging the server from the terminal. 
but doing so, my uboot is hanging indefinetly. please suggest on where i 
am going wrong. since my ethernet is not working, i am not able to go 
ahead and upload the linux image (which is my ultimate goal) even if 
ethernet is not working, can i upload the linux via ATMEL SAMBA itself ?

thanks
vikram