diff --git a/src/etc/netstart b/src/etc/netstart
index 1dff9264..78b1ac2d 100644
--- a/src/etc/netstart
+++ b/src/etc/netstart
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh -
 #
-#	$OpenBSD: netstart,v 1.48 1999/03/29 22:09:58 niklas Exp $
+#	$OpenBSD: netstart,v 1.49 1999/08/09 21:49:04 angelos Exp $
 
 # Returns true if $1 contains only alphanumerics
 isalphanumeric() {
@@ -92,6 +92,12 @@ for hn in /etc/hostname.*; do
         continue
     fi
 
+    # If the interface does not exist, just skip processing the file
+    /sbin/ifconfig $if > /dev/null 2>&1
+    if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
+	continue
+    fi
+
     # Now parse the hostname.* file
     {
         read af name mask bcaddr extras