Hi,
with an older kernel (Letux-4.8), I have a working eth0. I compile a newer kernel, I reboot with it, and eth0 still works.
I power down the board, wait for one hour or less.
I boot the board, I have no eth0, the module is not loaded, dmesg reports no useful information. Further reboots don't bring back eth0.
I was able to use vanilla kernels and eth0 a while back.