eth0 does not come up on boot (Linux Mint) Options

[watty62]

I recently installed Linux Mint 14, and went to edit the /etc/network/interfaces to set a static IP.

My file reads:

###################################
# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.12
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1
####################################

If I run this command manually:

sudo ifup eth0

then it attaches to my router with 192.168.0.12 as IP and I can get internet access.

If I reboot the system then it doesn't process that - and I have no net access.

Running this

sudo ifup eth0

manually always works.

What is the right way to solve this - so that it is processed on startup and is assigned the right IP address?

Thanks

Watty