[uClibc]Newbie problems. gethostbyname doesnt work on busybox/ucLibc

[root]

I have setup a bare root filesystem using the image out of the busybox 
buildroot script.

the following code works on my suse-box  (static compiled to ucLibC)

...
    struct hostent *hostinfo;

    hostinfo = gethostbyname (hostname);
...

but fails to run on my busybox i386 embedded device. (illegal instruction)

I also get the error "illegal instruction" if I use ping, ifconfig, route
the I think this is maybe a installation issue.

Whats wrong with my box ?

Any help appreciated.

TIA

Marc