...
image works on a sd that is a 32g
but dosen't work on an 8g card
...
What's that supose to mean ?
On 32G SD card the image is booting up and it's fine ?
or
You can copy the image only on 32 GB card ?
Either way - you're doing something wrong or inappropriate SD cards are used.
Most (not 100% sure but I think all) images for these type of rigs are intended for 8 GB SD cards preferably class 10.
Try writing the image to SD card and do the testing on another Dragon if you have one or your friend's one.
Or even easier, try the newly made SD card on someone else's RPi to check if it's booting.
P.S. By the way what is the network addressing you're using ? Is your network 192.168.1.X ?