Why do I have so many problems with my PCI-PCMCIA/CardBus adaptor?
PCMCIA-ISA adaptor The PCMCIA (PC-card) bus was based on the ISA bus design; so adaptors from PCMCIA to ISA are straightforward to build. Similarly, the 32-bit Cardbus was based on the Intel PCI bus design and adaptors from Cardbus to PCI are also straightforward to build. However, cards that bridge from PCMCIA to PCI involve a lot more complicated circuitry and are generally more problematic. Avoid them. Also, some of the newer PCI Cardbus bridges aren’t properly supported by some operating systems (check for updates). Cardbus-PCI adaptor Even if you are using a PCI-CardBus adaptor, you can still have problems if your PC’s BIOS don’t correctly detect or allocate interrupts to it. A good explanation of why some BIOSs don’t work, and how to work around them is given in the OpenBSD pcibios manpage. If all BIOS hackery fails, you will probably be able to take the card back to your supplier for a refund. The supplier cannot decline a refund if you legitimately believed that the card would
