7.3 and 8.1 PCMCIA won't work

I'm having a problem with SuSE PCMCIA Drivers. I have two laptops - a Toshiba Portage 667CDT and a Gateway Solo 9100 The Portage has 7.3 loaded and the Solo has 8.1 loaded. Neither one of them will access the network through the PCMCIA network cards (both 3com, both supported). I have tried using external drivers, and doing that allows cardinfo to properly identify all the cards (the kernel drivers seem to be hit and miss). I've done everything specified in the documentation, but no joy. I'm about at my wit's end, but I really need to get the network (at least) working. Does anyone have any advice for me? Thanks in advance -Dan