LinuxQuestions.org - Debian etch + TP760cd pcmcia not working

I'm helping a friend install linux on his IBM Thinkpad 760cd. The only thing I can get to install without mucking about with a network boot option is Debian etch. Fine.

This goes very well actually. The Xircom XE2000 10/100 pcmcia ethernet adapter is detected and activated w/o any problem and the installation completes without a single error. Because I am not about to subject even my worst enemy to GNOME or KDE on a computer with this little ram or ancient a processor I tell it only to use the Laptop and Standard System tasks and leave the "Desktop" option alone so I can install only Fluxbox, or WMaker later.

So, installer reboots the system and everything is going fine, until I try to do something needing the network. eth0 isn't started. WTF? Ok, so my Ubuntu system kept doing this, no worry, just ifup eth0. No such device.

pccardctl status -- nothing. pccardctl ident -- nothing.
cardmgr -- No sockets found (all this after I modprobe pcmcia, it wasn't loading by default for some reason).

I've looked everywhere. All I can find are instructions for what to do if the card won't intialise. What am I supposed to do when the kernel can find the pcmcia sockets and the card attached when it's the installation floppy, but not when it's the final install?