I think you're confusing things that are and are not modules.
Kernel modules will be located in
/lib/modules/kernel version/kernel/...... So if you re-compile your kernel and include support for a given piece of hardware in the kernel, then your new kernel name (you should be renaming your kernel) will not have that particular module in
/lib/modules/new kernel name/kernel/..... That part you're correct in your assumption.
However,
/etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia is not a module but simply a shell script that may or may not run at start-up. For more about this I suggest reading
this.
Hope that helps
