PCMCIA and fedora core 2

[Wanabe_linux_guru]

i have a HP ZE4427 laptop

i have been haveing some trouble, linux has worked on my laptop rather well, besides the normal with this laptop with the video drivers in X. but for some reason everytime i plug something into my pcmcia port like my wireless card it locks the laptop, or if it in when it is booting up it locks when it loads the pcmcia module. the modem is not recognized but that isnt much of a problem as i do not use it. but everything else i have been able to get to work fairly well. i was also wondering if anyone had installed core 3 on this laptop and if it works any better.

i also have another issue that i havent been able to confirm in linux because of the pcmcia not working but in windows wireless through this port seems rather weak. i plug it in and i can connect but unless im right next to or with in fairly close proximity of the wireless ap i have a very weak signal (tried with an lucent oronoco gold card, blitzz G card, smc 200 mwatt card, oronoco a/b card, as well as a proxim b card ) and a number of ap such as cisco, linksys, proxim. i can put these same cards in my gateway and sit in the same spots and have at least 40-50% better signal including getting signal that i was unable to get with my hp. this problem is also with my friends compaq although i do not have the model number at this time, i was wondering if anyone has any information about this, or know what internel wireless cards i might be able to get since i have read that all but a few are prevented for working by the bios.

thanks