Recently my old Gateway laptop computer was upgraded from Windows Me to Windows XP. Unfortunately, the PCMCIA network card no longer functions. When inserted, Windows XP identifies the card as an ‘iPort 10/100_Ethernet_Card’ and loads the hardware driver installation wizard. However, Windows is unable to find a driver for the card and asks for the driver CD to be inserted. After numerous enquiries around Canberra, and searching of the internet, I have only been able to find drivers for Windows 98 and Windows ME, and I suspect there have been no Windows XP drivers developed for the card. In the absence of a Windows XP specific driver, is there any way to make the card work under Windows XP? The card is a BroMax iPort 10/100M Ethernet Card.

It seems you have encountered an important issue whenever a new operating system is released - support for existing devices. I have also done some searching on the internet, and was unable to find a Windows XP driver for your device. As you likely discovered, Windows 98/Me drivers will generally not work in Windows XP given the completely different way in which Windows XP operates. Therefore, it seems you are out of luck in getting this card working under Windows XP. The best advice I can offer is purchasing a new PCMCIA network card which supports Windows XP. Searching some local computer stores I found you can buy a new card from reputable brands (e.g. Netgear) for around $50 - 70, so they are quite inexpensive. This will certainly be the easier, and possibly only, option should you wish to get networking up and running on the computer.