Usb/firewire Card And Network Card Conflict

Hi gurus,

I'm running 9.2 on a Dell Inspiron 4000. The network card is an internal Actiontec Electronics EtherExpress PRO/100B (TX) (MiniPCI Ethernet+Modem). I also have a generic USB2.0/IEEE1394 combo card that I use occasionally in the laptop's PCMCIA slot,

Here's the problem... They don't work together. The network card runs fine alone. When I power down and plug in the USB card, the USB card is identified, but the network card isn't identified. To add fun to the mix, when I plug my generic external CD-RW drive into the USB port on the card (while it appears to be identified and running), the drive isn't read.

So I guess I have 2 problems

I'm extremely new to linux, but this screams of an IRQ conflict (/me shudders at memories of Win3.0). Any advise on how to track this down?

Thanks in advance, even if you're just laughing

inny