Netgear MA311 /Intersil/Prism2.5 has 2 entries in Network settings, wlan0 and wifi0, cannot delete

SuSE 12.3 seemed better than ever after updating from 11.4, and I’ve been using these MA311s wifi PCI cards for a long time, they are very dependable and have been supported under Linux for a long time. Works w/ WinXP in same (dual-boot) machine. But on 12.3 I can’t get the radio to find the WAP, cannot delete the entries in the Network settings, have re-edited them and/or tried to delete them numerous times.
I have pulled the card, then been able to delete one entry after reboot (sans card.) But after then replacing card and reboot, the 2nd device entry reappears. I’ve also edited both entries for DHCP and correct SSID… card just won’t see the WAP. It’s not the WAP; again, that and card work fine w/WinXP

Yast hardware information: Has 2 entries “MA311 802.11b wireless adapter” one named wlan0 one named wifi0, many items are identical (even the “Unique Parent ID”) But not all lines/items are present for both

two entries also, for the card under “PCI”

Kernel Driver = hostap_pci

lspci output line: 03:05.0 Network Controller: Intersil Corporation ISL3874 [Prism 2.5]/ISL3872 [Prism 3] (rev o1)

lspci -n output line: 03:05.0 0280: 1260:3873 (rev 01)

Can’t find anything about “missing” firmware in dmesg.

I am addled, and ready to take suggestions to try to get things diagnosed and set up right… thx for any hints

-cnshht