I have a microsoft MN-520 pcmcia wireless lan card and im getting a wiered error.

When i boot up with the lan card plugged in the system will not recognize it at all however when i boot up without it plugged in and plug it in after i've fully booted to kde it gives me no problem what so ever. Does anyone have any ideas as to why it would be doing this. I tend to shutdown this laptop a lot and it is going to get annoying having to remove the lan card each time I go to boot it up.

Also, just a side note. Is there an apt-get front end installed by default? Im new to debian/knoppix and dont quite know my way around apt-get yet.