Before giving up, you may want to try finding out whether it is actually your card that is damaged, or your socket/mainboard.
Can you find another user in the vicinity who also has a PCMCIA memory card? If so, try swapping cards.
If yours work in his machine, it's your mainboard.
If his works in your machine, it's your card.
If both work - hey, you're done, you just needed to wear off some crap from the contacts ;-). Try swapping back and see if it works now.
Best regards,
Niels
