I have an old Sony PCG-432L that I like to carry while travelling. (I am 
retired, so I don't need a powerful machine).  After not having the machine 
on for a while, the Windows XP updates sometimes hose the machine, perhaps 
to the point of a reinstall.

The last update killed the PCMCIA adapter.  Otherwise the laptop works 
perfectly.  However, without the PCMCIA I am without wireless internet and 
without CD ROM.  I can't do a reinstall because I need the PCMCIA port for 
the CD.

Any ideas on how to reactivate the PCMCIA port?

Have you tried a system restore back to before the update was installed?

Did you check the BIOS settings to see if there was a way to enable/disable 
the PCMCIA?

If your PCMCIA doesn't work before windows loads it was not because of a 
windows update it is BIOS related

Also I found this tidbit on a different forum...check it out:

Try this site, pcmplus might get you going:
http://yong.biz/bbs/view.php?id=pds&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=vote&desc=asc&no=18

Click on download #1.

I didn't actually go there but it was relating to using PCMCIA in DOS mode 
for CD and floppy drives



Good luck and post results so others will know also