It sounds like your card may require some sort of initialization from DOS or Windows. I've never encountered this, but I've heard of several cards claiming to be compatible with a popular brand only working after one boots into DOS or Windows and then uses Loadlin from there to start Linux. I hope this isn't the case, but it sounds like the card you are trying to get working isn't quite as compatible as it claims if ISAPNP can't even find it.
