With FreeBSD i386/5.2-R on a laptop with 122496 KB reported memory. By adding: hw.cbb.start_memory="125829120" In /boot/loader.conf the pcmcia/cardbus handleing starts to work and the dreadful: Jan 25 23:32:54 noname pccardd[551]: fatal error: no PC-CARD slots Is solved ;) I hope this can be an helpful tip to any other people struggling with this issue.