"""
Then the card died, now it doesn't even init on the PCI bus. lspci shows no sign of it. Guess I'll just return the damn laptop.
"""
Think about that next time you complain about a problem and someone "responds" by asking you where you were when the project was asking for beta testers. Tell them just how dangerous testing can be. Good thing you were in warranty. Which brings up another question. The vendor likely sold the machine with an OS that did not destroy the hardware. What should their options be?