The following message is displayed in black letters on a white background.

The device in the system modular bay cannot be identified. It may not be completely inserted or may have some other problem. Please read and complete the following steps in order:

1. press the device completely and firmly into the bay.
2. press the esc key wait for the system to power down.
3. press pwr button try redetecting the device.

The device in question is most probably the PCMIA card wireless LAN adaptor as the computer boots into Windows XP without the error message if I hold the card firmly in place.

Would it be a good ideas to clean the socket using compressed air to blow out any dust followed by isopropyl alcohol? Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Would not use alcohol but blowing it out may help

Try starting the laptop without the card in and then insert it when windows is booted up to see if that may help