The A1200 had a known hardware bug, which caused certain cards not to work if inserted previous to boot. Google for "A1200 pcmcia reset bug". It´s explained a bit here http://www.amiga.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-58624.html AFAIK there was a hardware based fix, and also a software work-around. Maybe the previous pcmcia code implemented the software work-around and the new pcmcia code does not?. Just thinking aloud...
Same here. I applied the hardware fix (transistor and resistor, I think) because NetBSD (1.6?) would require me to either physically unplug and replug the PCMCIA card or try a hardware reset several times, and considering the machine was in a 1U case and colocated, that was a pain in the derriere.
With the hardware fix, I haven't had any issues with netbsd-7 (yet) with PCMCIA. nsphyter* is properly recognized now.
The hardware fix, if you're interested, can be found on Aminet (one of the US mirrors is hosted on my 1U Amiga 1200, incidentally).
John