IDE-Fix Express woes

[Photon]

After working solidly for two days in my A1200-060, I get the following symptoms: 1 blink of LED, then a few seconds later red screen+guru.

I haven't changed anything hardware-wise in these 2 days, and when opening it it wasn't very warm at all inside.

Before it started to "not boot anymore", I had a Read Error on Disk Block xxx dialog when trying to List a folder. Popped it in WinUAE, typed Info, no validation going on, all files OK. Also tried another CF card with the Amiga, same thing.


It *was* tricky to get the Gayle adapter on, it kept springing up easily. So I hotglued it while it was working.

I'm sure it's the Gayle adapter not getting proper contact with Gayle. Probably the hotglue finally couldn't resist the spring action of the socket.


Any suggestion for better ways of securing it properly?

[Edit: tested some more and not 100% sure the IDE-Fix is causing the red bootscreen+gurus. Will check back and update.]

[Edit2:] Nope, definitely is the IDE-Fix.

1. Reseated kickstart roms for good measure no difference
2. IDE directly to CF adapter - no guru
3. IDE-Fix Express all hooked up except cable to mobo IDE port - no guru
4. Attach IDE cable to mobo - guru.

3. and 4. are regardless of IDE cable from IDE-Fix daughter board connected to CF adapter or not.


So, back to the basic question - how do I make it reliable??

[Edit 3:]
Re-seated the turbo card (Apollo 1260) on a whim and it's been stable for a few minutes now. Don't know what to make of the behavior "around the IDE port" above. Could be chance that it behaved that way, could be chance that it works now, just cos I re-seated the turbo card. I did get 5 guru-free powerons when the Apollo was unplugged, so I guess that's it.

OK then, if you have an Apollo and solved that problem I'd be happy for advice on that too

[Edit 4:]
No woes after re-seating. Will re-woe if and when woes materialise.

[JimmySage]

I have exactly the same problem with my Apollo 1260, just gives read errors on booting. It worked fine with an 030 so I've given up on using the express mode. The only thing that works for me is to not set the express jumpers, which only leaves you with a read speed of around 2.5mb/s.

[Photon]

You might be glad to know that I've used it with a Sandisk Extreme IV 2GB at 3.8MB/s+ speed for 3 evenings now! I'm using correct mask and maxtransfer 0xfe00.

I think it was mentioned though (on EAB) that some cards are disliked by IDE-Fix Express, they said 'because they are too fast', but I will try to disprove that with heavy use and copying lots of files, as that's what has proven some CF cards unreliable with certain A500 HDD interfaces for me earlier.

I think there's some other factor here, and that (if your RDB settings are correct) you may be able to enable Express if you try another card make.


Regarding the original problem: after cleaning the edge connector and re-seating the Apollo, I've had no trouble at all. I haven't touched the IDE-Fix Express at all, just added two gobs of hotglue