Using a Compact Flash card on a600/a1200 IDE

[Smiley]

I bought the following CF>IDE adapter from Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1

I have tried it with a 32mb and a 1gb CF card with no luck.

I attached it to my A600 system with a 2.5 > 3.5 ide cable and set it to master. HDtoolbox on the WorkBench 2.1 install disk could not see either the 1gb or 32mb.

I tried attaching it to my A1200T system by setting it to slave and putting it on the same IDE channel as my boot HD. Again HDToolBox (OS3.9) could not see either the 32mb or 1gb card.

Why is this?

[keropi]

try it on a pc... maybe it is damaged... it looks used to me.

[Smiley]

Just put it in my PC as a slave and good old XP auto-detected it and installed it. I could access my 1gb cf card perfectly fine.

So it isnt faulty

I also tried formatting in FFS thru winuae as formatting via a usb card reader on my A1200T has the FFS blanked out. Upon doing this in UAE it says error no disk.

[Zetr0]

it does sound like a hardware fault Smiley, as Keropi suggests it could be wither the adpter or the card, but most likely its one of them...

do you have another adpter to test with or another card?

[Smiley]

I have 3 cards (1gb and 2x 32mb) neither work on the Amiga, this is the only adapter I have.

It doesnt seem faulty though as it works just as it should on my XP machine.

The 2 32mb cards are made by SanDisk and the 1gb card is a fake with a SanDisk sticker.

[Smiley]

I have remembered that I did have another ide<>cf adapter in the past that I tried to use with an A2000 and my A1200T

Same problem and this adapter was brand new and boxed. I used the same cf cards as I am using now.

I think that these cards I am using are not too friendly with the ide port

What model,brand,manufacturer of cards have people got this working with?

Thanks

EDIT: Also when I attached it to my PC it auto-installed some drivers and it ended up showing as removable media rather than a HD, is this a problem? I mean I presume CF<>IDE adapters are all wired up the same way,.

Do I need CFD installed to use a cf as a HD or is that just for pcmcia<>cf?

[rare_j]

I currently have a Cannon 16MB as a boot device, in HDToolbox it shows up as a Hitachi.
I used to use a 64Mb (but I needed it for my camera...) it was some unremarkable brand, and I'm pretty sure that used to show up as a Hitachi as well.
I have noticed from reading around that some cards are more 'compliant' with the IDE standard than others. Some new high capacity very high speed cards (4GB) state that they will only work as FAT32 devices. Check the small print in the specs.
They also can be a bit wierd when it comes to master/slave configurations. I found that if 2 devices are present and the card is master, it blocks the other device. Works ok if the card is set to slave.

[Zetr0]

hmmmm perplexing...

I have 3 cf->ide adapters here.. (ones a dual) and the all work with the 256MB 512MB the 1 and 2GB too....

and the only problem i have is that you have to change max trasfers to a slower 0x01fff as there are issues ( false checksum errors) when the amiga is set at the max transfers of 0xfffff with CF cards...

[Smiley]

just to make sure cfd does NOT need to be installed when using a cf<>ide adapter right?

Dont suppose anyone could send me a tested and working cf card (any size) for testing and I will post it straight back?

When I have all plugged it it gives my Amiga greyscreen and eventually decides to boot from floppy.

[Smiley]

Just bought a 44pin to IDE adapter, mainly due to it not needing an extra power cable (anymore wires and the A600 case wont close)

I will try it out when it comes in about 7 days from HK

[Zetr0]

I can test it for you.. no worries just pm me and we can sort it out..

[Jope]

The adapters all work the same - you can only wire the cf card to the ide bus in one way.

All the brains in this are in the cards, the adapters are just a bunch of wires.

So, see if you can borrow some more cards and perhaps the Amiga will recognise them.

[dlfrsilver]

use BRANDS PNY and DANE-ELEC if you have these in your country.

and never use CF running at more than 40X. 80X and superior are unsupported !

[rare_j]

Originally Posted by Smiley

just to make sure cfd does NOT need to be installed when using a cf<>ide adapter right?

No, cfd is compactflash.device and a mountlist for FAT32 formatted cards on the PCMCIA slot.

On the IDE port the card is accessed via scsi.device, just like a hard disk. That's why the ATA controller on the card must be fully ATA/IDE compliant. It seems that some have cut-down controllers as the manufacturers assume they will only end up in cameras.

Sorry I can't send you my other working card... it's in my camera! It's a Memorex by the way.

You're better off with a 44 pin converter anyway... draw power staright from the IDE, less wires.

[lopos2000]

I'll upload the software which came with my CF adapter. Might be of some help for some people who want to install it.

[Rod_cl]

Hi:
where did you upload the software?
I'm having problems to use a Kingston 512 MB with the ide adaptor i bought from ebay.

Best REgards

Rod

[Zetr0]

@Smiley,

Sent off the CF->IDE adapter, 512MB CFcard & 44->40 pin IDC should be with you monday i was told.

hope it helps with your testing

@loopos2000
if people read, before posting, i am sure there would be less pointless posts... share ya pain...

[Smiley]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

@Smiley,

Sent off the CF->IDE adapter, 512MB CFcard & 44->40 pin IDC should be with you monday i was told.

hope it helps with your testing

Excellent, however I dont believe post comes on a Bank Holiday Monday does it? Also I am going away on Tuesday for 4 days! I will try and get it al tested Tuesday morning and get a family member to post it back otherwise it will have to wait till I get back. But who knows, it may even come tomorrow.

Either way many thanks and I will get it all back to you asap!

[Smiley]

SUCCESS!

Zero I recieved you stuff this morning. Went through testing and I found out it was the adapter which was not working corretly! I formatted and installed workbench 2.1 onto my 1gb CF card no problems through your adapter.

I will ship it all back to you today, seeing as im pretty much finished with it now.

I will take pictures of both adapters to see if anyone can spot the difference between them. The non-working card works on my PC but not on my Amiga.

Lets hope my 44pin adapter I ordered works ok. (Attached pictures of it)

[Zetr0]

Excelent my friend, i am glad i could help

as to why your adapter is not compatible i really dont know unless its a pin short or a short pin (hehe pun there) as the PC's dont use a middle pin (cant remember what number...)

Glad it all worked!