CF-card with IDE adapter from A-1200 does not work in SX-32

[Overdoc]

Hi guys,

I recently aquired a SX-32 for my CD-32. It has a HD built in, which boots but then says that there is no DOS disk available, so the SX-32 basically seems to work, but the HD is probably not formatted.

Now I removed the HD and plugged my CF-card and IDE adapter from my A-1200 in the SX-32.
However, the CD-32 does not want to boot from the CF-card, like the A-1200 does. Instead, the orange access LED goes on for a short time, but then the CD boot screen comes up, waiting for a CD to be inserted.

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong here ?
Do I need to configure/modify the CF-card in any way to make it work on the SX-32 ?
The SX-32 is equipped with 4MB ram, while the A-1200 has 128MB via Blizzard card, but it also works on the A-1200 when I remove the blizzard, so I think the RAM difference is no issue ?

Thanks for your help!

[fitzsteve]

My SX32 is a bit tempermental with booting, I often have to reseat it and have even tried cleaning the contacts which didn't help sadly. I guess my slots are worn.

You could try cleaning the contacts with IPA and re-seating.

The CF from your A1200 should work on the CD32 with SX32 unless you have a particularly complex setup.

[Overdoc]

Thanks for this hint, my SX-32 also suffers from bad contacts from time to time, but that is not the problem in this case. (if the contact is bad, I can recognize it by blinking power led or yellow startup screen most of the time)

I have now formatted the original HD, installed WB 3.1 on it, and it works perfect.

So, the problem is definitely not on the CD/SX-32 side. It must be the CF-card or adapter ? (which both work flawlessly in the A-1200)
The card is a 4GB SanDisk Extreme III, partitioned into 3 parts (each below 2GB, ofcourse), and WB 3.0 installed - not a special setup, I would say ?

Any other ideas, someone ?!
Thanks a lot! (I got to get this thing running within the next 2 weeks, when I will take the CD-32 on holidays with me )

[Overdoc]

I have now noticed that the cable from the original HD has the two connectors attached to the cable in a way, so that they are facing to opposite sides of the cable.
The cable which I use with the CF-card adapter, on the other hand, has both connectors facing to the same side of the cable.

Maybe the SX-32 needs the CF-adapter connected with a different cable than the A-1200 ?!
The original HD cable is coded, so one hole is filled to connect to a missing pin on the HD, which the adapter has not missing. So I cannot connect the adapter with this cable.
I will now try to measure both cables, and then connect the HD again, so that the pins will be connected the same way like with the original cable.

Still, can anyone confirm that I would not damage anything to the HD or maybe even the SX-32 when connecting something the wrong way around ?!
(in contrary to 3,5" HD cables, the 2,5" HD cable is also powering the HD/CF-card, so this might be critical ?)

Thanks!

[fitzsteve]

Hi,

You can see the correct orientation of the cable and adapter in my photo here:



(click to see big pic)

If you need I have spare CF's and adapters here (Transcend 133x) I can sell you a working set

It's possible to damage something with incorrect orientation of the cable but in the past I've made this mistake and have been lucky!

All the best,

Steve.

[Overdoc]

Thank you very much for the pic!

My setup looks exactly the same. Also the cable is the same (sockets facing to same side), and I connected it the same way.
Also, I found out that the direction in which the 40 pin socket is facing, does not make a difference. ( I checked some cables from orignal A-600 and A-1200 HD - some are made like the original HD cable, some are made like the one I use for the adapter.) The pins are connected the same way.

Thanks for your kind offer to sell me a SX-32 compatible/working adapter & CF-card. I will send you a PM