From: Jonathan Berry (jberry_at_islandnet.com)
Date: Wed Aug 28 2002 - 16:06:17 EDT
In article <5.1.1.5.2.20020827201235.01eed728_at_pop.abs.adelphia.net>, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>Since you did not explicitly mention it, did you mark a
>partition on the CompactFlash device as "active" or "startable?"
Yes. In FDISK it was Active.
I have narrowed the problem down somewhat. It seems that when
files are copied to the CompactFlash card (32 MB Kodak) via the
VME carrier, crosslinking errors are unavoidable. If I copy a
small file (say LABEL.EXE, 9K) to the freshly-formatted CF card
as C: in the VME carrier, then run CHKDSK C:, CHKDSK reports an
error. If I put the same card in the PCMCIA carrier of another
laptop, CHKDSK and SCANDISK do not report an error. If I copy
a couple of files to the CF card while it is in the VME
carrier, I get more errors. Back in the PCMCIA slot, errors
are now reported, though CHKDSK (Win2K) and SCANDISK (Win95)
are able to cure them. CHKDSK (MS-DOS 6) /F is never able to
cure the problems when the card is in the VME carrier. They
tend rather to multiply, with new FILE00??.CHK files being
created at each pass.
I wonder if there could be a problem with the VME carrier?
Does anybody have an idea?
>
>IBM did manufacture one laptop designed to boot from a variety
>of devices, the IBM Palmtop PC110. About the size of a large
>paperback book, it contained a 486SX processor, tiny keyboard,
>pointing device, passive screen,
The 701C has a nice keyboard and a TFT screen.
> and two PCMCIA slots which would
>accept a PCMCIA hard drive. It also had a PicoFlash (predecessor
>to CompactFlash) slot which would take a Type-I solid-state CF card
>(IBM's own Microdrives draw too much amperage, if I recall, to be
>used in an unmodified PC110). They were sold in Japan during the
>mid-90s and occasionally one pops up on eBay.
>
>Booting from the PicoFlash slot is a subject which frequently
>comes up on the IBM PalmTop PC110 mailing list. It appears that
>some CompactFlash cards work (Lexar, SanDisk, Simple), while others
>do not (Memorex).
>
>Assuming that the ThinkPad 701C functions in a similar fashion you
>may need to try a different brand of CF card before you find one
>that works.
The Kodak 32 MB works flawlessly in a digital camera, and in a
PCMCIA carrier in a computer. However, with the VME adaptor in
a 701C HD caddy in the 701C HD bay, errors arise before one
even talks about booting.
>
>You mentioned that you snipped a pin, presumedly on the CompactFlash
>adapter. If you reconnect this pin, does the CF card behave differently?
All laptops harddrives have a pin snipped. The carrier from
VME had no pin snipped. To simulate a HD in the 701C caddy, I
had to snip a pin on the VME carrier. Even if I could
restore the pin, it would prevent the carrier from fitting in
the caddy.
Thanks for your suggestions!
>
>Regards,
>
>Aryeh Goretsky
>
>
>
>At 12:16 PM 8/27/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>>In-Reply-To: <005601c239f8$9ac0e280$1f3ffea9_at_foo>
>>Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 11:44:36 -0800
>>From: jberry_at_islandnet.com (Jonathan Berry)
>>To: THINKPAD_at_cs.utk.edu
>>CC: Michael_Hornsby_at_vme.com.au
>>Subject: Re: [701C] Solid-state laptop hard drive ?
>>Message-Id: <kUoa94mipp/D092yn_at_islandnet.com>
>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>
>> >
>> > www.bootdisk.com and http://dos.li5.org/ maintain
>> > images of boot disks for most operating systems (old and new),
>> > and lots of DOS tools, if Jonathan needs them. Wonderful
>> > resources - just today I was helping someone (via email) get an
>> > external CD drive working under DOS on new 560X working (so
>> > that he could eventually install Windows from the CD), being
>> > able to point to those sites made my job easier.
>> >
>> >- David R.
>> >
>>
>>I'm back from a trip, and borrowed a 701 diskette drive
>>from one of my lucky users.
>>
>>This is the measure of my success so far:
>>AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH !
>>
>>(please excuse the caps)
>>
>>I tried FDISK, then Format c: /s (/x is also needed under
>>DR/Novell), then Sys c: under DR-DOS 6.0, Novell DOS 7.0 and
>>MS-DOS 6.0.
>>
>>The results were similar. In each case the operations went
>>without a hitch, but the system would never boot from drive C:
>>(a 32 MB Kodak CompactFlash card). Sometimes the result was a
>>system freeze (on-off switch required), for DR-DOS it merely
>>said "no operating system", and Ctl-Alt-Del worked.
>>
>>Also, running programs from Drive C: frequently led to system
>>freezes.
>>
>>The following might be telling: From Drive A: I was able to
>>run chkdsk c: and it invariably reported cross-links. In
>>Novell DOS, I ended up with an "invalid cluster" which
>>would not go away even with chkdsk c: /f
>>
>>So I guess there is some conflict between the CompactFlash
>>card's internal circuitry and the facilities of chkdsk??
>>
>>Anybody have ideas?
>>
>>The manufacturer of the carrier never did confirm which pin
>>needed to be snipped. If I had guessed wrong, something would
>>have fried, I would not have gotten this far.
>>
>>Incidentally, DOS600.EXE from dos.li5.org extracts to Drive
>>a:. I don't know if it is possible to redirect this, but that
>>could be another blow for those of us with the LS-120 / floppy
>>drive which is not drive A. I tried dos600 b: and dos600 b but
>>without success. Fortunately, I had a different 701C with a
>>real HD in it on the LAN and was able to copy DOS600.EXE to it.
>>
>>
-- cheers Jonathan Berry http://www.islandnet.com/~jberry/ to know more than you want
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