From: Jonathan Berry (jberry_at_islandnet.com)
Date: Tue Sep 10 2002 - 21:14:07 EDT
This caper seems to be coming to an unsuccessful conclusion.
Before I send the VME carrier back to the manufacturer, does
anybody have a suggestion?
Here is my last letter to the manufacturer. He was unable to
suggest anything useful except to test it on another computer.
However, my two 701C machines are the only ones here that would
accept the 44-pin carrier.
------------------ begin letter to VME
I've tried with another CF card, different size from different
manufacturer, with similar results. The two cards are a 32 MB
Kodak PictureCard, and a 128 MB SimpleTech Digital Media
CompactFlash card.
If the master / slave jumper is removed, the computer does not
recognize the CF card at all "No hard drive present". That
makes sense to me because the 701C is not spec'd to have a
slave on the IDE channel. A real HD in the HD bay will not be
recognized if it is set to slave.
So, with the CF card set as Master, it FDISKs and formats
without problem under MS DOS 6.0. However, actually copying
files to this virtual hard disk results in cross-links and
allocation errors as diagnosed by CHKDSK.
I wonder, can you recommend some sort of diagnostic program
which I could run from Drive A: ?
In BIOS, this CF card shows up correctly as a 128 MB hard
drive.
When I run the BIOS Easy-Setup test on the hard drive, however,
I get the following error:
DEV 017
ERR 93
FRU 6014
60 = 1. reseat HDD, 2. HDD-1
14 = Bottom System Board
So the computer believes that not all the pins are in contact.
Perhaps that is an indication that a pin is not transmitting
the correct signal? Yes, I have checked that everything is
properly seated. I have also checked that no pins seem to be
bent.
I have tried this in two 701C computers, with similar results.
I have a third computer but cannot try your carrier in the
slave HD bay of a Thinkpad 600E, because it uses a 48-pin
adapter rather than the 44-pin adapter.
So, in the absence of other suggestions, I could modify the
other VME carrier and try it out, or I could return the cards to
you for a refund.
Thanks.
------------------ end letter to VME
>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
>
>
>
-- cheers Jonathan Berry http://www.islandnet.com/~jberry/ to know more than you want
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