I am having some read errors with compact Flash on my Tandy 2500 SX. The machine detected the card, and it installed MS DOS 5.0 to the card, up to the point where it was reading command.com to write the master boot record, at 99%, then it failed. I then booted it in plain DOS using a boot floppy, the result was that while I could list files on the CF Card with 'dir' if I used 'type' to read a file, I was given a "Not Ready reading Drive C" error. What is going on?
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CF to IDE adaptor read errors
- Thread starter Zombie
- Start date
hargle
Veteran Member
Most likely suspect is the CF device itself.
What brand are you using?
Here's a list of known good/not so good CF devices and hard drives:
http://wiki.vintage-computer.com/index.php/XTIDE_TestResults
I don't think that the CF/IDE adapter itself is to blame. I picked up about 12 extremely cheap (like $1.50) adapters off ebay, expecting that 1/3 of them would be bad. So far all of them have worked flawlessly on my sandisk CF cards.
To help eliminate variables, can you switch to hard drive instead of CF to do some testing to verify that the machine, XTIDE and cabling are all good?
What brand are you using?
Here's a list of known good/not so good CF devices and hard drives:
http://wiki.vintage-computer.com/index.php/XTIDE_TestResults
I don't think that the CF/IDE adapter itself is to blame. I picked up about 12 extremely cheap (like $1.50) adapters off ebay, expecting that 1/3 of them would be bad. So far all of them have worked flawlessly on my sandisk CF cards.
To help eliminate variables, can you switch to hard drive instead of CF to do some testing to verify that the machine, XTIDE and cabling are all good?
The Tandy 2500 is not fully compatible. we also had a Packard Bell that refused to recognize it, but n acer Aspire that would. I'm still uploading stuff from the Tandy 1000, but its like pulling teeth. I wih I knew how to get PC NFS Working on modern Linux.
twolazy
Veteran Member
Always could use dosbox in linux and emulate a machine. Shhh it'll be out little secret ROFL. I do use dosbox now and then, works great on my eee! =)
http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1
As for your situation, what size/brand is the cf your trying to mount as a hdd? Some have problems being bootable without using the sandisk cf tools... Sometimes it can be something as stupid as the cf is just too big , and need something smaller, like a 256/512mb. This shouldnt stop you from being able to partition it in say dos 6.2+.
Also, after you fdisk, restart and format, at the end of formatting NON-SYSTEM disk, use the following:
fdisk /mbr
This will repair the mbr. Next reboot the system with a boot floppy. The CF should mount as a hdd, just not bootable. Now format it again, using
format c: /q /s
If everything works as it should, your cf should now boot. DO NOT USE WIN9x pseudo-dos to format/fdisk. Doing so will fubar the cf, and it wont boot. Instead it will just produce gibberish and stall booting dos.
http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1
As for your situation, what size/brand is the cf your trying to mount as a hdd? Some have problems being bootable without using the sandisk cf tools... Sometimes it can be something as stupid as the cf is just too big , and need something smaller, like a 256/512mb. This shouldnt stop you from being able to partition it in say dos 6.2+.
Also, after you fdisk, restart and format, at the end of formatting NON-SYSTEM disk, use the following:
fdisk /mbr
This will repair the mbr. Next reboot the system with a boot floppy. The CF should mount as a hdd, just not bootable. Now format it again, using
format c: /q /s
If everything works as it should, your cf should now boot. DO NOT USE WIN9x pseudo-dos to format/fdisk. Doing so will fubar the cf, and it wont boot. Instead it will just produce gibberish and stall booting dos.
Last edited:
Chuck(G)
25k Member
I've had trouble with the CF-to-IDE adapters when the CF is one of the "high speed" models (e.g. 300x or 500x). My CF USB reader has no problems with them at all.
So, go cheap and slow when selecting a CF card.
So, go cheap and slow when selecting a CF card.
twolazy
Veteran Member
I wouldnt say go cheap, but I've had 100% luck every time with certain cf cards. Usually I get Transcend or WinTec brands , with industrial markings. Go pretty cheap on ebay because not brand named like Sandisk/Lexar/Kingston etc. And bonus is they are meant for embedded systems, for use as ssd. =)
Chuck(G)
25k Member
I'm holding a couple of Transcend 4GB x133 (TS4GCF133). Neither one works in a CF-to-IDE adapter, but work fine in any of my USB card readers and my camera.
twolazy
Veteran Member
Have you tried fdisking and formating in dos 6.2, not win9x dos? I have a regular transcend 2gb that works fine using the method i posted earlier... weird...
Chuck(G)
25k Member
You don't understand--the IDE IDENTIFY command doesn't even go through. Format is irrelevant if the adapter won't see the thing.
hargle
Veteran Member
For this particular problem, zombie solved the problem but never got around to actually letting anyone (but me) know what the solution was:
A conflict in the IO space with the NIC card's send/receive buffer apparently. All we had to do was move the IO address of the XTIDE somewhere free and clear.
All is working now.
A conflict in the IO space with the NIC card's send/receive buffer apparently. All we had to do was move the IO address of the XTIDE somewhere free and clear.
All is working now.