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cf card fails scandisk

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smeezekitty

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
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I finally got a CF to IDE adapter for my 486 machine.
I installed it and then booted with a dos floppy. It complained about invalid drive specification
but that was easily fixed with an frisk and format C:
Must day I don't think I have ever seen format command run that fast.

Anyway I tried to install windows 95 to see how it would run. I ran setup and it started scan disk
Which hangs on file allocation tables before saying "scan disk encountered a data error while reading the FAT on drive C."
Even though it seems to read and write from the cf OK otherwise
 
If your IDE bus in that machine has adjustable speeds, set it to the slowest speed (PIO Mode 0) and see if it works then. It could be that your CF card isn't fast enough to withstand the repetitive read/write cycles typical of hard disk access. I have a 512MB "Disk On Module" IDE flash drive that works fine in a 386 with plain IDE, but in anything like a Pentium or higher with an EIDE interface I have to keep it on the slowest setting or else I get errors because the flash memory chips aren't fast enough to keep up at the higher speeds. But even then it's still faster than a hard drive due to the lack of waiting for the heads to seek.
 
vwestlife said:
If your IDE bus in that machine has adjustable speeds, set it to the slowest speed (PIO Mode 0) and see if it works then. It could be that your CF card isn't fast enough to withstand the repetitive read/write cycles typical of hard disk access. I have a 512MB "Disk On Module" IDE flash drive that works fine in a 386 with plain IDE, but in anything like a Pentium or higher with an EIDE interface I have to keep it on the slowest setting or else I get errors because the flash memory chips aren't fast enough to keep up at the higher speeds. But even then it's still faster than a hard drive due to the lack of waiting for the heads to seek.
Click to expand...
I am pretty sure the IDE bus is not adjustable. Although a 486/33 is not exactly a speed demon

BTW the card is a Viking 512MB. I also figured out it is not working right on regular read/writes either.
I copied command.com to it and when I try to launch it, the system hangs.
 
It is giving me a "hard disk controller failure" even with the original drive now
POST takes forever and the drive is inaccessible
-edit-
Never mind
I accidentally disabled IDE in the BIOS setup

CF still not working right though
 
Last edited:
Some of the IDE to CF adapters have jumpers for master-slave and 5V-3.3V. If they're there, are they set correctly?

Some CF cards are a little whacky in that they have the "removable" flag set. Have you tried the "IDESDI" utility to see what the card says?
 

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Chuck(G) said:
Some of the IDE to CF adapters have jumpers for master-slave and 5V-3.3V. If they're there, are they set correctly?

Some CF cards are a little whacky in that they have the "removable" flag set. Have you tried the "IDESDI" utility to see what the card says?
Click to expand...

I have had some issues with some off brand compact flash cards. I ended up using a 2GB sandisk that works perfectly in mine.

I suggest trying a different brand of compact flash. Some are more compatible than others.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Some of the IDE to CF adapters have jumpers for master-slave and 5V-3.3V. If they're there, are they set correctly?
Click to expand...
It is jumpered for 5v, master
Some CF cards are a little whacky in that they have the "removable" flag set. Have you tried the "IDESDI" utility to see what the card says?
Click to expand...
I will run it when I can. It might not be until Saturday though
I have had some issues with some off brand compact flash cards. I ended up using a 2GB sandisk that works perfectly in mine.

I suggest trying a different brand of compact flash. Some are more compatible than others.
Click to expand...
Ok I will look for a sandisk card.

I figured out it is writing okay, but not reading right. I copied qbasic.exe to it on the 486 then I accessed the card on my vista machine and it started right up
 
I still haven't got around to retesting the CF card.
Will run that program what I get time.
I tried to bid on some other brands on eBay but got outbid.

Posting from the 486 this time in Opera 3.60 / win3.11
 
OK here is the IDE SDI ouput
Code: 
			Read Hard Disk Parameters, V1.01

			 Copyright 1995-2010, Sydex, Inc.
			      All Rights Reserved.

An AT controller was found


For ESDI/IDE Drive 14642:

	Cylinders		     993
	Heads			      16
	Sectors/Track		      63
	Buffer Size		      2K
	Total Sectors		 1000467
	Disk is removable
	Drive supports LBA
	Drive does support 8 bit transfers
	Drive Auto-Mapped to following:
	Cylinders		    1509
	Heads			      13
	Sectors/Track		      51
	Firmware Revision:	3.00    
	Model Number:		TOSHIBA THNCF512MPG                     
	Serial Number:		TSBC512M06314R29382C
 
I've been using Kingston cards in PIO Mode 4 without issue.

This model; http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/skuimages/large/K24-9624-main-sp.jpg

If you can find those, they'll probably work. Also, given Kingston's reputation for making reliable memory they are likely to work well for quite some time too.

I do think SanDisk cards are marginally faster, but faster isn't always an indication that something is better. I used a Nikon labelled card - made by Lexar - don't recommend those ones, I kept turning up corrupt data on that one and though it was hooked up to an unreliable board at the time, the other card I was using with it (A no-name one) did not have issues, also 32-Bit access didn't work.
 
High_Treason said:
I've been using Kingston cards in PIO Mode 4 without issue.

This model; http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/skuimages/large/K24-9624-main-sp.jpg

If you can find those, they'll probably work. Also, given Kingston's reputation for making reliable memory they are likely to work well for quite some time too.

I do think SanDisk cards are marginally faster, but faster isn't always an indication that something is better. I used a Nikon labelled card - made by Lexar - don't recommend those ones, I kept turning up corrupt data on that one and though it was hooked up to an unreliable board at the time, the other card I was using with it (A no-name one) did not have issues, also 32-Bit access didn't work.
Click to expand...
What do you think of this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/512MB-King-...gital_Camera_Memory_Cards&hash=item4d0c5957d1
 
That looks to be the 512MB version of the model I have been using. I think it should work, I've had a couple of machines running on the 4GB and 8GB version for almost a year without issue now.

Be sure to do formatting in the actual machine when using CF cards and not using a USB CF reader as I have had that turn up odd results and I personally don't trust USB to do something that important. I've also noticed that leaving the OS to set up the cards can cause problems, you're better FDISK-ing and formatting manually.
 
High_Treason said:
That looks to be the 512MB version of the model I have been using. I think it should work, I've had a couple of machines running on the 4GB and 8GB version for almost a year without issue now.
Click to expand...
My BIOS only supports up to 504 MB hence the reason for the 512 card
Be sure to do formatting in the actual machine when using CF cards and not using a USB CF reader as I have had that turn up odd results and I personally don't trust USB to do something that important. I've also noticed that leaving the OS to set up the cards can cause problems, you're better FDISK-ing and formatting manually.
Click to expand...

[/quote]
Yeah I figured that out. When I formatted it with a reader it came up as a non dos partition in FDISK
 
High_Treason said:
Be sure to do formatting in the actual machine when using CF cards and not using a USB CF reader as I have had that turn up odd results and I personally don't trust USB to do something that important. I've also noticed that leaving the OS to set up the cards can cause problems, you're better FDISK-ing and formatting manually.
Click to expand...

Most USB card readers and software aren't prepared to deal with the niceties of a partition table and can lead to some very strange goings-on. Linux doesn't appear to have this issue.
 
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