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Lo-Tek Compact Flash Adapter - Not seeing CF Card

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Smack2k

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I have a 4GB CF Card I am trying to use with my Lo-Tek CF ISA Adapter (Version 1). Its in my Tandy 1000 TL. On boot, the XTIDE bios loads, but it never sees anything attached. Booting to DOS Floppy and running FDISK says there are no drives. The CF Card is attached to the Lo-Tek via a CF to IDE Adapter that gets power from PSU via floppy power connector.

The solder connections on the 40-Pin connected are fine and I didnt see any issues with them. I ran the CF Card through diskpart, cleaned it and created a partition on it as well. Still not being seen.

Could there be another issue outside bad solder connection I am missing?
 
Has this CF ISA adapter ever worked ?, What version of the XUB are you using ?, Did you configure the XUB properly before flashing.
 
No, it hasnt worked as this is the first time I am trying it.

Using - Pre-configured XTIDE Universal BIOS R566 Binary File for Lo-tech ISA CompactFlash Adapter
 
I don't own any Tandy's but just to rule out any Tandy issues can you try this adapter in another PC, You know the ROM circuit is working but because the CF is not found there could be a problem with the Adapter IDE circuit / CF adapter / Cable or CF card, Did you socket the IC's when you built the adapter.
 
Yes, they are socketed in the pcb......I can try another machine....gotta pull one out..

System says Master not found and slave not found

The 4GB CF Card was cleaned in diskpart and partitioned.....it wasnt formatted, but I figured fdisk would do that.....but it doesnt see it.....
 
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That's pretty old XUB. 602 is current.
I dont think formatting affects if XUB can detect the CF card. Certainly a bad format is easy to get and hard to fix and prevents boot up, but not detection at least in my experience.

I would suspect the data path from the buffer on the xtcf card to the CF card / cable.

If XUB is installed then you know the data path from ISA slot into the Flash chip is good as suggested previously.

Try another CF card? Try another machine as suggested? I have used 3 CF cards successfully and they were all Canon camera cards. 16, 32 and 1GB.

Do you have a scope? Try looking for activity on the data lines and in fact all the signals at the CF card.

What io address are you using?
 
Smack2k said:
Yes, they are socketed in the pcb......I can try another machine....gotta pull one out..

System says Master not found and slave not found

The 4GB CF Card was cleaned in diskpart and partitioned.....it wasnt formatted, but I figured fdisk would do that.....but it doesnt see it.....
Click to expand...

Fdisk won't format the partition, The DOS format command does that, Though it doesn't matter if the CF card is RAW, It should still be found barring any problems. Make sure that IC1 / IC4 and IC5 are orientated correctly and also RN1, The dot and writing on RN1 should be facing down towards the ISA slot fingers.
 
I verifiied the ICs are all orientated correctly as well as RN1...

I have tried several other CF Cards as well as another CF to IDE Adapter that plugs into the CF Flash ISA card to no avail.

I did notice that my 40 pin header, although soldered fine in appearance, is not flush with the PCB. There is some daylight between the bottom of the header and the actual PCB. Going to try delsoldering it, getting it flush and resoldering it back down to see if that makes a difference as everything else on the card is soldered fine, no cracks, no issues that I could see.

I dont have a scope, although I would LOVE to have one. I just dont know what scope to get that wouldnt break the bank but also allow me to have the features most needed for this wonderful hobby! Any suggestions? I know that is off-topic, but figured I'd throw it in there!
 
regarding oscilloscope-
Well, I have used and still use 80s vintage Tektronix. I've always thought they were really good.
Current scope is 2430 which I got for 125$.
I have a USB scope from Velleman, but I never use it.
Maybe you can find one of those used in your area.
 
Smack2k said:
I verifiied the ICs are all orientated correctly as well as RN1...

I have tried several other CF Cards as well as another CF to IDE Adapter that plugs into the CF Flash ISA card to no avail.

I did notice that my 40 pin header, although soldered fine in appearance, is not flush with the PCB. There is some daylight between the bottom of the header and the actual PCB. Going to try delsoldering it, getting it flush and resoldering it back down to see if that makes a difference as everything else on the card is soldered fine, no cracks, no issues that I could see.

I dont have a scope, although I would LOVE to have one. I just dont know what scope to get that wouldnt break the bank but also allow me to have the features most needed for this wonderful hobby! Any suggestions? I know that is off-topic, but figured I'd throw it in there!
Click to expand...

If you're happy with all solder joints, CF adapter, etc and it's still the same in another PC then i'd replace IC's, Easy when in sockets, Can't help with the scope, I have an old Hameg i bought years ago but soon lost interest and it's been sat in it's box for nigh on 15 years and Probably dead now.
 
I'd try flashing with XUB R601 (or later) - I've had better compatibility with that version. Some CompactFlash cards are known to not work very well with the 8-bit PIO mode that this card uses, but may work on the full 16-bit mode, such as the XT-IDE rev.4 uses. I custom built my card on a protoboard based on the lo-tech ISA-CF because of that goofy PLUS header my Tandy 1000HX uses, and I've seen other people use the Lo-Tech ISA-CF card in the other Tandy 1000 models (the ones with actual ISA slots), so I can verify that the card DOES work just fine with the Tandy 1000's if you've got it built/flashed properly, and the CF card is compatible with PIO-8, etc.

Lo-tech-isa-compactflash-adapter-revision-2b-front-assembled.jpg => IMG_20190913_220302210.jpgIMG_20190913_220247038.jpg

Interestingly, I've had good results with those cheap Chinese CF cards from Amazon (as seen in the second picture). If you're using a CF to IDE adapter, make sure that it's lighting up.

Make sure the ROM is flashed to look for the devices on 300h, since that card is hard-coded to that address. The ROM doesn't care which address it's at, so long as it shows up in POST, but the I/O port needs to be specifically set during flashing.
 
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This is why I prefer DOMs. No compatibility issues. No intermediary interface required -- they plug directly into the IDE interface. They're not as easily portable like CF cards but if you're not going to be moving it around all the time and plan to leave it in like a hard drive it's the easiest, most hassle free method.
 
But there's an XT-CF adapter as well; so why use a DOM if you're going to buy an adapter for an 8-bit bus anyway? I rather like the XT-CF, with access of the card through the mounting bracket.
 
Yes, I already mentioned the convenience of moveable storage. But for storage that's going to stay put the DOMs are just much less hassle -- they're pretty much plug'n play. There's no configuration issues like with CF cards.
 
Smack2k said:
I have a 4GB CF Card I am trying to use with my Lo-Tek CF ISA Adapter (Version 1). Its in my Tandy 1000 TL. On boot, the XTIDE bios loads, but it never sees anything attached. Booting to DOS Floppy and running FDISK says there are no drives. The CF Card is attached to the Lo-Tek via a CF to IDE Adapter that gets power from PSU via floppy power connector.
Click to expand...

One minor point of confusion... are you sure the CF-IDE is "Version one"? According to lo-tech's website their "Version 1" card had a CF socket directly on it.

https://www.lo-tech.co.uk/wiki/XT-CF-lite_rev.1

Is it actually the "version 2b" you have? That one has the 8-bit I/O on a 40 pin socket.

https://www.lo-tech.co.uk/wiki/Lo-tech_ISA_CompactFlash_Adapter_revision_2b

I can attest along with Blackepyon that the latter design should work in a Tandy 1000; my experience is also with a custom card (technically a boardset), not a Lo-Tech manufactured one, but should be functionally identical. I initially tested it with one of the old BIOS images on the Lo-Tech site and it worked, and it also works with the current XUB. It's running "in production" with a direct-plug CF sled like the one Blackepyon uses, but I've also tried it with a 44 pin laptop IDE-to-SD adapter via a cabling fudge with encouraging results.

There's not much to go wrong on these cards, it's really odd you're not seeing the attached device at all. Are you using a plain dumb 40 wire IDE cable, not an 80-pin Cable Select UDMA cable?
 
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