A1230/IV and PCMCIA

[xaccrocheur]

Hi

I own one of the most recent accell boards (Phase5 Blizzard 1230/IV w/ 8Mb RAM (70ns I'd say, maybe that's the PB ?)) and I have yet to see *any* PCMCIA thing working alongside. I got two examples : Both my C= PCMCIA HD and a friend's Squirell's (1st simple version) *refuse* to work unless I disable the Blizzard board (alt+F2 IIRC). Then back to 020/2Megs . It is, I must say, a real pain.

This, as I notice that *a lot* of drivers have been released for laptop PC's PCMCIA NICs, really er.. annoys me:roll:. Is there a slight chance for my Blizzard to stop blocking my PCMCIA port ? Sometimes I'm suspecting the PSU (original 25W one) to be the culprit, as it makes sense that W/ The Blizzard attached, it cannot deliver enough for any PCMCIA usage..?

Thanks for your help anyway, and for coping w/ my english. I'd really like one of those PCMCIA NICs..

[AndyFC]

I encountered similar way back (9 years ago - I bought a 1230 MKIV + 40 MB 60ns RAM to celebrate having cash left at the end of my first year of uni - shows ho long ago this was - finishing a year of uni without debt! Ah those were the days...never mind, get back on track)

I had an Archos Overdrive 35 plugged into PCMCIA which wouldn't be seen if I didn't disable the accelerator, which is really strang as I believe that the problems of RAM expansions using the same address space as the PCMCIA DID NOT occur if the expansion was part of a CPU-based accelerator (as opposed to just FAST RAM acceleration).

At the time, I got around it by buying an IDE interface and transplanting the IDE hard drive from the Overdrive into the case - not ideal for your solution, but read on...

I upgraded to a 32MB 60ns simm about 5 years ago and since then I haven't had a PCMCIA problem - I'm running a network card from it now (don't know if the Overdrive works). I hope that this helps. In the short term, have you tried the Kickstart into RAM jumper in the position that it isn't in now? Can't guarentee, but it MAY work - worth a try.

Oh yes - I don't think it is a power problem as the Overdrive 35 had its' own 12v PSU.

[Piru]

Whatever it is, it's not Blizzard clashing with PCMCIA address space at least. All Blizzard accelerators since 1230 use 32bit address space for the fast memory, making it possible to use PCMCIA fully.

However, it could well be that the driver doesn't like 030 CPU.

Another possibility could be the A1200 PCMCIA reset bug. You could give CardReset (readme) a try.

[xaccrocheur]

Piru wrote:
(...)
Another possibility could be the A1200 PCMCIA reset bug. You could give CardReset (readme) a try.

Aha ! I was hoping for something like that. Thanks for the clue.

What really would reassure me, would be to read that any member is hapilly using a 1230/IV along with a PCMCIA Network card. In witch case I'd look very suspiciously at my RAM. Is 60ns EDO easy to find now ?

[AndyFC]

I am using my 1230/IV accelerator along with a 3com 3c589D with no problems.

[Chain]

tested(own):

boards - 1D4, 2B
blizz 1230 - II, III, IV
cards - 3com 3c589c, edimax 4000A

WORKS ALL combinations!

[doctorq]

@xaccrocheur

I'm using a Netgear wireless ethernet card here together with my A1200 with Blizzard 1230 MK-IV installed. No problems here.

Ram shouldn't be difficult to find, but if you want higher than 32 MB ram modules, you might need to pay for it though.

[iMacMiga]

I just installed and used a GreyCell PCMCIA ethernet card in my 1200 EZ-Tower alongside my 1230 IV with no issues at all. I have a SCSI module on and 64MB of Fast RAM so it's pretty stacked. My RAM is 60ns though.