PCMCIA CF reader from Amiga kit not working?

[slimf]

I just received a PCMCIA CF reader for my A1200.

I booted into workbench from the internal CF hard drive.

I then installed the supplied software, which was supplied on floppy. I then rebooted.

I slid in the device into the PCMCIA slot and put a 4 gig compact flash card which is formatted to Fat95.

The Amiga doesn't do a thing.

The only expansion the Amiga has is a 4 meg memory expansion in the trapdoor, but I've tried the Cf reader with and without this installed.

Should the Amiga recognize the CF if it's not formatted to the right format? Should I be able to see it in hdtoolbox? Will it work with fat95?

I have workbench 3.1 stock install with nothing else
Installed other than the drivers that came with the CF device.

[SACC-guy]

FYI!
I never plug anything in....while the 1200 is on!

I also got a pcmcia kit from AmigaKit. It works great!

[amiman99]

I think PCMCIA is hot swapable, I do it all the time when transferring files between PC and A1200.

Go to shell and type: CD CF0: what do you get?

Go to System: DEVS/DOSDRIVERS , do you see CF0 icon?

[SACC-guy]

I think PCMCIA is hot swapable, I do it all the time when transferring files between PC and A1200.

Go to shell and type: CD CF0: what do you get?

Go to System: DEVS/DOSDRIVERS , do you see CF0 icon?

Please don't guess!
Can anyone confirm that the pcmcia slot is buffered and ""hot swapable""??

I usually get a bunch of files at once, transfer them to the cf card on the pc (usb)
Plug the cd card into the pcmcia adapter, turn on the 1200 and good to use.

Years ago, someone at a user group meeting plugged something in and killed the machine. I don't want to happen to me. So I go the safe way!

I also saw several bent pins on the pcmcia slot....watch for issues like that.

[amiman99]

I usually keep the adapter in and swap the CF cards, so far no problems for at least 10 years, maybe even more.

[slimf]

Hi

In /dev/dosdrivers I have CF0

If I type cd cd0:  I get asked to insert volume cd0 in any drive.

[klx300r]

I usually keep the adapter in and swap the CF cards, so far no problems for at least 10 years, maybe even more.

same here & never a problem. This is the best way for me since it's very easy to damage the PCMCIA port pins so jug removing the CF card is much easier and safer

[amigakit]

@slimf

What brand CF are you using ?  Is it FAT formatted?

Thank you.

[ciVic]

Not all CF cards work in all Amigas. I have one that works in none and one that works only on a A1200 but not A600. You can plug them in and the driver detects the card and mounts it if it is a working card so yes, it is hot swapable.

[amiman99]

Hi

In /dev/dosdrivers I have CF0

If I type cd cd0:  I get asked to insert volume cd0 in any drive.

Looks like the driver did not install properly.

I'm saying that because if the driver was installed correctly AND the cf card was not compatible then the response to CD CF0: would be "No disk present in device CF0".

Do you have fat95 file in dosdrivers drawer?

[kirk_m]

Not all CF cards work in all Amigas. I have one that works in none and one that works only on a A1200 but not A600. You can plug them in and the driver detects the card and mounts it if it is a working card so yes, it is hot swapable.

This has been my experience with brands, as well.  It seems that SanDisk works best for mine, at least.

[slimf]

Ok I tried again today. I got nowhere.

Should I be able to detect the pcmcia adaptor in the workbench app that shows hardware config (can't remember the name).

It detects my ram board, but nothing about the pcmcia adapter.

I've tried the card being formatted as fat and fat32.

[Sir_Lucas]

Ok I tried again today. I got nowhere.

Should I be able to detect the pcmcia adaptor in the workbench app that shows hardware config (can't remember the name).

It detects my ram board, but nothing about the pcmcia adapter.

I've tried the card being formatted as fat and fat32.

What CF card are you using? Some of the CF card refuse to work in PCMCIA port, although they work fine as an IDE device.

[ConradBhart]

Have the AmigaKit adapter and it works fine with an accelerator board - did need to switch the jumpers to disable the extra 4mb ram. Tell me I’m wrong anyone but the interface is just a bit of metal isn’t it? Your Amiga won’t notice it’s there unless there’s a card plugged into it so I would guess maybe you have a card or software installation problem. I use a SanDisk Ultra 4GB (30MB/S.

On question of hot swapping, I don’t know if it’s good or bad but I would assume if you have a policy not to do so at least you will never accidentally remove it while it is still writing data and possibly corrupting it?

[pyrre]

Please don't guess!
Can anyone confirm that the pcmcia slot is buffered and ""hot swapable""??

I usually get a bunch of files at once, transfer them to the cf card on the pc (usb)
Plug the cd card into the pcmcia adapter, turn on the 1200 and good to use.

Years ago, someone at a user group meeting plugged something in and killed the machine. I don't want to happen to me. So I go the safe way!

I also saw several bent pins on the pcmcia slot....watch for issues like that.

By design, the PCMCIA is hot plugging. But (please correct me if i'm wrong) in the amiga 1200 (uncertain about the a600) there is a "reset" bug in the motherboard design on some MB revisions, meaning the bus reset signal does not always reset the card bus. in short it means you might need to reboot the computer to let it accept new cards.
My friend had a squirrel-scsi and a 3com network card, and he needed to reboot the A1200 to let it see the card had changed.
As long as the card reader itself stays in the slot, there should never be any issues.... AFAIK. Since CF is by design hotswap. (removable media)

Wiki article about PCMCIA
Wiki article about CompactFlash