Can't get PCMCIA CF card hot swapping to work.

[pkupcik]

Hi, need some help troubleshoot why I'm unable to hot swap CF card in my PCMCIA adapter on A1200. The adapter is from AmigaKit. I installed the ADAPCMCFL software that came on a floppy with the adapter. If I remove the CF card, it disappears from workbench and when I inserted it back it does not reappear. Same behavior if I remove the entire PCMCIA adapter. If I soft reboot the card shows up. AmigaKit says hot swapping should work. I reached out to them for help, but also asking here.

I tried this on A1200, motherboard rev 1D4, and a fresh install of WB 3.1 with 3.1 ROM and also WB 3.2.3 with 3.2.3 ROM.

Anything I should look into to get it working?

Thank you.

[Munchkin]

My instinctive reaction is, it isn't likely that hot swapping really works for something like this. If swapping works if you power down first then I'd say that's your answer.

Personally I wouldn't risk trying to swap a CF while the computer's running.

[Boing-ball]

Have had this happen to me in the past. It could be the following:

- 1D4 revision of the mainboard. These do require a Timing fix. E123c or r and E125c or r to be removed. (rev 2B require this as well)
- GAYLE chip revision
- Power Supply
- Board may need recapping if not already done.

This is why when running A1200’s I try and use the 1D1 revision. As I personally have had better results.

Cue the Sheldon Coopers for the rebuttal on this 🙄

[pkupcik]

Thanks for the advice. I'll put it on my todo list to fix motherboard timings.

[Boing-ball]

Just an after thought. You didn’t mention if the revision 1d4 is a Commodore board or a Escom/Amiga Technologies version.

For the latter (Escom) the timing fixes should have been done from the factory. So don’t be surprised if they have already been done.

Other things to try. Aminet has the CFD133 version available of Compactflash.device available. You could try this first:

https://aminet.net/package/driver/media/CFD133

These may help, although usually used for PCMCIA network cards:

https://aminet.net/package/util/boot/CardPatch

https://aminet.net/package/util/boot/CardReset

[pkupcik]

It's an Escom A1200. I believe I need to take the board out and look at the back to see if it has the fixes or not?

I'll give the CFD133 a try as well.

Thank you.

[gertsy]

I have an Escom A1200 and it hot swaps PCMCIA CF Adaptors fine (I have 2 of them and this is how I generally swap files to and from my 1200)  PCMCIA Cards are made to hot swap. They specifically have recessed power pins that means the power is the last thing to connect and the first thing to disconnect when pulled.

[Boing-ball]

I have an Escom A1200 and it hot swaps PCMCIA CF Adaptors fine (I have 2 of them and this is how I generally swap files to and from my 1200)  PCMCIA Cards are made to hot swap. They specifically have recessed power pins that means the power is the last thing to connect and the first thing to disconnect when pulled.

Your board may also have the timing fixes from the factory. Whilst the OPs board may not. Let’s see what the OPs findings are.

[pkupcik]

Just checked my board. It has the fixes from factory. E123C, E125C and E125C, E125R capacitors and resistors are not present.

[pkupcik]

I have an Escom A1200 and it hot swaps PCMCIA CF Adaptors fine (I have 2 of them and this is how I generally swap files to and from my 1200)  PCMCIA Cards are made to hot swap. They specifically have recessed power pins that means the power is the last thing to connect and the first thing to disconnect when pulled.

Do you pull out the entire PCMCI adapter or just the CF-Card?

[Boing-ball]

Worth trying the Cardpatch and card reset programs in your Startup-sequence. This may help.

[pkupcik]

Other things to try. Aminet has the CFD133 version available of Compactflash.device available. You could try this first:

https://aminet.net/package/driver/media/CFD133

This worked. Will start using this driver instead of the one that came with the PCMCIA adapter. Thank you.