On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 22:12:04 -0800, Prashant Viswanathan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I have been trying unsuccessfully over the last 2 weeks to get > > > compactflash working on my Linux system based on mini-ITX (Via CL > > > motherboard, pentium compatible). > > > > > > I use a CF->IDE adapter to access it just like a IDE hard disk. My > > > compactflash is Sandisk SDCFH-512. Linux can detect it. I can even > > > mount it and do a fdisk on it. However, the moment I try to do > > > anything substantial like copy multiple files or copy 1000 blocks > > > using dd, I lose access to it. Linux loses access to it totally. I > > > can't even do a fdisk on it. I get an error like "Unable to open > > > /dev/hdc". > > On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 22:07:35 +0100, Willy Tarreau <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Have you checked that the power connector really provides 5V to the > > IDE-CF adapter ? I had the exact same behaviour 5 years ago with a power > > wire cut. Signal lines were powerful enough to bring power to the cheap > > flash (16 MB), I could even read it, most times. The kernel almost always > > booted from it, and when it turned to mount the ext2 fs R/W, it hanged. I > > finally partially destroyed it this way, and it got several defects which > > could not be cleaned with a simple write or format. > > > > Other than that, I have lots of CF cards on IDE adapters (some on > > motherboard, > > some hand-made, some bought to serious makers), and never ran into such > > problems since. > > > > Willy > > The power connector is fine. > > I also disabled DMA (some suggestion on this newsgroup to a similar > error) and now I can't turn it back on. > > <snip> > everest root # hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc > > /dev/hdc: > setting using_dma to 1 (on) >
Finally figured out the problem (or at least worked around it). Everything seems to work perfectly after I switched to an older 40 conductor IDE cable! Before that I was using the newer 80 conductor IDE cable. I sitll dont understand why the newer ( and apparently better) cables are problematic. Higher speeds causing race conditions perhaps? - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
