|
 
|
Support - FAQ
Systematic trouble shooting & FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Many questions are asked frequently by our customers. Most of them will be answered in this section. You will find valuable information around our products.
Direct to
FAQ - Questions and answers
- Cannot format Flash Card
Problem:
Linear Flash Card cannot be formatted though Windows 'sees' the card and PCM can detect the exact chip type and card size.
Solution:
Linear Flash Cards cannot be used as DOS/windows compatible storage media. A Flash file system would be necessary to achieve this. Microsoft does not supply a FLASH file system with Windows. CSM Drives (Professional Line) support programming linear Flash Cards but do not offer FFS.
Use ATA- or SRAM Cards for DOS/Windows compatible storage.
- Flash Card cannot be written or erased
Problem:
Every write access to a linear Flash Card fails in my notebook.
Solution:
Many modern portable PC's do not support the programming voltage (12V) which is required by some older linear Flash Cards. Affects cards with INTEL type 1 (28F010, 28F020, 28F101, ...), INTEL type 2 (28F008SA) and some other chips.
Use 5V only cards or a PC Card drive which generates the programming voltage itself, e.g. OmniDrive USB LF
- Win 9x/Me, 2000: PC Card is continuously detected as new hardware
Problem:
After modifying the contents of a SRAM or linear Flash Card, Windows comes up with the 'New hardware' wizard if the card is inserted for the next time. But the card was installed properly.
Solution:
On SRAM/linear Flash Cards, the contents of some regions of the card determine the PnP-ID which is used by windows to identify new hardware. If these regions are altered, the PnP-ID will change and windows will find new hardware. Use a PC Card drive - e.g. the OmniDrive USB LF - which threats these cards as what they are: Simple Memory Cards.
- Flash Card or FLASH-Module does not boot
Problem:
The media is installed as a replacement for an IDE hard disk. The BIOS detects the media and all required files are present if I boot from a floppy and look at that C: drive. But when I try to boot from C:, the PC hangs.
Solution:
ATA cards are typically preformatted by their manufacturers. The partitioning is usually done in standard mode (C/H/S-Mode). The media must be operated in that mode, or partitioning / formatting must be repeated in the currently selected mode (e.g. LBA or extended).
Systematic trouble shooting
If the OmniDrive does not work, one should check the following things:
- Power supply
- Parallel port
- Format issues (PC Card related)
Power Supply
Sometimes the power supply with the keyboard adaptor is not sufficient. This problem arises often with portable computers. In some cases it affects only operations that cause higher power consumption, e.g. spin-up of ATA hard disks, programming linear Flash Cards.
To check:
- The red LED should go on for a short time if you insert a PC card.
- It should go on if you access the card (e.g. via explorer, CSMForm etc..)
- It must not flicker if there is no access to the drive in progress.
- If this does not apply, please use the USB adaptor for power supply.
If this does not apply, please use the USB adaptor for power supply.
Parallel port
Problems with the OmniDrive can often be put down to communication problems on the parallel port, which may result in many strange effects.
To check:
- Check cable connections.
- If you have more than one parallel port, distrust the labels. Try the other.
- Do not forget to check the parallel port number in OmniControl.
- Insert a PC Card into the drive and launch OmniControl. The program should report a firmware version. If the field remains empty, there is a communications problem.
- Check the configuration of your parallel port in the BIOS setup of the PC. Prefer the standard settings for LPT1: Port 378h, IRQ7. The best performance can be reached in EPP mode. If your parallel port does not offer this mode, use SPP. Avoid mixed modes (ECP+EPP). Especially when you work with modern operating systems like WIN 2000 you should turn off ECP at the BIOS-Setup.
- Use OmniControl to lock the drivers LPT-mode to EPP if your parallel port is an EPP port.
- Retry with SPP or SlowSPP
Format problems
Linear Flash Cards cannot be formatted directly. To use these cards as a
DOS compatible media, a special Flash File System is required.
FAQ - Questions and answers
- Red LED is always off
Problem:
The red LED does not signal the insertion of a PC Card nor does it signal a media access if I try to access the card
Solution:
OmniDrive before SNr.: 1858:
Possibly your PC Card does not comply to the PC Card ATA specification. Some older ATA cards had that problem.
You should only use the cards being listed in the documentation. Cards which are not listed will most likely work without problems but it is not possible to guarantee that.
In general: Check power supply.
- Black Display
Problem:
Display goes black as soon as the OmniDrive driver is loaded.In Win9x this will happen short before the login prompt is displayed. In Win NT a moment after the Login-Prompt. Sometimes, the mouse cursor remains visible.
Solution:
In some PC's the parallel ports EPP registers overlap with registers of the graphics chipset.
Parallel ports usually use the following port resources:
0378h ... 037ch Standard LPT1
0278h ... 027ch Standard LPT2
03bch ... 03c0h Alternate LPT1
Use the device manager (Win 9x) or NT system diagnostics to check if there may be a conflict
Change the parallel port base address in the BIOS setup if possible.
- Red LED flickers
Problem:
The red LED flickers as soon as a PC card is inserted. It is not possible to access the PC Card.
Solution:
The power supply by the keyboard adaptor is insufficient.
- Drive not ready'
Problem:
Explorer reports drive not ready, but there is definitely a card inserted.
Solution:
Possibly you use the wrong driver. The OmniDrive STANDARD (yellow rings) works only with the STANDARD driver. The OmniDrive PROFESSIONAL (blue rings) works only with the PROFESSIONAL driver. Sometimes this is a symptom of communications problems on the parallel port.
- Win95: Explorer hangs when formatting a PC Card.
Problem:
When formatting a PC Card from the windows explorer the PC hangs with comletely garbled display.
Problem does not occur when booting Windows NT.
Solution:
This problem is caused by the background scanners of some anti virus programs. Use CSMForm or PCM to format PC Cards.
- NT/2000: OmniDrive does not work at PCI LPT card
Problem:
The OmniDrive driver refuses to load. But a printer works without any problems on that LPT card.
Solution:
The OmniDrive can only work with parallel ports that are under control of the NT system driver PARPORT.SYS. Some PCI expansion cards with parallel port(s) use their own device drivers.
Use a card that works with PARPORT.SYS.
- Toshiba harddisks MK2001MPL, MK5002MPL do not work
Problem:
The red LED signals card insertion as described above but it is not possible to access the card correctly.
Solution:
No solution available. The above mentioned harddisks cannot work in the OmniDrive for technical reasons.
NOTE: This problem does not exist with OmniDrive USB
- HP Vectra hangs if the OmniDrive is accessed
Problem:
PC's from some Vectra series (currently known: VL400/VL420) hang if the OmniDrive is accessed in EPP mode. The effect is independed from the operating system.
Solution:
The EPP mode does not work correctly. Use SPP mode or a serarate LPT extension card.
FAQ - Questions and answers
- PCMCIA-Card is being inserted but nothing happens at all
Problem:
Everything seems to be properly installed. The TI1221 CardBus-Controller shows up in the Windows device manager. But when a PC Card is inserted, nothing happens.
Solution:
This problem sometimes occurs under Windows 2000/XP running as ACPI-Computer - switching it to a Standard-PC should resolve this specific problem - be aware: Enhanced features of ACPI also include Power-save modes and resource management.
How to do this depends on the operating system you are working with:Note: If this won't solve the problem, make sure that the PCI-Drive got a non-shared PCI-Slot (see your mainboard-manual for that) and give the PCI-slot in which the PCI-Drive is built in a IRQ in the BIOS (see your mainboard-manual for that) manually. This should be tested which IRQ 7, 9 and 10.
- PCMCIA-ATA-storage is being inserted, beep comes low to high but no drive-letter appears
Problem:
PCMCIA-ATA-storage is being inserted, beep comes low to high but no drive-letter appears
Solution:
This problem is easily solved by applying our pci-hotfix. Store it to a known location and run it as user with full local admin-rights, restart the system and re-insert the ATA-storage-card.
Note: This does not apply for Linear Flash- and SRAM-Cards
SCSI-Card installed to the system:
The problem is caused by the behavior of some SCSI-cards - it is using memory-spaces the PCI-Drive needs in order to work properly - even if there are reported no conflicts in the device-manager, the behavior of not reporting the memory-windows the SCSI-card uses to the system properly, makes Windows to reassign these resources.
Uncheck "Assign Resources automatically" and make sure that the memory-spaces are above "0000DFFF" - if it is not possible to change the resources, you can try to switch to Standard-PC and then retry to change the settings.
If you still do net get your driver-letter, apply the hints from "PCMCIA-Card is being inserted but nothing happens at all" (above).
- Every PCMCIA-Card you are inserting is being recognized as "MTD-000#
Problem:
Windows cannot recognize PC Cards correctly.
Solution:
The reason for this issue is that the memory range the socket services driver needs to use to read the CIS of the card is in use by some other device. Since Windows 2000/XP is a plug and play operating system and is rather good at preventing conflicts, this is usually caused by a device that is not properly reporting the resources that it uses.
Intel 810, 810e, 815, and 815e chipset motherboards have a specific issue. The built-on LAN has an "option ROM" that uses the same memory space that the PCMCIA socket services uses to read the CIS of the cards. This "option ROM" space is reported by the BIOS but not in a way that Windows 2000/XP can understand and thus the conflict occurs.
The solution for this issue is to either change the resources for or remove the device that is causing the conflict. In the case of the Intel motherboard issue, Intel has written a new BIOS that will correct this. The updated BIOS for the 815e chipset is currently available from Intel. This new fix will be incorporated into all new Intel BIOS updated so as new updates are created and distributed, this fix will be a part of it.
