"No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
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"No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By Westend Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:48 pm
Hey guys,

today i received my first MPC and i instantly got to work and installed the 8out board i had also bought and the 32MB Ram Upgrade.

Those worked fine and everything was easy but when it came to the CF Reader i almost killed someone because its so frustrating. I ALWAYS get the "No floppy device" Message and cant choose to boot from atapi. No matter what i try.

Where is my fault? I'll try to explain what i did:

I followed the instructions from http://www.gearslutz.com/board/rap-hip- ... eader.html

Im using the Compact Flash to IDE from Conrad Electronics, that was suggested in a lot of threads. Ive connected it with the floppy power supply.



the Jumpersetting is set all the way to the right which should be MASTER.

Image

The IDE cable im using is this one. Is this the problem? Having 2 Connectors for Slave and Master??
It was described as ATA 33 IDE.

Image

Im also using a compact flash card with 512 Megabytes from PQI

Image

But ive also ordered another one from Scandisk with 256mb.

I've tried all the jumperpositions, all the possibilities with the IDE connectors and still cant get it to work. When i go back to my regular floppy it works just fine.

Whats the problem?
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Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By Lampdog Mon Jul 22, 2013 2:12 pm
Westend wrote:It was described as ATA 33 IDE.

My cable is 40 pin.
I also use the floppy power cable to molex power connector like in the picture you posted.

On your LOAD screen do you see a SETUP tab?
If so go into that and choose a startup device.

Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By Westend Mon Jul 22, 2013 2:33 pm
Lampdog wrote:
Westend wrote:It was described as ATA 33 IDE.

My cable is 40 pin.
I also use the floppy power cable to molex power connector like in the picture you posted.

On your LOAD screen do you see a SETUP tab?
If so go into that and choose a startup device.


Hey there,

You DO use the Molex connector? I used the power connection that was already in the MPC, the one that powered the floppy drive before. where do you connect the molex inside the MPC?

For the IDE Cable:

The 33 is not describing the number of pins. Im not sure what it stands for.
The cable has 40 Pins. on all of the 3 connectors.

I do see the SETUP Tab, but i can't choose atapi there. F-Rom, Floppy, SCSI0-7.

I've installed OS 1.20 earlier. Should i see ATAPI even without a connected device?

All the best

Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By Westend Mon Jul 22, 2013 2:41 pm
ntalec wrote:Which OS are you using?

I would probably throw the reader in a computer to verify it works, try both OS versions and try a point to point cable.


Ive booted 1.20 from Floppy before i first tried installing the Card Reader.

So should i go back to 1.14?

And i cant put the card reader into my computer because its lacking IDE connections :/ to new i guess. everything runs on S-Ata in there.

Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By Westend Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:04 pm
ntalec wrote:Which OS are you using?

I would probably throw the reader in a computer to verify it works, try both OS versions and try a point to point cable.



No Luck with 1.14 either. No Floppy Device. This is getting far beyond annoying
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Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By SimonInAustralia Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:39 pm
You have taken the floppy out, there is not supposed to be a floppy device.

It should show up as an IDE device, you need to change the device from floppy to IDE, forget trying to make it work as a floppy device, it ain't gonna happen!

If you leave the device set to floppy, you will get the error that there is no floppy device, if there is no floppy attached.

I am not sure if it will show up as ATAPI, as your card reader is an IDE-CF adapter, not an ATAPI card reader.

Also be aware that since it is IDE, and not ATAPI, that it is therefore not hot swap, and the card needs to be in the reader when powered up, and left in there until powered down, it can not be inserted and removed with the power on (hot swapped).

If not showing up as an IDE device, maybe wait until you get the SanDisk memory card that you mention you have on order, and try it again then.

Also, maybe look at your IDE cable, I had trouble with a bought 80 wire/40 pin cable, with 3 connectors, and bought my own ribbon cable and connectors to make a 40 wire/40 pin cable with just 2 connectors, which worked.

You mention loading 1.20 from floppy, did you actually load it into flash ROM, so it then boots 1.20 without the floppy, and so 1.20 is available and used when you remove the floppy to install the card reader?
Last edited by SimonInAustralia on Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:49 pm, edited 6 times in total.

Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By ntalec Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:40 pm
Your next move should be the cable.
A 33 is pretty far back as far as data speeds are concerned ( we saw it go 66 then 100) so that cable may simple be incompatible for that reader especially considering it's doing a conversion.

IMO it's less of a headache to get a normal reader than go that route.

Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By Westend Mon Jul 22, 2013 4:09 pm
SimonInAustralia wrote:You have taken the floppy out, there is not supposed to be a floppy device.

It should show up as an IDE device, you need to change the device from floppy to IDE, forget trying to make it work as a floppy device, it ain't gonna happen!

If you leave the device set to floppy, you will get the error that there is no floppy device, if there is no floppy attached.

I am not sure if it will show up as ATAPI, as your card reader is an IDE-CF adapter, not an ATAPI card reader.

Also be aware that since it is IDE, and not ATAPI, that it is therefore not hot swap, and the card needs to be in the reader when powered up, and left in there until powered down, it can not be inserted and removed with the power on (hot swapped).

If not showing up as an IDE device, maybe wait until you get the SanDisk memory card that you mention you have on order, and try it again then.

Also, maybe look at your IDE cable, I had trouble with a bought 80 wire/40 pin cable, with 3 connectors, and bought my own ribbon cable and connectors to make a 40 wire/40 pin cable with just 2 connectors, which worked.

You mention loading 1.20 from floppy, did you actually load it into flash ROM, so it then boots 1.20 without the floppy, and so 1.20 is available and used when you remove the floppy to install the card reader?


Ok wow that surprises me. I always read about ATAPI. But i never get the Option to select IDE either. So this wont help either. FLOPPY, F-ROM and SCSI0-7 as i mentioned.

Im aware of the Hot swap thing, tho. I always had the card inside when powering up the machine. What really made me wonder is that one time, when i took the card out and back in, the display showed weird numbers and had to be rebooted. So the MPC kind of recognized that something was going on. Still couldnt get the IDE as a Boot option this way.

1.20 was available without the Floppy. So i think i installed it right!


ntalec wrote:Your next move should be the cable.
A 33 is pretty far back as far as data speeds are concerned ( we saw it go 66 then 100) so that cable may simple be incompatible for that reader especially considering it's doing a conversion.

IMO it's less of a headache to get a normal reader than go that route.


Ive now bought this one.

Fujitsu HDD CD-ROM IDE Flachbandkabel UDMA/ATA133 - 40pole

It has only one connector on both sides.



Hope that will change anything
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Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By SimonInAustralia Mon Jul 22, 2013 4:17 pm
If the different cable doesn't make a difference, wait until the SanDisk CF card you have ordered turns up, or find some other CF cards to try with it.

You should be changing the device to either IDE or ATAPI, before it will do anything, if IDE or ATAPI do not show up as options when trying to change devices, then it is not going to work.

And then you might have to try to format it, as that IDE or ATAPI device, before it will necessarily show up in the save/load screens.

I am not sure if it shows IDE or ATAPI icon with an IDE-CF adapter like you have, I would expect IDE, since it is not ATAPI.

If it crashed the MPC when you removed the card, then it sounds like it is partially working, maybe it just needs a different type of card.
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Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By Beatdiggerjazzcat Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:51 am
This error only occurs for these 4 reasons

• is not upgraded (i find 1.2 is the best for non hot swap)
• cf card is not correctly inserted before power up
• cf card is not compatable or damaged
• drive is not set up correctly or damaged

As its s new kit I would look at the first two to begin with.

For the record these cards work well with this drive setup:
Sandisk ultra 2
Sandisk extreme 3
Danelec
Jenoptics
Cannon

Good luck

Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By Westend Thu Jul 25, 2013 4:44 pm
Hey guys,

today i got the new IDE cable with point to point and the 256MB Scandisk Flash Card.

Opened the MPC, inserted the IDE Cable and put in the 256MB Flash Card -> No Floppy Device.

Frustration Level at this point was roughly over 9000. :x

Then i remembered, that i flashed 1.14 because someone in this thread adviced to try both OS.

So i built in the Floppy for the 400th time and flashed 1.20 again.

Inserted New IDE -> Conrad Cardreader -> New Flash Card -> OS 1.20 -> BOOOOM! Atapi detected.

I didnt believe it at first, when i saw the FLASH HD in the Device Options.

THE NEW FLASH IS ONLY SHOWN, WHEN THE CARD IS INSERTED!!!!

No atapi without inserted Flash Card.

So i actually can't tell if it was the new Card or the Cable that fixed it. But i dont even mind :)

Just drilled some holes into the flash readers metal frame and ill be off in a sec to buy some screws to fix the mpc up once and for all.

Thx for the help everyone!
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Re: "No Floppy Device" with IDE to Compact Flash Converter

By JUKE 179r Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:51 pm
have you tried leaving off the jumper connection? It's just a long shot in the dark...
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