are there different firmware versions for the pcd 25?

i had to send my mpc 60 off to forat because my card reader was freezing up after 10 minutes plus i needed to have some other repairs done.
we spoke last night for about 30 minutes trying to figure out why my card reader was freezing.
he went through my entire machine and checked to see if everything was ok, and it was.
at this point he tried out a pcd 25 which he owns in my machine, left it on all night, and came back the next morning and was able to access everything with no problem, no freezes.
he then put my reader back in and it froze after about 5 minutes.
does anyone know if different version of firmware came out for this reader, seeing as his has no problem and mine does?
all jumper settings were identical for both readers and a termination block was put on my reader since mine was missing the chips.
if anyone has insight on what is going on, please let me know.
just to let you know the 60 will take an internal card reader just fine since bruce had no problem with his reader.


thanks
lumin

Yea it sounds like you might need to update the firmware or load up the firmware again.

lumin wrote:does anyone know if different version of firmware came out for this reader, seeing as his has no problem and mine does?.

I don't think it's a firmware issue.

More a time/heat/component failure issue.

Where the firmware is concerned ......

Why doesn't Bruce hook up "his" and "your" PCD-25 readers to a COMPUTER that can read the SCSI ID/VER/VENDOR string info and see if yours indeed does have a differing firmware installed.

If your PCD has older firmware and his, newer; then get him to dump the firmware from his PCD into yours ? Perhaps ?

Also while he is at it, perform a termination "UNDER/OVER" test with your PCD-25 ? ( ADAPTEC 29160 cards perform such tests at boot )

lumin wrote:all jumper settings were identical for both readers and a termination block was put on my reader since mine was missing the chips.

Interesting.

My PCD-25 has no TERMINATION RESISITOR packs installed.

...... when connected by itself to my MPC3000 it seems to "AUTO TERMINATE".

This I can verify more than just by seeing it work.

IE: My SCSI analyzer shows the termination to be active and being provided by the PCD-25.

Perhaps this PCD-25 of yours is "over terminated" ?

lumin wrote:if anyone has insight on what is going on, please let me know..

I don't think the failure is firmware related.

Sounds more like a component failure on your PCD-25 mainboard.

Could be wrong though.

Rohan.

thanks a million rohan
ill be forwarding this to bruce
ill let you know the outcome

lumin wrote:thanks a million rohan
ill be forwarding this to bruce
ill let you know the outcome

Good luck.
We all await the response
Rohan.

a lil update on my card reader woes
the reader finally died on bruce after having been hooked up externally to the mpc. bruce's card reader worked fine.
looks like it was a thermal issue. firmwares were identical. all jumper settings including the non visible jumpers were identical. my card just went bad.
a good thing that came of this is that bruce tried a pcd15 in my machine and found it to work very well. it reads and writes. the only downside is that the formatting speed is not as fast as the 25s. it formats more like a zip than a card reader.

i found a new pcd 25 card reader and paid an arm and a leg for it. had it shipped to bruce so things should be aight now.
bruce said he learned quite a bit by working on my 60 since this was his first internal 60 install.

there you have it

Good shit that's good to know!

lumin wrote:a lil update on my card reader woes
the reader finally died on bruce after having been hooked up externally to the mpc. bruce's card reader worked fine.

Ok ...... thanks for coming back to report the outcome.

lumin wrote:looks like it was a thermal issue. firmwares were identical. all jumper settings including the non visible jumpers were identical. my card just went bad..

The failed PCD-25 "can" be repaired by a skilled surface mount re-work tech. The kind that re-works mobile phone boards.

lumin wrote:a good thing that came of this is that bruce tried a pcd15 in my machine and found it to work very well. it reads and writes. the only downside is that the formatting speed is not as fast as the 25s. it formats more like a zip than a card reader...

I have said this before..... and i'll say it again.

The PCD25 "DOES NOT LOW LEVEL FORMAT ANY INSERTED MEDIA".

When the PCD25 is issued with a SCSI FORMAT UNIT command it will simply answer "OK, ALL GOOD, I'm done with this, carry on with next instruction".

The PCD15 on the other hand actually formats the media when told to.

Hence the perception of one being faster than the other.

The only reason the PCD25 seems faster when formatting a media card is because, where the format stage is concerned ....... it isn't doing anything.

The partitioning stage of formatting works at the same speed on either PCD15 or PCD25.

lumin wrote:i found a new pcd 25 card reader and paid an arm and a leg for it. had it shipped to bruce so things should be aight now.
bruce said he learned quite a bit by working on my 60 since this was his first internal 60 install.there you have it

A costly but good outcome all the same.

Learning experiences all round.

Rohan.

i think i will have the old reader looked at then if it can possibly be repaired.

quick question
does the quality of the compact flash card adapter matter a lot? i picked up a generic one for cheap but i am now a little nervous about putting it in the reader for fear that it might mess it up.

lumin wrote:i think i will have the old reader looked at then if it can possibly be repaired..

Worth repairing given that they are in scarce supply.

lumin wrote:quick question
does the quality of the compact flash card adapter matter a lot? i picked up a generic one for cheap but i am now a little nervous about putting it in the reader for fear that it might mess it up.

The generic card flash adapters are not a great deal different to those cheap ones.

I have generic cheap and branded expensive. Never a problem with either.

Most of the branded ones are sourced from the same OEM that makes those unbranded generic ones.

Rohan.

lumin wrote:i think i will have the old reader looked at then if it can possibly be repaired..

Worth repairing given that they are in scarce supply.

lumin wrote:quick question
does the quality of the compact flash card adapter matter a lot? i picked up a generic one for cheap but i am now a little nervous about putting it in the reader for fear that it might mess it up.

The generic card flash adapters are not a great deal different to those cheap ones.

I have generic cheap and branded expensive. Never a problem with either.

Most of the branded ones are sourced from the same OEM that makes those unbranded generic ones.

Rohan.