IRIVER ihp 120 and CF

[radionico]

Hello,
I bought a IDE to CF adapter and use a CF card with my beloved IHP 120
 
It works with this 2GB card, except that I have some hang-up sometimes (I have to rest the player…).
I bought a 16 GB transcend card, I formatted it the same way than the 2GB one, I copied the .rockbox file (as I’ve done with the 2GB card)…
And, at startup, I have this sad message:
ATA error: -00     (and sometimes ATA error: -11)
“insert USB cable and press a button”

Reading posts everywhere, I understand some cards have problems, but this 16GB card works perfectly with my card readers, camera, 722 sound recorder, etc…

So is there a problem with the boot loader? Or the .rockbox files?  

Any idea?  

Merci ;o)

[scharkalvin]

Some CF cards do not fully support the ata/ide interface spec's.  IIRC many of the
Transcend cards were in the offending camp.  CF cards made by Peak and A-data
seem to work fine for almost everybody.

[radionico]

Thank you for your answer ;o)
Do anyone thinks, whatever, that any change in the bootloader and/or rockbox file can make the H120 more open to various CF cards?

[LinusN]

Do anyone thinks, whatever, that any change in the bootloader and/or rockbox file can make the H120 more open to various CF cards?

Definitely. All we need is to know what the problem is.

[radionico]

can  I help ? the only thing I can do is giving details and screeshots about what happens when I try to use the CF's (e.G freeze, error message, etc...).

[radionico]

and also, I just ordered on ebay a 16GB a-data CF, I hope it will works with my IHP 120 ;o)

[LinusN]

It might require some research. You can begin with giving me all the information from the Disk info debug screen.

[radionico]

this disk debug screen is in the rockbox/settings/debug ?

[GodEater]

Correct.

[radionico]

Bonjour ;o)

here are the disk info when I use a transcend 2GO CF card.
  Diskinfo avec carte transcend 2 GO

Model: transcend
Firmware: 20050811
Size: 1983MB
Free: 587MB
Spinuptime : 100ms
Power mgmt: unsupported
Noise mgmt: unsupported
PIO modes: 0 1 2 3 4cycles times: 120ns/120 nsIORDY support: noIORDY disable: no
Cluster size: 4096 bytes

with this card, my Iriver 120 seems to work well (sometimes for a few hours) , but sometimes it freeze, and I have to use the reset button to make it work again...And sometimes it's not enough, and when I reset it it boot with the old Iriver firmware.  to resolve this problem I have to open the iriver, disconnect the card and re- copying the rockbox file from my PC.

And it works again, until the new freeze ;o)


And when I try to use my transcend 16GB card,, I cannot get disk info  data from the rockbox debug menu, as the card is not recognised and I have the "ATA error: -OO" message

here are the specs of the CF card

[Ultra-fast 133X performance with dual-channel support
- Conforms to CF Type I standards
- Data transfer rate: 21.5MB/sec(Max)*
- Supports Ultra DMA mode 0-4**
- CompactFlash 4.0 compliant
- Built-in hardware ECC technology for detecting and correcting errors
- ATA interface
- Low power consumption
- Multi-platform compatibility
- RoHS compliant
- Lifetime Warranty
** Note: Default setting: Ultra DMA 4 "
here is a link to the full caracteristics of the card from the manufacturer:
http://www.transcend.nl/support/dlcenter/datasheet/Datasheet%20CF133_1GB_32GB_.pdf
iT IS SUPPOSED TO BE "TRUE IDE"

Is there something suspicious regarding the ""default setting: ultra dma" note ?

Thank you for your patience, and sorry for my unperfect english...

Nicolas

[eupeptic]

From the datasheet (download page) for the 133x Transcend CF cards:

• CompactFlash Specification Version 4.1 Complaint
• RoHS compliant products
• Single Power Supply: 3.3V±5% or 5V±10%
• Operating Temperature: -25 C to 85 C
• Storage Temperature: -40 C to 85 C
• Operation Modes:
  - PC Card Memory Mode
  - PC Card IO Mode
  - True IDE Mode
• True IDE Mode supports up to Ultra DMA Mode 4
• Support PIO mode 0 to PIO mode 6
• True IDE mode: Fixed Disk (Standard)
• PC Card Mode: Removable Disk (Standard)
• Durability of Connector: 10,000 times
• Support Wear-Leveling to extend product life
• Compliant to CompactFlash, PCMCIA, and ATA standards


Compare to the datasheet for the 120x Transcend CF cards:

• RoHS compliant products
• Compliant with CompactFlash® specification V3.0
• Single Power Supply: 5V ± 10% / 3.3V ± 5%
• Compliant to CompactFlash, PCMCIA, and ATA standards
• Support PIO mode 0 to PIO mode 6
• Support Multi-Word DMA mode 0 to Multi-Word DMA mode 4 (Series of –P don’t support Multi-Word DMA mode, please see ordering information)
• True IDE Mode: Fixed Disk (Standard)
• PC Card Mode: Removable Disk (Standard)
• Operating Temperature: -25 C to 85 C
• Storage Temperature: -40 C to 85 C
• Hardware RS-code ECC
• Durability of Connector: 10,000 times


radionico, I don't know what model your 2GB Transcend card is, but I do think that you might be on to something by noting that the default setting for the 133x and 266x (but not older) cards is Ultra DMA 4 (noted in this brochure for the 133x cards)...

As noted in this thread, an iPod works fine with Rockbox when using an A-Data CF card, but it gives an error with a Transcend card - but only when he attempts to load Rockbox - Apple's firmware works fine with the Transcend card. And it appears that the same things occurs with Jeff's iRiver H120 and a 32GB, 133x Transcend CF card - he can do several things with it (though I don't know if he can get it to work with the iRiver's firmware), but it gives the same error (ATA error: -80) while attempting to load Rockbox.

I don't know whether Rockbox selects the Ultra DMA mode on boot or not, but if not it seems to me that perhaps the 133x and newer Transcend cards are trying to use Ultra DMA mode 4 while iRiver and iPod only support an older DMA mode?

(FWIW, I currently have a 4GB, 133x Transcend CF card that I've been planing to use in my iRiver H320 [I bought the card before I heard anyone having problems with it], so I too would be very happy if this combination can be made to work. And here's a direct link to the CompactFlash Specification Revision 4.1 PDF.)

[Jeff]

I've got an A Data card on the way so hopefully we'll see different results.  If so, i'll have a Transcend 32GB CF Card available if anyone needs it.

[petur]

Just got my A-Data 8GB 266x card and tried: got ATA -80 as well....

[scharkalvin]

You need to try the slower A-data 'speedy' brand.  That's what I got working
in an ipod mini and a gigabeat F with adapter.

(the speedy brand name is an oxymoron).

[Davide-NYC]

Since there are several threads about essentially the same subject I suggest we all post our findings at this brand new shiny wiki page!

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/CFModGuide