Gigabeat F and CF card

[Mad Cow]

I got a CF to IDE adaptor, but it won't boot into rockbox. When I turn it on it gives me a system error, error code 00000050. If I plug in the USB cable it'll go into OF bootloader USB mode and everything is accessible. I can't format it through gigabeat room because it doesn't recognize it with the CF card. What could be the issue? Is there some data in the MBR that needs to be copied or something?

[Christine Tham]

I'm interested to see if you can get this working, so here are some suggestions:

1. Have you tried checking the CF partition type and possibly reformatting the CF card to FAT32 (since that is what Gigabeat assumes)? I notice a lot of CF cards are formatted FAT by default - even the large capacity ones. While you are there, you may want to double check the CF is configured exactly like an IDE hard disk (Partition 1 is an active primary partition, and marked as FAT32, no other partitions).

2. Have you confirmed the CF card supports IDE mode (not just CF)? Not all do, apparently, and the ones that are CF only won't work through an IDE interface.

3. Which size CF were you using? 16GB? 32GB? Anything less would be a shame, I reckon.

I'm currently trying to do something similar - I am upgrading my Sharp Zaurus from a 6GB Hitachi Microdrive to a 16GB CF card - I plan to do it this weekend.

[petur]

I assume this system error comes from the gigabeat bootloader?

If you look at the 'CF + h120' threads, you'll see that there is some work underway to make rockbox work with CF cards, so it might well be that rockbox itself also will have problems with the card (for the moment).

but system error does not sound like a rockbox error to me

[Mad Cow]

It's in the OF bootloader, I though I mentioned that. It's a 128mb card, just used to test whether it actually works or not. Formatted to FAT32, seems partitioning seems good. I'm pretty sure it supports IDE, otherwise wouldn't it not work when connected through USB when installed?

[markun]

Is there some data in the MBR that needs to be copied or something?

I don't think so. linuxstb replaced his HDD and didn't have to do any special formatting.

I don't really know how to solve the problem, but kkurbjun is working on replacing the flash bootloader with our own. If rockbox can be made to recognize the card, your problem would be solved.

[scharkalvin]

It's in the OF bootloader, I though I mentioned that. It's a 128mb card, just used to test whether it actually works or not.

That's probably your problem.  Not many CF cards below 1GB in size are true ATA.  Your odds of finding a true ATA compliant CF card increase as the size of the card does (since the idea of emulating a disk makes sense only in the larger cards?).

Anyway the A-Data brand cards DO work.  I have an A-Data 16GB CF card in my Gigabeat F (now about $55 at NewEgg last time I looked) and it mostly works fine.  No problems with the boot loader(s), I did the mod to ATA.C
to enable the NANO specific code.  I also had to run scandisk on the unit once to fix the filesystem, maybe to mark some bad sectors off line?

[Mad Cow]

I figure that it supported ATA spec because it's viewable through USB, guess I was wrong. I'm thinking of buying a 16 or 8gb a-data card on ebay, they're going pretty cheap and using those to record stuff through USB from my satellite receiver, my main HDD is running out of space.

[Christine Tham]

Just because it is working in USB mode is no guarantee that it supports IDE mode. In fact, it's likely that the USB chipset on the Gigabeat understands CF mode, but the bootloader requires IDE.

There's been some discussion on this with regards to using CF cards on the Ipod mini, and also in the Sharp Zaurus forums (where users have reported CF hards working in the CF slot but not working in the Microdrive slot).

You should be able to buy a 16GB card relatively cheaply (ie under US$100) but the 32GB ones are very rare.

[Mad Cow]

Just because it is working in USB mode is no guarantee that it supports IDE mode. In fact, it's likely that the USB chipset on the Gigabeat understands CF mode, but the bootloader requires IDE.

There's been some discussion on this with regards to using CF cards on the Ipod mini, and also in the Sharp Zaurus forums (where users have reported CF hards working in the CF slot but not working in the Microdrive slot).

You should be able to buy a 16GB card relatively cheaply (ie under US$100) but the 32GB ones are very rare.

32GB cards are all over ebay, starting at around $145, 16GB cards can be found for around $45. Sadly 8gb seems like the only feasible size for me, but I'll wait a bit because I know they'll get cheaper.

[Christine Tham]

32GB cards are all over ebay, starting at around $145, 16GB cards can be found for around $45. Sadly 8gb seems like the only feasible size for me, but I'll wait a bit because I know they'll get cheaper.

Just a note of caution. CF cards vary greatly in performance, longevity, stability and quality, and generally you get what you pay for. For example, I have a CF card that I bought in Hong Kong that tends to crash most laptops when I plug it into a PCMCIA bus via an adapter. It's also been known to crash some PDAs with a CF slot. But it works fine in my Nikon.

Currently there's only about 1-2 types of 32GB cards, and none of them are by brands I would consider trustworthy.  Hence my comment that they are "rare." I would definitely advise waiting for now.

[Mad Cow]

A-Data is known to be a pretty good company, I wouldn't trust the other ebay one though. I know they vary alot, but I thought you meant that they don't even exist,