T43 1871-4BU w/ 32-bit PCMCIA (Type II) CardBus Reader

[CeeBee]

I have a 32-bit PCMCIA (Type II) CardBus Reader installed in my T43 1871-4BU (2GB memory) running Windows 7 Pro. It works fine on various SDHC/XC Cards. Read speed about 22MB and Write around 18MB/Sec.

Here is the problem: after sleep mode, the SD Card dismounts on wake-up and is not recognized. Solution (not really a good one) is to remove and reinsert the Card again. No problem on cold boot and/or on restart. Any suggestions on how to fix?

Thanks.

[RealBlackStuff]

My suggestion would be to switch the laptop off, instead of putting it to sleep.
Replacing the HD with an SSD would also help in getting faster boot-up.

[dr_st]

^^^

I must say, that sounds like pretty bad advice.

It doesn't answer the question, it suggests that the user avoids one very simple and very useful feature and instead opts for more cumbersome and ineffective approaches, and furthermore suggests that the user spends money to somehow make them more effective.

Not to mention that even if you put 10 SSDs in RAID, boot will still never be not nearly as fast as waking up from Standby (we are not talking about Hibernate here).

And even if we are talking about Hibernate, it's not just about getting the computer up and running fast, but also about having it in exactly the same state you left it in (as opposed to after a clean boot).

[RealBlackStuff]

If you read throughout this and other forums, the problems with sleep/hibernation are legion, on nearly every model.
Hence my $0.02

[dr_st]

In the sense that sleep/hibernation, and any power management flows for that matter, are possibly the most complex flows in software/hardware interaction, and as such, are prone to a plethora of possible issues, you are 100% right.

However, they still most of the time work very well and are remarkably useful. No software/hardware vendor would go through all the trouble of enabling/optimizing such flows if they were useless. The majority of cases can be solved after some tweaking or by trial and error. Though I do not have a ready solution for this case, I don't support a blanket approach of "this feature is broken, don't use it", hence my remark.

[CeeBee]

Thanks guys. Interesting. But, I'm looking for a solution/tweak to my specific problem, if available. I am not looking to buy a new SSD ... and I do not want to shut down and/or restart instead of sleep, as this function is indeed very useful. Tweak anyone...

[dr_st]

Could you be more specific about your problem?

* Which SD card reader do you use?
* When you say that removing and reinserting the card helps - I assume you mean just the card - not the whole card reader. Right?

[CeeBee]

Which SD card reader do you use?

http://delock.tragant.com.tw/index.php?p=3&prono=91481

When you say that removing and reinserting the card helps - I assume you mean just the card - not the whole card reader. Right?

Yes, just the card. I have tried/tested micro-SDHC (4GB), SDHC (8GB) and SDXC (64GB) and they all work fine. The reader works fine (reads/writes) with all of them default formatted. To be sure, I also reformatted using the SD-Formatter. https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

As long as I cold boot or restart, the card(s) remains mounted and recognized. However, during the wake up sequence (from sleep) I hear a (warning) sound and the card 'drive' is dismounted. Same issue with all the different cards.

Maybe I need to delay a service-start? I mean, if one service is not started and another is depending on it to start, perhaps that triggers the dismount?! My knowledge here is limited so this is all 'loud thinking'...

[dr_st]

I believe my SDCBA-C01 is very similar or identical to yours. I just tried and I did not experience your issue.

A couple of things to check:

1) See if indeed it's the same device - locate the SD controller device in Device Manager, go to its properties, Details tab, Device Instance Id - what is the string there (vendor/device/subsystem/revision IDs)?
2) Locate the SD card in the Device Manager (under Disk Drives), go to its properties, and in the policies tab check if it's optimized for performance, or quick removal (mine is set to quick removal).

[CeeBee]

I believe my SDCBA-C01 is very similar or identical to yours. I just tried and I did not experience your issue.

Not sure if that's the case. Mine seems a bit newer as it's certified for Windows 7 and SDXC (64GB and above). But, in any case, I do have the problem. Just tested with a brand new Transcend 32GB SDHC card (FAT32) and no change .. the card dismounts on wake-up from sleep mode.

I tested (other cards) with exFAT and NTFS .. but same difference. Card dismounts on wake-up.

1) See if indeed it's the same device - locate the SD controller device in Device Manager, go to its properties, Details tab, Device Instance Id - what is the string there (vendor/device/subsystem/revision IDs)?

Couldn't find Device Instance Id (Windows 7), however, under the Details tab I found this:

SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller
Hardware Ids:
PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0822&SUBSYS_80118011&REV_22
PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0822&SUBSYS_80118011
PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0822&CC_080500
PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0822&CC_0805

2) Locate the SD card in the Device Manager (under Disk Drives), go to its properties, and in the policies tab check if it's optimized for performance, or quick removal (mine is set to quick removal).

Mine is set to quick removal. But I have tried 'optimized for performance' also. Same problem.

[dr_st]

According to the device IDs, it's the same thing. Maybe when they rebadged it they also went ahead and got the new certifications. I doubt they would change anything in the hardware to do so.

There are some differences in our setups, though - I currently have the card in my T60, which as XP. I'll try it in an X32 running Win7 later, and see if I can reproduce your problem.

[ajkula66]

I'm surprised that no one picked up on this tiny detail...

I have a 32-bit PCMCIA (Type II) CardBus Reader installed in my T43 1871-4BU (2GB memory) running Windows 7 Pro.

Elementary, my dear Watson...

Running W7 on a machine where one has to use a tweaked graphics driver - since there is no native one available - WILL result at some level of issues on the sleep/hibernate level...and possibly others.

Yes, the XP driver "works". As does the HP tweaked one.

I've said this before and I will say it again: NONE of them works *properly*, period.

Take it from someone who's been trying to resolve this issue since Vista first came out and NEVER found a foolproof solution. Because there isn't one. It's really that simple.

My approach would be to leave the machine running 24/7/365 and just turn off the LCD when not in use.

Obviously, to each their own.

[dr_st]

So far cannot reproduce it on the X32/Win7 either... The card shows up just fine after resuming from standby.

I see no power-related settings that can be affecting it either. It looks like it's time for exhaustive Google searches / trial and error...

[CeeBee]

So far cannot reproduce it on the X32/Win7 either... The card shows up just fine after resuming from standby. I see no power-related settings that can be affecting it either. It looks like it's time for exhaustive Google searches / trial and error...

Thanks for trying! As you said, time for trial and error .. if/when I find the time. At least I know the problem/issue and can try to work around it .. for now. My type T43 is not great with W7 (I'm using Intel's XP graphics driver untweaked), and that works 'fine' over all.

Maybe I'm greedy, as I wanted to utilize not only the Express Card slot (where i have a USB 3 card), but also the PCMCIA slot. Oh well...

[CeeBee]

Elementary, my dear Watson...

Thanks for the reminder! But I'm stubborn and want to try a few more avenues before I give up. So, I'll follow the advise of trial/error and whatever it takes. Watson is off Googling...

[CeeBee]

Elementary, my dear Watson...

My dear Holmes, as you may recall from this thread, my T43 works pretty okay: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=113110

To reiterate, I installed a display driver obtained from Intel's download site and the two entries under Display Adapter in Device Manager are:

Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family (Location: PCI bus 0, device 2, function 1)
Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML Express Chipset Family (Location: PCI bus 0, device 2, function 0)

And, except for the issue in this thread, my T43 sleeps, hibernates and the rest without problems. All options are available and working fine via W7's control screen and/or via the Power Manager (and using the Fn button). Also available when using Alt-F4.

So, dear Holmes, if sleeps works fine - generally speaking - can you, with your bottomless wisdom, figure out why I have this SD Card dismount issue. That would save me lots of time/effort.