UDMA mode for PCMCIA controller

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fasterbybike · #1 Post by **fasterbybike** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:30 pm

I started a topic over in the WinOS forumbut I think this is the proper place to ask for help.

With a 300x Silicon Power UDMA capable card in the CF slot of my X32, Windows is reporting that the PCMCIA controller is running in PIO mode.

How do I force it to use UDMA mode for a UDMA capable CF card ? Or is the CF slot restricted to PIO, which means I'd need to use UDMA Cardbus CF adapter (Delkin etc).

flypenfly · #2 Post by **flypenfly** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:22 pm

Can you use that as a boot drive?

sjthinkpader · #3 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:50 pm

In the Window Hardware Device Manager, look under IDA ATA controllers and find PCMCIA. In the Advanced settings tab, set to use DMA if available...

fasterbybike · #4 Post by **fasterbybike** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:39 am

sjthinkpader wrote:In the Window Hardware Device Manager, look under IDA ATA controllers and find PCMCIA. In the Advanced settings tab, set to use DMA if available...

I've tried that and it keeps showing Current Transfer Mode= PIO

I've ordered a UDMA Card Bus adapter. I'll see if that makes any difference. Seems a shame that the built in CF slot is hobbled.

fasterbybike · #5 Post by **fasterbybike** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:44 am

flypenfly wrote:Can you use that as a boot drive?

I don't think so - the bios doesn't allow it. It also seems the data transfer speed is too slow in any case.

sojourner · #6 Post by **sojourner** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:47 am

fasterbybike wrote:I've ordered a UDMA Card Bus adapter. I'll see if that makes any difference. Seems a shame that the built in CF slot is hobbled.

Question: where did you find a UDMA Cardbus adapter? I cannot find one in the U.S. for anyting ... have had one on backorder for over a month.

BTW, I don't own an X31 and not familiar with them but being as they were made some time ago and Cardbus UDMA adapters (which requires special circuitry) only came out last year, AND UDMA capable CF cards have only been around for a short time too, it doesn't surprise me the X31 is not capable of UDMA with CF.

If you really want/need that speed I think you have to go with Delkin's UDMA (not their 32bit) CF Cardbus adapter. I use one on a T41 and it's nice, but the driver throws errors which appear the the event viewer in XP (not on the desktop). Doesn't seem to effect its performance.

So where can I find (another) Delkin UDMA Cardbus adapter? (planning to be in NZ Oct-Nov.)

UDMA mode for PCMCIA controller

UDMA mode for PCMCIA controller

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