X40 using Dual-CF, WinXP UDMA Problem Solved *PICs*

[CKae]

Alert: Long post!

Previously I mentioned in this post that my X40's screen was faulty and I got it fixed.

While my X40 was down I used a 15" Toshiba M2V and a 10.2" Asus Eeepc 1000H, and using both of them made me realize how perfect X40 is. The former was too big in size and the battery sucked, and the latter's screen was way too small and made my eyes hurt. (And most importantly, they didn't have trackpoint!) So I got my X40 fixed, and then I bought a used X4 Ultrabase, and then an Ultrabay slim HDD adapter. You may ask when I spent so much $$ on such an old laptop. The reason is simple: I love my X40!

Alright enough BS. But still there's one thing that I hate: the slooooooooow 1.8" HDD. For me there are a few replacement options available:
(A) 1.8" ZIF HDD/SDD with ZIF -> 44-pin adapter (HDD: cheapest; SDD: expensive; HDD/SDD: may need to modify adapter and even the bezel)
(B) 1.8" SDD made for X4 like the ones from Photofast, Kingspec and Asax (best performance, direct replacement but can be quite expensive depending on brands/models)
(C) CF cards with CF -> IDE adapter (fast CF is needed and they are expensive generally)

I know nothing about electronics, so (A) is out.
I don't trust Kingspce and Asax as they are both Chinese brands. I'm afraid they may have quality issues (and yes I'm a Chinese from Hong Kong lol). Photofast SSDs are ridiculously expensive in HK as they are quite rare to find. So (B) is out.

So (C) is chosen. I bought:
i) this dual-CF adapter which is especially made for X40 (it's written on the adapter!) and is much cheaper than the Addonics one;
(Click to enlarge)

ii) Kingston CF 266X Ultimate 16GB for installing Windows (good price/performance ratio); and

iii) Kingston CF 133x Elite Pro 32GB for data storage (cheap!).

Although I have spent more $$ on buying these things than I might on buying a 1.8" SSD but I have more flexibility. I can use those CFs with my camera if I want to.

Installing the adapter is a pain in the a**, it was difficult to install it correctly without opening up the bezel. But after that everything seemed to run quite smoothly. The BIOS recognized the CF and WinXP installation was OK. But... how come it took ages to enter Windows? It was even slower than using the old 1.8" HDD! So I checked "Device Manager", and found out that the 16GB fast CF was in PIO mode, but the 32GB one was in UDMA-5, WTF! But I know both CFs support UDMA! I have tried different solutions from the internet to get the 16GB CF running in UDMA mode, but nothing worked. So there must be something wrong, either with the adapter or the IDE driver.

Luckily I have Windows 7 installed on another HDD (using the ultrabase and the HDD adapter). I entered Win7 and both CFs were running in UDMA-5! So we know what caused the problem: the default Microsoft IDE driver in WinXP. I spent quite some time searching the internet, but was unable to get an updated driver. I was getting more and more frustrated until I came across this website, showing how to modify the Intel Application Accelerator (IAA) IDE driver to be used with Centrino chipset which is not officially supported. I followed the instructions and voila! Both CFs are running in UDMA-5 in WinXP! Also according to the website, the IAA driver should be better than the Microsoft one.


So now I'm happy with a fast and shock-resistant X40 with less heat emitted.

[sjthinkpader]

I have one of these dual slot CF adapters but haven't been able to get it to run OS in the primary HDD slot of my X40/X41. It works fine in an Ultrabay tray and I can see two drives mapped in Windows. It is an ircube design. They have a website with instructions in Japanese. It seems problem is with how the master/slave jumper is implemented.

Here is the different styles of adapters I have:



A single slot adapter (one on the right) with a 233x RiDATA 32GB card is running my X40 now. This is a coffee shop, trip around town computer and performance is adequate. Yes, it is a simple and low cost solution.

I tried to look for these adapters in Hong Kong such as the market in Wan Chai but no luck. Some were purchased at Akihabara in Tokyo.

[CKae]

The dual-slot CF adapter I have is similar to the Addonics one, which the pin layout is different from most other dual-slot CF adapters found in eBay. As explained in this ThinkWiki page, many of these adapters won't work in X40.

Maybe you got one of those, sjthinkpader?

BTW, the market in Wai Chai is definitely NOT the place to go for such things. Next time you come to Hong Kong, go to those shopping arcades especially for computers in "Sham Shui Po" in the Kowloon side. You can get there easily by MTR.

[sjthinkpader]

I will look for one of these. My dual slot adapter is too long to fit in a X4x in the first place.

To reduce writes to flash, you should do the following:

1. Set page file size to zero (of course max out the RAM). If you have a second Flash card, put the page file on that. A Class 6 SD card should work.
2. turn off Indexing
3. Turn off Defrag
4. turn off Superfetch

In addition for Windows 7
5. turn off Readyboost

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=76794

[sjthinkpader]

I found the electronic places at "Sham Shui Po" in Hong Kong. And yes, there are shops that carries these converters. It did take a while to find them. The are many shops that sells SATA adapters but PATA adapters were much harder to find. I found the IDE-ZIF adapters for about $5 each, about half the cost at Akihabara in Tokyo.

A USB-miniUSB charger cord can be found for about $1.50.

[IanSmith]

I have the 32GB Kingston Elite Pro in the Master slot of the Addonics dual adapter. I copied a bootable WinXP image to it from another X40 by using a USB to IDE adapter. The machine doesn’t see a bootable drive. And if I put a Window install CD in the ultrabase CD drive, the windows installer doesn’t see any drives at all. I am fairly sure I got the card seated correctly and the LED lights up.

Should this Kingston CF card be bootable?

[sjthinkpader]

Welcome to the forum.

I think Kingston is set as "removable" in the CIS instead of "fixed". Format the card as NTFS first. This may allow it to be bootable. I've try using a Kingston Elite Pro 133x CF card too and it is just too slow.