carlostex wrote:

I used to have tons of those problems with my SD cards. So i booted my Linux Mint installation and used GParted to format and partition my SD Cards. And like that they started to work.

Please refrain from spreading misinformation...

Gabucino wrote:

Please refrain from spreading misinformation...

How is that misinformation? I just shared my experience.

I not saying Linux or GParted are something special, but they have indeed worked for me where DOS and Windows failed.

Just want to add that the Phoenix BIOS based ECS UM8810PAIO series of 486 PCI mobos work perfectly with CF cards (kingston, wd and sandisk tested).
I doubt that Phoenix BIOSes treat fixed disks different from other BIOS makers.

Regards
Fabian

carlostex wrote:

Gabucino wrote:

Please refrain from spreading misinformation...

How is that misinformation? I just shared my experience.

I not saying Linux or GParted are something special, but they have indeed worked for me where DOS and Windows failed.

Because if you leave it at that, it's magical. Try and find the underlying cause.

What does it matter if it's "magical"? That does not in any way mean it's misinformation. He had success with a particular method, and was sharing that method in case it helps someone else. That's far more productive than anything you've contributed to the discussion.

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

What does it matter if it's "magical"?

/thread

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

That does not in any way mean it's misinformation.

Thanks for your opinion.

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

That's far more productive than anything you've contributed to the discussion.

That's certainly true, if you haven't read the thread at all.

Gabucino wrote:

Because if you leave it at that, it's magical.

We all know that it is certainly not magical. I've tried several brands of SD cards and it's not like i could make DOS recognizing them immediately. First thing i formatted the cards in FAT file system normally on Windows. Most cards would be recognized by DOS to be re-formatted and DOS installation could follow normally. Other brands (like Kingston cards for instance) wouln't work, DOS didn't see any Hard Drive.

I was not interested in finding if the underlying cause for some cards not to work was either the BIOS, the SD Card to IDE controller, the differences in SD cards brands, the software i was using to format, the tooth fairy etc... At that moment i just wanted to make them work. So i remembered about trying GParted which was installed in my Linux Mint partition. So i formatted and partitioned (if bigger than 2GB) cards that were not being recognized by DOS as a hard-drive. What happened is that every single card that wasn't working started to be recognized by DOS as a Hard Drive. I actually went to trouble to format again one of those in Windows again which made the card not to be recognized by DOS again.

Again, i'm sure it's not magical, but i assumed GParted formatted the card in a way Windows and even FDISK DOS tool (i tried it also) couldn't. Whether it was something to do with creating a proper MBR, FAT properties, Data Cluster... i don't care... The cards started working and that's enough for me, so i preferred not to speculate about it because i feel i lack the proper knowledge about the subject and doing so might have lead me to jump conclusions that could be incorrect.

I never speculated about the technical reasons GParted worked for me. If i did, and assuming the possibility i could be wrong, i would be spreading misinformation.

Gabucino wrote:

Try and find the underlying cause.

You're not the boss of me.

carlostex wrote:

I actually went to trouble to format again one of those in Windows again which made the card not to be recognized by DOS again.

How exactly did you "format" it? Created a new filesystem with FORMAT /Q, right click on icon + click format, create a new partition table, etc...?

carlostex wrote:

Again, i'm sure it's not magical, but i assumed GParted formatted the card in a way Windows and even FDISK DOS tool (i tried it also) couldn't.

"Formatting" a HDD last held meaning with MFM/RLL drives where if you didn't format the drive for your specific controller, it was piss slow or wouldn't even work. Ever since then it's just filesystem creation and bad sector checking. So no, GParted does not "format" either. Neither does Windows nor DOS. What matters are the CHS values in the partition table (some variations will work on one BIOS but not on another), are those values LBA or not, the MBR itself (installed or not), the FAT filesystem (does it have a bootblock or not). Hell, it matters if the "partition table" is GPT or the old PC format.

carlostex wrote:

i preferred not to speculate about it because i feel i lack the proper knowledge about the subject and doing so might have lead me to jump conclusions that could be incorrect.

Do investigate though, since doing so will actually increase your knowledge.

carlostex wrote:

I never speculated about the technical reasons GParted worked for me. If i did, and assuming the possibility i could be wrong, i would be spreading misinformation.

Ask away.

carlostex wrote:

You're not the boss of me.

Number of people on the internet who are not paying you money: (several billions). Please notify every one of us, it's apparently a valuable discussion topic for some mysterious reason.

Gabucino wrote:

How exactly did you "format" it? Created a new filesystem with FORMAT /Q, right click on icon + click format, create a new partition table, etc...?

If i remember correctly, it was just normal right click and click format, though i might be wrong. I don't remember if i tried changing any options or left everything at default.

Gabucino wrote:

Do investigate though, since doing so will actually increase your knowledge.

I understand your point, but now try to get mine. I mostly cultivate my strengths instead of working on my weaknesses. I'm not interested in finding the underlying cause for this issue, which is not 100% guarenteed to solve the OP problem. I shared my experience that's it.

Gabucino wrote:

Number of people on the internet who are not paying you money: (several billions). Please notify every one of us, it's apparently a valuable discussion topic for some mysterious reason.

This is a forum and it's on the internet. Everyone has right to an opinion, and everyone is free to share his/her own experiences. Just because you think that my experience did not provide the technical information, or the underlying factor it solved it doesn't mean it is misinformation.

carlostex wrote:

Everyone has right to an opinion, and everyone is free to share his/her own experiences.

Actually that's not true. You can share only when you can. You have no inherent rights. But you do sound like an american.

carlostex wrote:

Just because you think that my experience did not provide the technical information, or the underlying factor it solved it doesn't mean it is misinformation.

When you erect strawmen, you are right. On the other hand, posting a misinformantion actually does mean it's a misinformation, so there's that. I know, because I hate to find "advice" like this on the internet. What you posted basically means: "worksforme. I use linux."

Gabucino wrote:

Actually that's not true. You can share only when you can. You have no inherent rights. But you do sound like an american.

Wait, what???

Gabucino wrote:

I know, because I hate to find "advice" like this on the internet.

This is how the world works. We are all different. You you haven't learned this yet you need to be born again. This actually tells a lot of your "persona" by reading the top comment.

Gabucino wrote:

What you posted basically means: "worksforme. I use linux."

Nope. That's what you got out of it. In fact, i could have used GParted on Windows it's open source. But i preferred to boot Linux instead of installing GParted on Windows 7, which is the OS i use 90% of the time.

Once again, i never said that Linux or GParted were special, however they were part of the experience and they happened to work at that moment. I'm pretty sure GParted on Windows wouldn't be any different. So i'm not elevating nothing.

Gabucino wrote:

Sorry to break the unfortunate news, but I have never seen a PhoenixBIOS that could reliably boot from CF cards...

I've been reliably booting from a 1GB SanDisk Ultra II card, in a PhoenixBIOS-based 486 system, for nearly eight years now.

Cloudschatze wrote:

Gabucino wrote:

Sorry to break the unfortunate news, but I have never seen a PhoenixBIOS that could reliably boot from CF cards...

I've been reliably booting from a 1GB SanDisk Ultra II card, in a PhoenixBIOS-based 486 system, for nearly eight years now.

Date, version number?

None of my boards have NOT been able to boot from CF. Not booting from CF is like not booting from IDE. Highly unlikely.

My 486 is some Acer OEM board with its own BIOS and also boots. Doesn't support anything larger than 512, but it works just fine 😀

Gabucino wrote:

Date, version number?

07/24/95, 4.04.I

Something tells me a circa 1995 BIOS won't pose a problem... at least with cards below 8.4GB. The 1988 core thats in my EISA 486 board on the other hand likely will. I have never tried to boot that machine without an Enhanced BIOS ROM card installed though.

Cloudschatze wrote:

Gabucino wrote:

Date, version number?

07/24/95, 4.04.I

Ok. I've seen problems (detailed above in my post) with PhoenixBIOS 1.01 (4.03) in a 386 laptop.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

None of my boards have NOT been able to boot from CF. Not booting from CF is like not booting from IDE. Highly unlikely.

You haven't seen enough boards 😀

Just yesterday I was fiddling around with a PhoenixBIOS A286 1.01.

- SunDisk SDCFB-8 vcb 1.13: can read/write, but can't boot (fdisk /mbr or xfdisk would hang though)
- SanDisk SDCFB-8 Vdg 1.23: works completely

Sorry for bumping such an old thread, but I made a discovery here.
I have this Texas Instruments 4000M (TM4000M) laptop with a Phoenix '92 BIOS, and it gets stuck when trying to boot from a CF. You can run fdisk and format the drive from a floppy, but not boot from it.
However, if you install Seagate DiscWizard then it will always boot from the drive! This also helps with the pesky 528MB limitation. I recommend trying DiscWizard 9.56A if your old machine gets stuck under CF boot: http://www.philscomputerlab.com/seagate.html

The only downside is that after installing DiscWizard I can't read the CF card in Windows on another machine... Does anyone have a fix for this?