Try using the s0kill (Re: IDE to Compact Flash as MS-DOS boot drive.) to wipe the 0 "cylinder". Then partition and format the CF card again.

Yes i tried s0kill, but the disk isnt recognized in bios so i cant access it at all.
i tried formatting in fat + fat 32, 2gb partition sizes max.
also when i start windows 98, CF interferes with the harddrive and it gives registry errors when i have the CF in the card adapter.
when i remove the card and restart the computer than windows boots normally.
I've tried all the tips that i could find on this website, but i'm lost because i cant even get it to be recognized on bios level.

The problem may be on the adapter. I use cf card even on a 486 so the motherboard shouldn't be the problem.

Maybe it's faulty, can you suggest a decent one?

Well if you want to spend a lot of money there are the startech adapter if I remember right. I use the one you showed in the picture and they all work fine, maybe you just stumbled upon a defective one.

The one i have now is a delock, will try a startech one and see if will have any luck with that brand.

Dont spend any money on an expensive adapter its a dumb/passive connection which doesn't and shouldn't need additional hardware to function.

Its either your card or how you setup everything.
Highly suspect your card. Here i only use industrial ones to avoid problems.

How old is the PC and it's bios? I have a 386 PC from around 1991 with an early version of Phoenix bios on it and it does not work with my startech cf adapter or various cards, which all work with my 486 and pentium computers. The fix for using CF with that machine was to use the xt ide bios with it. Everything instantly worked after that.

You should also try setting up the CF in dos with a DOS bootdisk (format, mbr, etc) on the machine you will be using it with, just in case you've been setting it up on a different machine/virtual machine.

dukeofurl wrote on Yesterday, 16:37:

How old is the PC and it's bios? I have a 386 PC from around 1991 with an early version of Phoenix bios on it and it does not work with my startech cf adapter or various cards, which all work with my 486 and pentium computers. The fix for using CF with that machine was to use the xt ide bios with it. Everything instantly worked after that.

ChickenNugget wrote on 2025-04-26, 19:10:

I got an asus P/I-P55T2P4 rev 3.1 with a bios patch.

*

Nemo1985 wrote on Yesterday, 16:39:

dukeofurl wrote on Yesterday, 16:37:

How old is the PC and it's bios? I have a 386 PC from around 1991 with an early version of Phoenix bios on it and it does not work with my startech cf adapter or various cards, which all work with my 486 and pentium computers. The fix for using CF with that machine was to use the xt ide bios with it. Everything instantly worked after that.

ChickenNugget wrote on 2025-04-26, 19:10:

I got an asus P/I-P55T2P4 rev 3.1 with a bios patch.

*

Maybe bios has an issue with the card being 4gb? Could be worth trying a 2gb one.

What? I use the same motherboard with a 128gb hard drive without issues the modified bios even supports k6-3 cpus other than having the award ide bug resolved, it's a pentium chipset not something really old... I still think the problem can be the adapter if the cf card works in any other machine or a contemporary pc.

dukeofurl wrote on Yesterday, 16:42:

Nemo1985 wrote on Yesterday, 16:39:

dukeofurl wrote on Yesterday, 16:37:

How old is the PC and it's bios? I have a 386 PC from around 1991 with an early version of Phoenix bios on it and it does not work with my startech cf adapter or various cards, which all work with my 486 and pentium computers. The fix for using CF with that machine was to use the xt ide bios with it. Everything instantly worked after that.

ChickenNugget wrote on 2025-04-26, 19:10:

I got an asus P/I-P55T2P4 rev 3.1 with a bios patch.

*

Maybe bios has an issue with the card being 4gb? Could be worth trying a 2gb one.

Perhaps, but wouldn't it be there same for my 6gb harddisk?
That one works fine in dos and windows 98.

Nemo1985 wrote on Yesterday, 16:44:

What? I use the same motherboard with a 128gb hard drive without issues, it's a pentium chipset not something really old... I still think the problem can be the adapter if the cf card works in any other machine or a contemporary pc.

Same, I got a 128 gb harddisk and it works fine too, the bios has some j.4 patch from 2007. I bought the motherboard like that.
It's works perfectly, the cf card us the only hiccup.

S95Sedan wrote on Yesterday, 16:32:

Dont spend any money on an expensive adapter its a dumb/passive connection which doesn't and shouldn't need additional hardware to function.

Its either your card or how you setup everything.
Highly suspect your card. Here i only use industrial ones to avoid problems.

This.

I would assume that whatever CF card you are using isn’t adhering to legacy IDE specs. Your more modern PC likely doesn’t care.

As suggested, use an industrial card, Cisco branded have never let me down.

paradigital wrote on Yesterday, 16:49:

This. […]
Show full quote

S95Sedan wrote on Yesterday, 16:32:

Dont spend any money on an expensive adapter its a dumb/passive connection which doesn't and shouldn't need additional hardware to function.

Its either your card or how you setup everything.
Highly suspect your card. Here i only use industrial ones to avoid problems.

This.

I would assume that whatever CF card you are using isn’t adhering to legacy IDE specs. Your more modern PC likely doesn’t care.

As suggested, use an industrial card, Cisco branded have never let me down.

It's a trancend compact flash 4gb 133.
Can you suggest me a specific type that would work?

I have once received actually broken adapter from china.
So if you have the possibility to use another CF card or another adapter to test where the fault lies, use that possibility.

I use Agfa, Trascend cf cards, up to 16gb without issues:
Agfaphoto x120 2gb: DOS 6.22
Trascend x300 2gb: DOS 6.22+Windows 3.11
Agfaphoto x120 4gb: DOS 7.10
Agfaphoto x233 8gb: Windows 98

When there are compatibility issues usually reduce the udma speed or disable the IDE HDD Block Mode solve the issue but they usually gives issue with p2-p3 chipsets not older socket 7.

Again, the educated guess would be to try the cf card in another pc (maybe a contemporary one with the usb adapter), if it works probably the chinese cheap adapter is broken, then buy another one. If the card doesn't work in the nowdays pc buy another cf card.

GigAHerZ wrote on Yesterday, 16:53:

I have once received actually broken adapter from china.
So if you have the possibility to use another CF card or another adapter to test where the fault lies, use that possibility.

amen

I guess it's rather the adapter than the CF card, because the adapter isn't recognized by the bios. And ideinfo says it detected both by harddisk and the cf card, but it can't check the chs details of the latter.
I don't have another card or adapter so I will have to buy them.

ChickenNugget wrote on Yesterday, 16:59:

I guess it's rather the adapter than the CF card, because the adapter isn't recognized by the bios.

The adapter is passive - it can not ever be "detected" on its own. It's just bunch of wires. (but even wires can be broken)