Does the BIOS have a "auto detect hard drive"?

You can try choosing one of the pre-set drive options, 500 MB if available and then fdisk it again. Someone else had issues in a 486 and he fixed it by shutting down the machine at every step (Each time you do something in fdisk, delete partitions - shut down - create partitions - shut down...)

Also run fdisk / mbr at the end.

Alternatively to what Phil mentioned, you could use a Linux Mint live cd and use GParted to format and partition the card. The partition will be alligned as well. GParted is a great tool.

Or you can use Windows 7 Disc Management tool on the Admnistrative Tools and partion your card with that.

philscomputerlab wrote:

Does the BIOS have a "auto detect hard drive"?

You can try choosing one of the pre-set drive options, 500 MB if available and then fdisk it again. Someone else had issues in a 486 and he fixed it by shutting down the machine at every step (Each time you do something in fdisk, delete partitions - shut down - create partitions - shut down...)

Also run fdisk / mbr at the end.

Yeah, the BIOS does have auto detect harddrive. I'll actually try manual parameters too then, by getting the info I need.

-EDIT-

Nah, it still doesn't do anything different. I even tried the shutting down at every step, and even a 256MB CF card that I didn't FDISK at all, just do straight FDISK /MBR. 😢

My computeradd 433 machine wouldn't work with a CF card at al.
It would write okay but reading would result in "Device not ready"

Apparently the controller or BIOS didn't work with them

I wouldn't mind try to update the BIOS, but I can't find a download anywhere. 😢

Keep in mind that not all CF-to-IDE adapters have same compatibility. For me, this didn't work:

But this one worked:

With the same 486 machine and same CF card.

Just a suggestion, to determine the cause of this issue: Try, even temporarily, to use a DDO on the card. This has fixed every similar issue I had with CF's and proper recognition.
Boot from the DDO's floppy, install it on the card and then try writting. EZ-Drive v7-something has worked the best for me, but that's just me...
My money on operating correctly after this!

The version of EZ-Drive you got, is this a manufacturer bundled version? Just wondering if you could share it or not.

bristlehog wrote:

Keep in mind that not all CF-to-IDE adapters have same compatibility. For me, this didn't work: […]
Show full quote

Keep in mind that not all CF-to-IDE adapters have same compatibility. For me, this didn't work:

But this one worked:

With the same 486 machine and same CF card.

The top one I have.

Where can I purchase the bottom one at? Make, model, source?

philscomputerlab wrote:

The version of EZ-Drive you got, is this a manufacturer bundled version? Just wondering if you could share it or not.

It is, from what I remember I got my hands on it from either a Conner or a Seagate/Maxtor HDD. In every case I downloaded it for free from the manufacturer's web site back then.
There is also version 9.x still for DOS and available from Western Digital for anyone owning a WD drive, which I guess covers a lot of people 😀 All of those eventually work with any drive.

Let me know if this branded 7.x version is legal to distribute and you want me to upload it.

konc wrote:

Let me know if this branded 7.x version is legal to distribute and you want me to upload it.

Yes please, you can just attach it to this thread. Maybe take a floppy image. I have the Ontrack software but the company is still around, yet not selling it anymore which is really annoying.

ReeseRiverson wrote:

Where can I purchase the bottom one at? Make, model, source?

I forgot where exactly I got it, but they're pretty generic and sold everywhere.

For example: here

Yea on eBay just a generic search term like "CF adapter" will give you all models. I have both models and they work fine, but prefer to use that second model as well (the one that goes into the back of the PC). It's well built.

bristlehog wrote:

ReeseRiverson wrote:

Where can I purchase the bottom one at? Make, model, source?

I forgot where exactly I got it, but they're pretty generic and sold everywhere.

For example: here

philscomputerlab wrote:

Yea on eBay just a generic search term like "CF adapter" will give you all models. I have both models and they work fine, but prefer to use that second model as well (the one that goes into the back of the PC). It's well built.

Okay, Thanks! I'll definitely go ahead and order a few and give them a shot. Here's to hoping these will work in my Gateway 2000 machines with flying colors! 😀

ReeseRiverson wrote:

The top one I have.

From what I can tell it looks like it has at least a proper voltage regulator and capacitors.

I got some of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/141471332980
And some that look like nearly identical but with only a single CF slot, these have a resistor where there should really be a capacitor.

Both of these do work, but only at 5V, and some CF cards may need 3.3V. I found that connecting them directly to a 3.3v source on the mainboard, bypassing the "voltage regulator" (really, only two diodes in series...), makes these work correctly.

jwt27 wrote:

From what I can tell it looks like it has at least a proper voltage regulator and capacitors. […]
Show full quote

ReeseRiverson wrote:

The top one I have.

From what I can tell it looks like it has at least a proper voltage regulator and capacitors.

I got some of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/141471332980
And some that look like nearly identical but with only a single CF slot, these have a resistor where there should really be a capacitor.

Both of these do work, but only at 5V, and some CF cards may need 3.3V. I found that connecting them directly to a 3.3v source on the mainboard, bypassing the "voltage regulator" (really, only two diodes in series...), makes these work correctly.

The CF cards I have will work with 3.3 and 5 volt supplies. 😀

philscomputerlab wrote:

konc wrote:

Let me know if this branded 7.x version is legal to distribute and you want me to upload it.

Yes please, you can just attach it to this thread. Maybe take a floppy image. I have the Ontrack software but the company is still around, yet not selling it anymore which is really annoying.

Here you are then, I just confirmed that it's from a Conner HDD but installs and works on any drive/cf. Unfortunately I don't have a floppy image, but even the original floppy that came with the HDD back then was not bootable. You just have to run the .exe
This was downloaded in the early internet days from the company's support web site (or bbs) and this is how it was officially distributed, as a.zip file.
SYS a floppy, add the .zip contents and you're good to go.

I also have a WD branded version 9.x that creates a bootable disk, but I've found the hard way that this one works always, even with ancient DOS versions/CPUs.

ReeseRiverson wrote:

Okay, Thanks! I'll definitely go ahead and order a few and give them a shot. Here's to hoping these will work in my Gateway 2000 machines with flying colors! 😀

Give it also a try, you seem to have completely ignore it. Maybe it'll do some magic 😀

konc wrote:

Give it also a try, you seem to have completely ignore it. Maybe it'll do some magic 😀

I somehow thought it was all to Phil when he asked, I wasn't thinking straight at the time. 🤣

Sorry about that, but I will see about giving it a try then.

Strange, when I select to overwrite and setup harddrive 0 on EZ-Drive, it says "Problem: 0093". Going back to my directory on the A:\ drive.