PCMCIA MTD-0002 Unable to get card to recognize

[Borvik]

I've tried everything I can think of to get a PCMCIA card to recognize, and it won't.

Here are the details:
System: HP z400 Workstation
OS: Windows XP Pro w/ SP3
Amtron PCMCIA card reader (

http://amtron.com/reader/pcdtp110cs.htm)

4 different PCMCIA storage cards

I have tested the cards in a laptop, and the cards work fine - so the problem is not the cards.

I have installed the PCMCIA card reader into another machine and tried the cards, and again this works fine - so the problem is not the PCMCIA card reader.

I have tried changing PCI slots to no effect. I've gone through the BIOS and disabled just about every on-board device, with no results. I've tried changing the boot order so that the hard drive boots first (

http://www.computing.net/answers/hardware/mtd0002-possible-fix-/51336.html)

- nothing again. BIOS updates - already up-to-date, though I reapplied the most recent one anyway - again nothing.

I've installed another hard drive and tried installing Windows from scratch - this Blue Screens before the first reboot. This leaves me with the restore media provided by HP - which I'm unable to boot from the OS disk - as it is part of a Restore Plus! set. I've done the restore - again no change in PCMCIA behavior.

Most recently I've changed the memory - it had 4 x 1GB sticks, I've tried various combinations of them in case 1 was bad - nothing.

I've run out of ideas - any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[G0AOZ]

What does Device Manager have to say about the installation? If the relevant software is installed ok you should see some reference to the Cardbus Controller under the heading PCMCIA Adaptors. Secondly, if the inserted card is recognised, it should show up even without its software driver, probably under Other Devices with a question mark against it.

What sort of cards are you trying? Anything with an l.e.d. on it that will at least show if power is getting to it?

Does the Amtron reader require power from the computer's PSU. If yes, check that power is indeed reaching it.


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[Borvik]

PCMCIA adapters
- Texas Instruments PCI-1510 CardBus Controller

This is without having to install any drivers - they appear to be part of Windows. This shows up the same on both the working and non-working computer.

When a card is inserted:
Other Devices
- PCMCIA MTD-0002 (on the non working machine)

On the working machine it quickly went from something other than Other Devices/PCMCIA MTD-0002 to:
Disk Drives
- SMART ATA (x2)
- CALPCFLASH 064M
- TRANSCEND (compact flash adapter)

With each of them an entry of PCMCIA IDE/ATAPI Controller showed up under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

The devices I have tried are 3 different ATA Flash PC Cards of different sizes and manufacturer, and a Transcend CompactFlash Adapter with a 128 MB CompactFlash card in it.

The device does not connect to the PSU, there is no port for it.

 

[G0AOZ]

... Anything with an l.e.d. on it that will at least show if power is getting to it?

I think it might be worth checking to see if there are any drivers available for the Amtron Reader and also the Flash PC cards you're trying to use. (I know it says it doesn't need any).

Confirm that you're using a 32-bit operating system, as the bumpf says 64-bit isn't supported.


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[Borvik]

No - no LEDs that I can detect. Though the fact that Windows recognizes a device is plugged in (even though it doesn't identify it) seems to indicate the reader is getting power.

I checked with Amtron, and one of the card manufacturers - and neither provide drivers, telling us to rely on the ones that come with Windows.

Yes, it is a 32-bit operating system. (System properties does NOT say 64bit)

 

[BadBigBen]

You are simply missing the driver for the cards on the system that is not recognizing the PCMCIA card... XP SP2 / SP3 does have some problems correctly identifying certain hardware, specially when using NoName Adapter cards...

follow the the suggestions below, if they do not work, then I would suggest buying a "PCMCIA to PCI Adapter from Delock", from reading other forums, it seems that they behave better than most others...

make sure that in the BIOS setup, that PLUG-N-PLAY OS is set to YES...

if that does not bring relieve, then copy the following CODE box into notepad and save it out as PCMIA.REG and then double click it to have it merge with the registry then restart...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Pcmcia\Parameters]
"SoundsEnabled"=dword:00000001
"IsaIrqRescanComplete"=dword:00000001
"FilterInterruptMask"=dword:0000a1c7
"DisableIsaToPciRouting"=dword:00000001

The above mentione Adaptor (example):

http://www.delock.de/produkte/grupp...1_Slot_Express_Card_61835.html?setLanguage=EN

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[Borvik]

Yes the driver is missing - but not in the way that the driver isn't to be found on the system - rather the system cannot ID the card, and therefore cannot find the driver. I have tried exporting the drivers from the working XP SP3 machine using DriverMax and importing them on the problem machine, and that still does not work.

I went through the BIOS, but an option for PLUG-N-PLAY OS is not available - or HP made it really hard to find.

I'm not sure if another Card Reader is an option - though that would be cheaper than a new PC. It does look like the card reader just is not compatible with the HP z400. I'll have to run that option by the user of the machine. I'm still hoping for a fix however.