[SOLVED] Using a PCMCIA Card Reader in MS-DOS

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Richy1985

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Mar 14, 2014
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Well it's no rest for the wicked. One problem solved but still one to go.

I have an old Viglen 486 computer that came pre-installed with a PCMCIA card reader. The interface is rather primitive. The reader does not connect via a USB port but by a 40 pin IDE ribbon cable that connects to a Controller Card that is fitted to an ISA slot on the motherboard.

After doing some research, I downloaded some driver software called Card Soft v3.1 which apparently contains the drivers needed to run a PCMCIA card reader. After some difficulty, I transferred the files to a floppy disk booted into DOS and typed A: [Enter} install {Enter}. Then my computer just hangs and I have to do a hard reset. I managed to install drivers for Windows 3.1 but the reader is still not working.

I have attached some pictures:
https://ibb.co/jLY2JHc
ibb.co

PCMCIA4 hosted at ImgBB

Image PCMCIA4 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
https://ibb.co/ynmbSFW
ibb.co

PCMCIA2 hosted at ImgBB

Image PCMCIA2 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
https://ibb.co/qCvG990
ibb.co

PCMCIA4 hosted at ImgBB

Image PCMCIA4 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co

Anyone who can help me gets a virtual beer. 😉

Many thanks,

Richard
 
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The connector on the Controller Card has 40 pins with one pin missing. The socket on the cable has 40 pins with a pin in the centre of the socket blocked off. I therefore believe it is the correct cable for this device.

Richard
 
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Richy1985 said:
The connector on the Controller Card has 40 pins with one pin missing. The socket on the cable has 40 pins with a pin in the centre of the socket blocked off. I therefore believe it is the correct cable for this device.

Richard
Click to expand...
Understood. That is important. Those ribbon cables are specific for the devices in the chain and can't be swapped with other makes/models, even if they look the same. I learned this the hard way "back in the day".

Please show a screenshot of device manager showing how it sees the adapter itself.

As I recall, CardSoft didn't contain device drivers, only the software to interact with the card reader. Drivers were separate. Do you have the make/model of the PCMCIA device?
 
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COLGeek said:
Understood. That is important. Those ribbon cables are specific for the devices in the chain and can't be swapped with other makes/models, even if they look the same. I learned this the hard way "back in the day".

Please show a screenshot of device manager showing how it sees the adapter itself.

As I recall, CardSoft didn't contain device drivers, only the software to interact with the card reader. Drivers were separate. Do you have the make/model of the PCMCIA device?
Click to expand...

The ISA card looks like a standard ATA paddle board. The jumpers select between the standard IDE I/O ports and IRQs. To me, it appears that, as long as you use a "PCMCIA PC Card with true IDE interface", there should be no need for drivers. (Do tertiary and quaternary IDE ports need special drivers?)

Here is an example:

https://www.mpl.ch/t2833.html

The IDE2PCC is a cost effective and easy to use adapter for connecting PCMCIA PC Cards ATA with true IDE interface (PC Cards) to the standard IDE port of a single board computer (SBC) from MPL or other manufacturers. The IDE2PCC adapter has up to two PC Card Standard slots for type I, II or III cards. Allowing the use of any 5 V PC Card ATA or PCMCIA ATA card.
Click to expand...
The IDE signals are connected to the IDE2PCC via a standard 40 or 44 pin IDE cable. The power is distributed either with the 44 pin IDE cable or through the PC/104 connector.
Click to expand...

I would ask the OP, are there any electronics inside the card reader, or is it just a passive device?
 
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fzabkar said:
(Do tertiary and quaternary IDE ports need special drivers?)
Click to expand...
Doubtful, IDE is always two ports with two devices each.
It does need to be configured correctly though.
He needs to select the jumper positions so that the PCMCIA card is on a IDE channel that is not being used by anything else. Also the IRQ has to be set to the same as the driver, if the drivers exist.

Right now it is configured as the fourth ide device, on IRQ 10 and with the io channel ready at the off position.

I would connect something (a drive) to the PCMCIA device, go into the bios and make sure that irq 10 is free and not reserved by anything else and then see if the bios finds anything in the disk tab.
 
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I cannot show a screenshot showing the device manager because I don't believe it exists in Windows 3.1.

Where can I find the IRQ settings that my devices are using in Windows 3.1?

Attached are the pages of my BIOS:


https://ibb.co/Fh2vdTF
ibb.co

BIOS-4-of-4 hosted at ImgBB

Image BIOS-4-of-4 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
https://ibb.co/ynmbSFW
ibb.co

BIOS-2-of-4 hosted at ImgBB

Image BIOS-2-of-4 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
https://ibb.co/99rWgxG
ibb.co

PCMCIA1 hosted at ImgBB

Image PCMCIA1 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

BIOS-1-of-4 hosted at ImgBB

Image BIOS-1-of-4 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
https://ibb.co/x2Xw72z
ibb.co

BIOS-3-of-4 hosted at ImgBB

Image BIOS-3-of-4 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co

These picture uploads NEVER work correctly! Why can I not just upload an image from my computer?!!
 
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Richy1985 said:
I cannot show a screenshot showing the device manager because I don't believe it exists in Windows 3.1.

Where can I find the IRQ settings that my devices are using in Windows 3.1?

Attached are the pages of my BIOS:
Click to expand...
Your bios shows that it can only see two ide devices so try and changing the jumpers on the card to be ide device two since it's not being used currently.
Put the two jumpers from 7 and 8 to 3 and 4.
 
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I understand that it would be helpful to know the make and model number of the card reader.

Unfortunately, I have to postpone looking into this because I now have a brand new problem: My motherboard seems to be acting up. I receive a 'No Diskette Controller' error when I boot up. I do not pass the POST with a single beep and my floppy and hard disk are no longer being detected. I've reset the CMOS on the motherboard but the error persists.

Does anyone know anything about this?
 
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Richy1985 said:
I understand that it would be helpful to know the make and model number of the card reader.

Unfortunately, I have to postpone looking into this because I now have a brand new problem: My motherboard seems to be acting up. I receive a 'No Diskette Controller' error when I boot up. I do not pass the POST with a single beep and my floppy and hard disk are no longer being detected. I've reset the CMOS on the motherboard but the error persists.

Does anyone know anything about this?
Click to expand...
Did you make any IRQ or resource changes as previously mentioned?
 
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I don't believe it. I don't believe it. I DO NOT BELIEVE IT!

I've fixed the 'No Diskette Controller' error!:mask:

SOLUTION: The IDE ribbon cable that connected to the Hard Disk was faulty!

Yesterday I had to test a theory as to why my 486 motherboard was able to see some CD-ROM drives and not others. When I connected everything back together again, I got two IDE Ribbon cables mixed up!

I ended up connecting the middle socket on the IDE ribbon cable that connects to the controller card that the PCMCIA card reader was connected to - to the hard disk. I figure I toasted at the minimum the cable but everything seems to be working again!

I can't believe my luck!
 
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15:40 hours: I have verified that the Hard Disk, Floppy Disk and CD-ROM are all working! :mask:

It's interesting to note that the faulty IDE ribbon cable that was connected to the Hard Disk was adversely affecting the Floppy Drive as well.

If my knowledge was not what it is, I would have sent my motherboard off for repairs which would have set me back £129.99p minimum! They also may have changed something on the motherboard that did not need changing!

I will post again when I have the make and model number of the card reader available.
 
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