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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    122

    COMPACT FLASH CARD

    I just bought some Transcend compact flash cards and I cannot get them to work in the LCD side mount slot. The new cards are Transcend Compact Flash 1GB 80x. I started out by formating the card FAT and copying a .nc file onto it. When I went to run the program on a 0i-mate-MD I got a message 'memory card is not formatted. I tried to run the program on a 21i-MB and 18i-MB and got a Memory card error 099. I was unable to format the card on either machine through the boot screen or the PMC I/O. When I tried to punch to the card I would get error 099 on the 21i and 18i, 'Cannot use I/O device' came up on the 0i-mate-MD. I then installed the card as a dataserver on a 21i and it worked in there, both uploading and running programs. So I formatted the card through the data server which did format it. I am basically back where I started right now. Error 099 is 'A part preceding the FAT area on the memory card is destroyed.' I have tried 14 of the cards, 4 different PCMCIA adaptors, 3 different computers to try formatting and 3 separate card readers. I have other cards like this already and that is why I bought them thinking there would be no problems. Any ideas what it could be or what I should try?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    2517
    Maximum accepted card size is 512M for 18i/21i control (and probably 0i too). Use a smaller CF card.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    4519
    Quote Originally Posted by fordav11 View Post
    Maximum accepted card size is 512M for 18i/21i control (and probably 0i too). Use a smaller CF card.
    +1

    You need to be in the Megabyte range, not Giga.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    122
    Thanks for the responses but I know it should work. I have a 1GB Transcend Industrial card, a 2GB and 4GB Transcend 80x that all work. I've also had 1GB and 2GB Kingston cards that worked also.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    4519
    Quote Originally Posted by ben_heinman View Post
    Thanks for the responses but I know it should work. I have a 1GB Transcend Industrial card, a 2GB and 4GB Transcend 80x that all work. I've also had 1GB and 2GB Kingston cards that worked also.
    This actually makes you the expert on the topic. We need to be coming to you for information on how you made them work. So, how did you make the > 512 mb cards work?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    122
    I'm not an expert yet, but I will be by the time I figure this out. I found out that for the Fanuc systems the cards needs the 5 volt single power supply and not the 3.3 volt. They also say to format the card FAT16. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the 'part preceding the FAT area' configured. I have a document that to look over when I have a chance. It mentions opening the configuration option register to configure the cards interface. Basically it looks like there are parameters for the cards and if I change bit 7 to a 1 it should issue a soft reset. If I find this then I can probably reconfigure the card too.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails REGISTER.jpg   CONFIG.jpg  

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    4519
    Excellent!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    2517

    I seriously doubt it'll work. You can't force a computer to read something it doesn't know about (i.e. high capacity CF card)
    The reason it works in some machines and not others is because the control software will be a newer version supporting larger CF cards (for example a late 21i-series Model B compared to an earlier 21i-series Model A). Even with identical machines the boot and CNC software can be different due to constant improvements being made by Fanuc.
    When these controls were designed gigabyte plus CF cards didn't exist. Only later controls and/or newer software can support larger cards.
    Changing some settings to make it soft-reset won't do jack to make the CNC read the card.
    The fast effective no-time-wasting solution is to go onto ebay and pay $2.50 for a 64M CF card.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/320859936063
    Here's 4 for 10 bucks.

    You might try doing some research.......
    http://compactflash.org/faqs/faq.htm

    For example *ALL* CF cards work at both 3.3V and 5V :violin:

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Posts
    25
    Go to the following link for solutions for this issue...

    http://www.cnczone.com/forums/fanuc/...lash_card.html

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by txcncman View Post
    +1

    You need to be in the Megabyte range, not Giga.
    This must be old info we have a 2gb on a 21i. Think he is correct about fat 16 format for larger cards.

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