I was looking at adding a cf adapter to a 286 machine but all (well…most) of the ide cables I have have one of the pins near the middle blocked on the connector. However the motherboard of this computer has a pin there. Are modern cf adapters compatible with an older 286 motherboard?
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Old school IDE to CF adapter
- Thread starter thenzero
- Start date
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Even in the earliest of my drive literature, IDE/PATA pin 20 is noted as "key--unused"--I think my first IDE drive was a CDC Wren II--about 70MB 5.25" half-height. The idea of a "key" position was to make it impossible to insert the connector "upside down".
A stupid question, so please forgive me. Have you installed a hard drive on the same connector yet?
A stupid question, so please forgive me. Have you installed a hard drive on the same connector yet?
Chuck(G)
25k Member
With all that's been written here, I assumed that you were observant enough to select a period-appropriately sized CF on a 286 system. (I've got CFs varying in capacity from 2 MB--that's right two megabytes, sixteen megabytes, 32 MB... and so on.) If you're trying to use a gigabyte or multi-gigabyte CF card, you have your answer.
I keep forgetting how old I am...
I keep forgetting how old I am...
With all that's been written here, I assumed that you were observant enough to select a period-appropriately sized CF on a 286 system. (I've got CFs varying in capacity from 2 MB--that's right two megabytes, sixteen megabytes, 32 MB... and so on.) If you're trying to use a gigabyte or multi-gigabyte CF card, you have your answer.
I keep forgetting how old I am...
This only hurts my feelings (and confuses me) a tiny bit. Picture attached of my card and adapter. You can tell me if you think this is too large but it seems to work on my other systems.
Attachments
Agent Orange
Veteran Member
Have you checked your data cable orientation as well as power plug?
Data cable can only go in one way and the pin 1 marks do line up. What do you mean about the power plug?
Agent Orange
Veteran Member
Some of my CF adapters have a 4-pin riser which needs to have a power plug attached.
Chuck(G)
25k Member
I apologize--I didn't get much sleep (arthritis) and am very grouchy today. If the 286 is of a more recent (closer to 1990 than 1985) vintage, a 128 MB CF card should work. Can you boot this system from floppy? There's a Seagate tool that does a direct inquiry on the drive (bypasses the BIOS) and can tell you if you're actually connecting.
So the PSU is not starting with the CF adapter connected ??
Some of these CF adapters have an IDE header pin/s grounded that shouldn't be and that will cause the PSU to not start, Check pin 28 of the cf adapter header to see if it is grounded. I have had this problem before on different adapter.