Compact Flash annoyance

[Crazed_Monkfish]

Since upgrading to a netbook from a 751 series 7 I've been having the following annoying problem with one of my 128mb flash cards (it's a PNY one - i.e. very cheap which might say something about it's quality?)

Anyhow - when I turn the 7book on I get the following error:

Program: AppArcServerThread
Reason code: E32USER-CBase
Reason number: 21

and the d: drive comes up as being corrupt.

If I then turn it on and off quickly it normally redetects the card without difficulty and the machine works normally. Occasionaly this doesn't work and I have to remove and re-insert the card. The same syptoms occur with the card in a pcmcia adapter. When the 7book was a series 7 it very occasionaly exibited this but not every time I turned the machine on!

Anybody any ideas what the issue is? Or is it mearly that the flash card isn't properly compatible?

card info: PQI 128mb Compact Flash, P/N: FC128

[wanman]

Hi,

As you have probably read on other threads, there have been issues with the cheaper brands of CF cards on the 7, 7book & netbook. I don't think any of these have caused such an adverse problem detailed by yourself (normally just get a corrupt disk message), but I can only assume that it is a CF card problem rather than your Psion.

Do you get the problem if the CF card is not installed? Do you have any other CF cards and if so, do you experience similar problems?

If you have Atelier's Essential Disk Utilities, you could try running a check disk on the offending card to see if there are any visible problems. Alternatively you could try backing it up and then re-formatting it. This is best done with Ateliers Smart Format (Part of the Utilities package) as you can reduce the sectors per cluster setting thus reducing the amount of wasted space caused by saving lots of small files (especially if you store your mail on this card).

Alternatively you can just reformat using Psion's internal formatting tool. Either way, try this to see if this resolves the problem.

If this does not work then your only option is to try a better branded card. Clove Technologies sell the Simple Technologies cards which I have used since buying my first Psion, 5 years ago. I have had no problems with any of the sizes I have tried (32, 64, 128 & 256mb).

Let us know how you get on.

Regards

Si

[diem]

The CF card is not corrupt - this is a known issue that is related to the folder \System\Recogs - present on C and also on your CF card if you have installed any applications onto it. The error does not cause any loss of data.

I get this very same message if I eject a CF card that has applications installed on it that I have used since inserting the card. Note, the applications are not running when I eject the card.

It would seem that the OS gets confused about the location of the files in this folder (I think they're used to recognise files of different types) - a workaround is simply to copy all the files in D:\System\Recogs to C:\System\Recogs.

[wanman]

Yan,

I am not sure how you are recreating this error. Are you saying that you get this message if you remove a CF card with an application you have used, but was closed down before powering down your machine? or are you getting this error message only if you remove a card whilst the app was left open before powering down?

How are the System/Recogs files used? I thought the OS used them to match files with relevant apps so that if you doubled clicked on that particular file type (e.g. .txt), it would auto launch the correct application to access it (e.g. Opera)? I am not sure why this would cause the error that Crazed is experiencing at start up unless he has some macro running on start up which trys to launch a missing app?

I have a couple of CF cards with different apps on them that I use at different times. I have never experienced this problem when switching on my mahine with different cards inserted or even with both removed. My ReCog files are kept seperate and have not been copied onto c: drive. If this type of useage may cause this problem, I would be interesting in knowing what causes it so I can avoid it in the future.

I think the error message part of Crazed_Monkfish's thread could be as suggested by Yan. The corrupt disk message sounds as if the CF card could be having problems, although I am not saying it is necessarily corrupt, it is a fact that some CF cards have more compatibility problems than others.

As it used to work with your 7 then a reformat may help that part of your problem.

Regards

Si

[Crazed_Monkfish]

To answer the first reply - yes, it is only this card that I have problems with, the other 6 (All smaller and of various makes including PQI) have shown no problem...

However - many thanks to Diem - as the suggested fix does in fact seem to work a treat for me, and repeated testing has come up with no problems!! :)

To clarify the original problem - in case anyone else gets it:
It occured every time the machine was turned on after the card was working fine, regardless of what was / was not running - I usually have just system open...

Seems strange though that it only affects the one card...

Incidently despite all the corrupt messages I never lost data...

[diem]

Originally posted by wanman
Yan,

I am not sure how you are recreating this error. Are you saying that you get this message if you remove a CF card with an application you have used, but was closed down before powering down your machine? or are you getting this error message only if you remove a card whilst the app was left open before powering down?

I get this error if I eject a CF card having previously used an application installed on the card. The application is not open when I eject the card.

I see what you're saying regarding the 'Corrupt' message Si. Since I get this error when the netBook 'loses touch' with the card (i.e. when I eject it), it would suggest that, at switch-on, the 7Book cannot communicate with the card as quickly as it would like - the card is taking too long to 'wake up' - so causing both the 'Corrupt' display and, separately, the known bug I am aware of.

I'm thinking that perhaps the fact that the machine is running at a higher speed now its a 7Book will have an effect on CF cards that were previously totally compatible with a 7 (running at lower speed). A reformat followed by reinstating all data and apps on the card may help, but it may be that the controller on the card just isn't up to the speed of the 7Book, in which case you'll either need to put up with these non-destructive errors, or replace the card.


To reply to your last question Mr. Monkfish (I was writing this reply as you wrote yours!), I think larger cards will be affected more adversely since they are slower to access than smaller ones. Your post has told me something I didn't know - that the OS must do some sort of 'file types' check at switch-on, and moving the recogs to C has meant that it no longer needs to look to the CF card to find recogs for some file types it can't identify, thus it doesn't fail to access the CF, thus no 'Corrupt' message!

[wanman]

Aaaah this could be making a little more sense now.

Assuming that the OS does carry out a file type check of some description when you power up (as Yan thinks), if you store files on your C: drive (not within the system folder) which relate to apps on your D: Drive, then the OS must access the D drive quite early on in the power up stage to find the appropriate recogs. If these are not there (e.g. if the CF card is removed as Yan confirmed) then this error message is issued.

I assume I don't get this problem as I keep all my application specific files on my CF cards and nothing but the System folder on the C drive (keeps space free for multiple apps to run with Opera) which means it never has to interrigate the D drive at that early power up stage.

As Yan's fix has seemed to work for Crazed Monkfish, we can only assume that his CF card was not fully powered up at the point the OS needed to access the Recog files on the d drive so decided the disk was corrupt and issued that error message as it could not get to the need recogs.

What we need Crazed to confirm now is whether he keeps application specific files (not held within the C:\System folder) on his C drive which relate to applications on the D drive.

......

Having said that, in the name of science, I have just tried copying some application specific files from my d drive to my c drive. Removed my cf card and then powered up my machine. No error message. Tried double clicking on one of files and just confirmed 'not found'. Powered off, reinserted CF card, powered back up, tried file again 'not found'. Tried all applications including OS apps such as word and all 'not found'........DOH !!!!!! Did a soft reset and all now working again. So no real progress there then !!! lol

Si

[diem]

I know we're going off thread (and me a mod? tsk tsk ;)), but I've seen this 'Not Found' behaviour myself (relating to removing CF cards that have apps installed), and always wondered what the deal was..

Looks like I've a couple of things to add to the 'netBook bugs' list in my FAQ.

[wanman]

Well I am not going to be the guinea pig again so get some other mug.....I mean helpful soul !!! lol.

[diem]

no worries!! I'll just mention it as kind of unexplained for now :D