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tbronez
17 Posts |
 Posted - 29 Apr 2005 : 13:59:59
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We are working with BitsyX (WinCE 4.20.04) and BitsyPlus (WinCE 4.10.14) devices accompanied by the Compact Flash (CF) Personality Board. The BitsyX has certain issues simultaneously handling both a PCMCIA card (socket 0, on BitsyX board) and a CF card (socket 1, on Personality Board). These problems are not evident with the BitsyPlus. We believe it is a problem with the BitsyX PCMCIA bus driver or hardware.
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SCENARIO 1: PCMCIA wireless card and CF memory card
We have a Startup folder with boot script that installs the wireless card driver on cold boot, restarts, then runs a wireless application. On BitsyPlus, this works whether we place the Startup folder on a CF memory card or on the FlashFX disk.
On the BitsyX, this works ONLY if we use the FlashFX Startup folder. If we use the CF Startup folder, the PCMCIA card lights up and then shuts down. Examination of the registry shows no active NDSX: device in socket 0.
If instead we place the wireless application somewhere on the CF memory card outside of the CF Startup folder, the boot process works fine and the wireless card activates without problem, but then we have to manually start the application, which is unacceptable in our product.
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SCENARIO 2: PCMCIA wireless card and CF ethernet card
We have a Startup folder with boot script that installs the wireless card driver on cold boot and restarts (no application for this test). The CF ethernet card is NE2000-compatible and uses built-in dirvers. On BitsyPlus, this works fine, giving us a dual-homed host.
On the BitsyX, this doesn't work. After the boot, the PCMCIA wireless card lights up, then shuts down. The CF ethernet card works fine. Examination of the registry shows no "Active" entry for the wireless card, just for the ethernet card, but there is a gap in the enumeration, as if there had temporarily been an "Active" entry for the wireless card.
We get the same problem if we boot with only the CF ethernet card inserted, then subsequently insert the PCMCIA wireless card manually. The active CF ethernet card on socket 1 prevents activation of the PCMCIA wireless card on socket 0.
We can get both cards to function if we boot with only the PCMCIA wireless card inserted, then subsequently insert the CF ethernet card manually. However, manual insertion is unacceptable in our product.
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The fact that both scenarios work on the BitsyPlus and fail on the BitsyX lead us to believe the BitsyX hardware or OS build is flawed.
Have others encountered this? What does ADS think?
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hchin
30 Posts |
Posted - 06 May 2005 : 15:54:09
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tbronez,
We have been working on these two issues to see if we could reproduce them. I have managed to get scenario 1 to work with out any problems (substituting your wireless app and startup folder with something of our own). I used bootloader v1.14 and CE 4.20.12 to do the testing. Topic 1289
There are some issues with the second scenario and we are still looking into it.
Please feel free to email us with any other questions or details.
Please note that the Bitsy Personality board should be a rev A for it to work with the BitsyX. You can verify this by looking on the bottom side of the board for the marking 170111-8000A located on the opposite side of USB connector J11.
We'll post an update with our finding at a later date.
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Edited by - hchin on 06 May 2005 16:39:54 |
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tbronez
17 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2005 : 10:49:24
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Thanks for looking into this.
Drew Kidder reproduced the "Scenario 1" problem last year ago. I'll separately send you my email exchange with him. I brought it up again now since it seems related to the new "Scenario 2".
I verified that the personality boards we have attached to our BitsyX boards are indeed rev A (170111-8000A).
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BitsyX flaw with CF+PCMCIA? BitsyPlus OK!
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