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KnowledgeBase

296 Posts

Posted - 18 Apr 2002 :  09:52:29  Show Profile  Email Poster
Caution!
The ATA CF card that we include with evaluation kits is formatted to work with your board. Do NOT reformat it unless you are sure the file system is corrupted.

What kind of file system does the bootloader recognize on ATA PCMCIA and CF cards?

Although the linux kernel can mount, read, and write to ATA cards formatted as FAT16, the linux bootloaders do not always work with FAT16. If you have trouble booting from an ATA card or updating the on board flash from an ATA card, you may need to use FAT12 instead. On a linux PC, you can format your card with FAT12 using the following command:
mkdosfs -c -F 12 -v /dev/hde1
(If necessary, replace /dev/hde1 with the device on your PC that is the PCMCIA/CF slot for the card you want to format. For example, a USB card reader will likely be /dev/sda1 if it is the first "scsi" mass storage device.)

Do not format ATA cards with FAT32 or EXT2.


15-Sep-2003: jlackey - add caution against reformatting cards included with evaluation kits
23-Jan-2003: jlackey - edit remarks concerning linux bootloaders (remove statement indicating FAT12 is required - the bootloaders usually work with FAT16 and do not always require FAT12)

jlackey

213 Posts

Posted - 23 Jan 2003 :  11:29:40  Show Profile  Email Poster
A significant issue has been resolved that was preventing some ATA cards formatted with FAT16 from working. The programs that format ATA flash cards do not always set the bits that indicate FAT12, FAT16, etc. correctly.

Beginning with Ver. 4.2 of the ADS Linux Bootloader, a more thorough analysis is performed rather than relying solely on the format bits.

This should make the bootloader work more reliably with FAT16 and FAT12.

If you have an older bootloader and are having problems with an ATA card, you may want to consider upgrading to the latest version.
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