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Since EBCDIC · Jul 31, 2003, 06:08 PM

Jaguar on TiPB 800 DVI: very rarely I'll pull the s.m.s. from my Sony DV cam into my PCMCIA adapter, see the OS put the "power off card" menu into the memu bar, but have nothing appear on the desktop.

The cam can display the pix, so there's no fatal corruption, but w/o a special cable (far away, at home) I can find no fix other than to have the camera reformat the card (and lose the pix).

Rescue would be appreciated.

bmhome1 · Jul 31, 2003, 09:28 PM

PCMCIA card recognition with 10.2.4 through 10.2.6 is VERY flaky for MANY, MANY users (if it doesn't affect you, it will sooner or later).

The card can take up to five full minutes to mount on the desktop. Cursor will only move, but too much of that will cause hard freeze. Pulling card causes kernel panic.

If card still won't appear, shut down with card inserted, restart, run fsck to repair incorect node count error, and card will mount on desktop.

Maybe Apple will get around to fixing this mess someday, but it's been around for eight months and three revisions.

Now pro photographer's web sites (for example robgrailbrath.com) are telling pros to skip Apple laptops for this very reason. The future looks bright indeed.

Since EBCDIC · Jul 31, 2003, 11:22 PM

Still stuck, but thanks for trying.

Rebooting 10.2 with the card in results in a "Waiting for local disks" error. Seemingly forever.

Disk Utility doesn't take any notice of card in/out, tho the kernel does (hence the menubar item).

What can I do whilst up and running? Any command line hints on hw to kick-start card services? I'd fsck manually but I can't see it mounting or even what device it is.

Other suggestions? I have some pix on this card I don't want to lose.

quietjim · Jul 31, 2003, 11:40 PM

I have had intermittent success with the Sony PCMIA card. Sometimes it mounts, sometimes not. It helps to shutdown and then insert the card but this is no guarantee. Also, it seems to work better if the CD/DVD unit is not in the expansion bay. Again, no guarantee. I haven't tried to use it since I got an airport card, I don't know if that will interfere with it.

Best advice: get a USB cable and carry it!

bmhome1 · Jul 31, 2003, 11:54 PM

AppleCare suggested resetting PMU (pull ac and battery, wait 5 seconds, press reset button five seconds. Date will need resetting) which helped several times, until the PCMCIA card recognition slowdowns started again.

I agree on giving up on PCMCIA readings at this stage and use USB or firewire readers.

Since EBCDIC · Aug 1, 2003, 03:24 AM

Well then, I guess I'll have to see if I can find the right cable in Munster or Ahlen, Germany.

TAZ · Aug 1, 2003, 03:20 PM

Wow, my 400 TiBk never had any problems reading PCMCIA cards. i did use the cheapie Viking one instead of the Sony. Finding a Sony cable will be hard and expensive. Go to Best Buy or equivalent and locate a USB reader. Around here they have them for $10; cant beat that.

Since EBCDIC · 05:01 PM

I'm in Germany. No Best Buy or equivalent.

Much as I love 'em, they're living in 1996 from an IT point of view.

Things are costly, not ubiquitous, proprietary, and hard to find.

But I did find a WORK-AROUND. It's possible to dump from the stick to tape and back. That's my plan. Backup, format in camcra, restore,ead via PCMCIA.