My z50 can't read

As I've mentioned before, I recently acquired an IBM z50. Nice device - I like the way they made it look just like a ThinkPad - but I'm starting to notice a problem. After it's had a CF card in it for a while during use of the device - either in the CF slot or in the PCMCIA slot with an adapter - files and folders gradually start disappearing from view each time I open explorer.exe. And before they fully disappear, many lose their icons and won't execute when tapped on (I get the "Cannot find . . ." error message.) This is happening even right after a hard reset.

My first guess is that atadisk.dll is somehow corrupted, but I'm wondering if a hardware fault can be ruled out. In the former case, replacing the ROM board should solve the problem, but if it's the latter, I'll probably have to replace the whole motherboard. Anyone have any ideas?

heh, I used to get this. It was a common problem with the z50, that would come and go. As far as I can recall, I just had to keep hard resetting with longer than usual discharge time, frequent soft resets and eventually the problem would go away.

I also seem to recall noticing that if you resume it with the cards out, it wouldn't do it as much. That was never an empirical observation though.

Is your rom chip the S3A61 (see diag)? - http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2691

Not sure if it's the same one or not. The number on the sticker on the largest chip is the same, but the numbers on the chips themselves differ. What's the "IBM Diag" you refer to? Is there a diagnostics screen you can get to during reboot? (And do you still have some of these ROMs by any chance?)

I can try the method you mention, but it seems like a pretty big pain in the behind if this was a common problem with the z50. Could well have sped up the device's demise in the market.

It's a win app, not a boot mode. Gosh, I can't recall the name of the .exe... it's in the windows folder, ibmd.exe ibmdiag.exe something like that.

I think that I've given all of the rom chips away, but I will have a look for you.

Okay, found IbmDiag.exe, and yes, it's S3A61.

Both main and backup batteries out of the z50 now. When you say "longer than usual discharge time," would a few hours be sufficient, or more like a whole day?

Oh hell, no. lol. Give it 10-20 minutes instead of waiting 2 was more what I meant.

Not sure if I've cured the fault yet or not. Several hard resets plus several soft resets later, for the moment it seems to be keeping all the card contents in plain view. (Not holding my breath just yet, though.) Were you able to clear up this problem for good, or did it continue to resurface later and thus require another series of hard and soft resets?

Another question: does this issue come up with MicroDrives as well? I would think so if the issue is related to atadisk.dll.

If I recall correctly it would reappear after a hard reset for me not not soft.

There is very little 'standard' about that ROM. IBM tinkered with everything and I believe that is why the z50 has these little issues. I've never tried a microdrive with it, however there are replacement ata drivers for some devices http://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/h/0021.asp

Wonder if the atadisk.dll update for MicroDrives overcomes this issue with standard (non-MicroDrive) CF cards. Can't hurt to try it if the symptom recurs, I suppose.

I seem to recall that I tried that once upon a time, and hard resets were had by all.

When I restored from the ActiveSync backup, the problem recurred after the required soft reset. I must have soft reset the device 20 times after that in hopes of curing the fault, to no avail. Desperate, I tried the updated atadisk.dll for MicroDrives. No change (but haven't had to hard reset thus far).

Pardon me while I go sweep up the hairs I've pulled out of my head.

Oh! Did I forget to say don't restore from backup Sorry.
That's a no, no, whatever 'it' is, it's in the backup.

I thought that at first, but then I thought, how would anything installed affect atadisk.dll's functions? Anyway, I did try re-installing everything from scratch (well, sort of - just re-installed whatever needed to be installed to RAM, and re-created shortcuts for some stuff on the CF card), but ended up with the same problem. It sounds like the problem is triggered by something I've installed on the CF card; am I right? (Wonderful - now all I have to do is re-install everything one by one until the problem reappears.)

I'm not sure about that. I never really got to the bottom of exactly what caused it, I just remember it being annoying and a juggling act over getting a stable system.

Annoying is an understatement. (I'm surprised I couldn't find any other threads on this issue before.)

Well, back to the drawing board.