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PMD doesnt like SSD?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:13 am
by djstf
Hi guys,

Well my new SSD arrived - it is a Mach Xtreme MXSSD1MNANOZ-60G
http://mx-technology.com/store/index.ph ... duct_id=68

The PMD wont load with this connected.
It starts with the Pacemaker logo, spinning dots, Sorry friend... hard drive needs checking, Continue >

If I press Continue then either Restore or Cancel it says In progress for a second then restarts to do the same thing again. Its the same behaviour as not having any disk connected.

Is there any debugging or anything I can do? I havent yet been able to confirm the drive working in another device as I dont have anything on hand with this interface :(

Thanks again.

Re: PMD doesnt like SSD?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:11 pm
by Sox
There's no debugging you can turn on that I know off.

Thew page you linked to is not written in a language I can read, so I have no idea of the specs.
According to Cubicgarden in this post, you need a 40 pin ZIF connection. Is that what it has?

Also talk of 0.2 and 0.3 ZIF connections. It all means noting to me, but make sure you have checked all of that post. Since the original drive was a 2.5" HDD, couldn't you try your SSD in a laptop that also normally uses a 2.5" HDD? At the moment you don't know if it is the Pacemaker, the ZIF connector, or the SSD at fault

Re: PMD doesnt like SSD?

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:08 pm
by djstf
Haha how about that, it shows Chinese by default. Click on English next to the word STORE at the top and you can see all specs. It is a 40 pin ZIF PATA drive. I've no idea the difference between 2mm or 3mm either.

My original drive was a 1.8" HDD, I wont need to test that though - if I put it back in the PMD it works. If there is no debugging I'll continue looking for a netbook or something to test with.

Thanks again mate

Re: PMD doesnt like SSD?

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 6:11 pm
by Sox
Maybe you can buy a cheap USB based hard drive caddy to test it. Once done, you can use your old drive in there as a portable drive.

Re: PMD doesnt like SSD?

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 3:40 am
by djstf
Update: This drive is not faulty, and is now running in a netbook. I would suggest to anyone looking for an SSD for their pacemaker not to buy a MXSSD1MNANOZ-60G - I could not make it work.

Now to find one that does, I might go down the CF path...

Re: PMD doesnt like SSD?

Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 12:41 pm
by djstf
Alright! Just got my PMD back to life. I ordered a ZIF > CF adaptor and after a little rooting around getting it in the right way it is working.

I got it from a place called DX - this is the exact item I ordered:
http://www.dx.com/p/cf-zif-convertor-ci ... bles-11814
Bits like this dont usually have brand names, so if that item is removed try googling the model - PA-CF18Z. I specifically got this one because the reviewers said it worked in their ipods.

It comes with 2 ZIF cables - neither of them worked for me, I used the original. The new cables seemed a bit thicker which might be what the 2mm vs 3mm difference is, they didnt really fit into the PMD interface and the old cable didnt fit well into the adaptor interface, but it does have a good locking mechanism on it.

After it booted up it did it's 'hard drive needs to be restored' thing, then gave me an error about old firmware, PME also complained about FW. I had 16219 on it before the swap. The PMD did load up properly as a mass storage device so I just put the 16219 file into the .Pacemaker dir and restarted it. It loaded the FW and started working.

2 issues since then - the first time I opened the track browser it froze, after a restart it was OK for 5-10m then the crossfader froze. I'll try loading the latest beta tomorrow and see what happens.

Good luck anyone else trying this. If I get it working it will certainly have been worthwhile.