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How to put ZIF Drives in the Karma: a guide
Yes, it is possible
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M0tah 2009-01-05, 18:47 #46
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In reply to post ID 14835
Thanks for the info.  I hope that the adapter xafier got isn't the same as the Addonics adapter and plugs in so the PCB floats above the mainboard instead of resting on it. :-/
gomtuu 2009-01-05, 20:48 #47
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Quote by M0tah:
Thanks for the info.  I hope that the adapter xafier got isn't the same as the Addonics adapter and plugs in so the PCB floats above the mainboard instead of resting on it. :-/

Yeah, I think his is different from mine. On mine, pin 20 (the missing pin) is in the upper row (the row that's farther away from the adapter's PCB). Based on the one photo I can find of his adapter, it looks like his adapter has no missing pins in the upper row. This either means pin 20 is in the bottom row, which would mean the whole connector is upside-down compared to mine, or it means that pin 20 is not missing, but I don't know what that would mean. Xafier, can you confirm which is the case?

Edit: corrected info on pin 20.
This post was edited on 2009-01-05, 21:07 by gomtuu.
Donal 2009-06-16, 01:56 #48
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First, thanks for this post. Using the advice therein I've attempted to replace my dead HDD.
I also got the adaptor card mentioned later in this thread, ( http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.…?ViewItem&item=2… )
I removed the LED & Power Regulator. There is also a jumper for master/slave which I removed and shorted over the connection. Because the adaptor is slightly different than the original, one concern I have is if I'm shorting the two correct pins after removing the Power Reg.
I picked up a Toshiba MK3008GAL 30GB ZIF drive from ebay (supposedly new), but Recovery mode is not recognising it, indeed it doesn't seem to be spinning up.  (I also have an older Karma mainboard and tried both mainboards with same result).
Any thoughts?
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M0tah 2009-06-16, 21:37 #49
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An easy way to figure out what pad is ground and what pad is hot is to use a multimeter to check what pad is connected to the appropriate pin on the IDE interface - see here for the pinout.  On the adapter I used, I think both the logic and motor +5v pins were connected to the voltage regulator pad.  Alternatively, you can try to find the datasheet for the voltage regulator that was used, which should have the regulator's pinout.

I don't remember if the Karma's IDE connector is keyed or not, but if it isn't, another possibility is that you're plugging the adapter in backwards.
Donal 2009-06-17, 02:24 #50
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Thanks. I went back and checked the data sheet for the AMS1117 Power reg, and the correct two pins are shorted (Vin & Vo). Also the connector seems to be the right way around. I'll try to get a multimeter and check the drive is getting 5V at pins 41 & 42 , as you suggest.
Donal 2009-06-17, 07:17 #51
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OK, one problem was the ZIF connector on the drive. I hadn't opened it,  just pushed the cable in. I found a page showing it here that showed the ZIF properly:
http://www.digitalintelligence.com/support/zif_hard_drive_…
So the cables are in now. Also as I said, Vin & Vo are shorted on the adaptor board. On power on now, I get the starting up display, the drive spins up then I get a Drive "thunk" as the heads settle, and then the Karma shuts off immediately. I borrowed a meter and can see 3.25V on the IDE connector pin 42. But the AMS1117 Power reg has been removed. Stumped. Any further thoughts?
Donal 2009-06-17, 09:15 #52
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Bear with me, I'm getting there.
With the Zif cable in correctly and everything reseated, Recovery Mode finally recognised the drive! And I was able to reflash and reformat.
In RMM I started loading up tracks but kept also getting errors (Timeouts, Unspecified I/O errors, RMM hanging & crashing).
I'm normally a Linux user so I restarted Wins a few times and reflashed the Karma, but with Drive format, which worked a bot better but after about 3.5GB xferred the same problems started again.

Anyway, long story short. I put the Karma together, but had been using the wrong ZIF cable. When I tried to change to the correct one it was damaged so I have to wait a few days more for another to arrive.
Right now, it does look like the Toshiba 30GB  is working, at least up to a point.
I'll update when I get a new cable.
jaytee 2009-06-17, 14:36 #53
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Donal, if you get this working with the ide to zif adapter you posted earlier, it would be great if you could take some photos and maybe even make a separate guide to the install.  I know I am VERY interested in how this turns out.
C4K60 30 gig Karma + Shure SE530s = audio bliss
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M0tah 2009-06-17, 22:20 #54
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In reply to post #51
Quote by Donal:
I borrowed a meter and can see 3.25V on the IDE connector pin 42. But the AMS1117 Power reg has been removed. Stumped. Any further thoughts?
The voltage should be 3.3v, so it's about right.  The 5v on the pinout I posted is correct for 44 pin 2.5" laptop drives.  The 1.8" drive the Karma uses is a bit different in that it will run on either 5v or 3.3v, even though it has the same pinout.  The Karma runs the drive at 3.3v, so removing the voltage regulator is necessary to get the full 3.3v to the ZIF drives, which also run at 3.3v.
Donal 2009-06-23, 03:22 #55
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OK all. I got the new cable. Rio starts fine in Recovery Mode, HDD is correctly detected, firmware upgrade fine. And transferring files starts fine, after the firmware upgrade.

(At this stage it's the cable, mainboard and HDD outside the case. Getting it functional into the case will be another task because I've already tried it and the cable isn't secure in the HDD ZIF connector and easily pops out. )
 
However....I keep getting errors at various points. "Unspecified I/O error", "File length mismatch" are the two main ones, or just Unspecified error. Always happens on different files. I haven't managed to xfer more than 4gb to the Rio. Each time this happens I can spends hours restarting the Karma and RMM trying to get the two to talk,with little success. Even they do talk however, transferring will no longer take place, instead either hanging or giving one of the above errors.
Transfer works best after doing a firmware update with format.  I was running RMM in Vista before I swapped to an XP machine where I'm having slightly less issues but still not getting any further.
Also start-up time has gotten very long (Up to 3 minutes with 4gb xferred).Is this because I taken out the battery and the database needs to be rebuilt each time?
I think if I could really format the HDD I might have a better chance. The format during f/w upgrade is too short to be a full format, it must only be overwriting the Table Of Contents. Any idea how I might do that?
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M0tah 2009-06-23, 11:48 #56
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If you don't have a way to connect the drive directly to your computer, you might try to format it using the OMFS tools from here.  I haven't tried using the mkomfs utility and I'm not sure if it supports doing a "full" format, though.
jaytee 2009-06-23, 20:10 #57
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You didn't specify, but are those "Unspecified I/O error" & "File length mismatch" errors being reported on the Karma on in RMM?  I'm asking because from your description of the errors, there is no indication that they are in fact a result of the new drive or adapter.  At the risk of sounding incredibly stupid, are you sure that your USB connection is good?  I've personally experienced situations where flakey front USB ports caused all sorts of mayhem with transferring data to/from various USB devices (because front USB ports are normally connected via unshielded wires to the main board and the signal can be affected).  If you are connected though front ports, can you see what happens if you connect to rear USB ports? 

I believe that if the database on the Karma is being rebuilt that it should say so on screen. 

I have more questions... if you have this 4GB or so of tunes loaded on the Karma, and you restart it, etc. and without any attempt at tranferring more music to it, does it play back and behave normally with what is already loaded on it and does it allow you to shut down and restart normally at that point?  Or does it operate abnormally and go into the 3 min startup funk every time?
C4K60 30 gig Karma + Shure SE530s = audio bliss
This post was edited on 2009-06-23, 20:19 by jaytee.
Donal 2009-06-24, 03:12 #58
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Hey Jaytee.
("There are no stupid questions, only people stupid enough not to ask them"). That had been a thought of mine also so I tried Karma on two different systems with 2 diff. USB ports one each, each time moving from front USB post or port to mainboard USB port. On the first sys I was using Vista so I swapped to an older XP sys also.
All the errors are showing in RMM rather than on the Karma.Yes, once the music is transferred everything seems fine.
But after shutdown I always get a slow startup.
With nothing on the Karma the startup was quite normal time-wise. But if everything transferred fine, I wouldn't worry about the startup time. I didn't buy a battery until I am sure I have everything else working so that'll come last.
peter 2009-06-24, 03:40 #59
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I didn't buy a battery until I am sure I have everything else working so that'll come last.

What power supply are you using? Note that USB alone doesn't provide enough power to operate the drive correctly.

"File length mismatch", though, is a wholly PC-side error, and usually means that your RMM database needs to be rebuilt.

Peter
Donal 2009-06-24, 03:42 #60
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Hey Peter.
 I've using PSU direct to mainboard not just USB. I still have the old battery, just disconnected, it was very badly swollen, as I only ever used my Karma in the dock. Think I should reconnect for the purposes of this rebuild?
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