Project - SSD Mods

Is this gonna work? http://cgi.ebay.com/Compact-Flash-CF-to ... 145wt_1032

 

Re: Project - SSD Mods: System not booting

Hello all,

hoping that this "humongous" thread still is observed by some, I would like to raise the following issue:
I did exchange the built in "Super Slow Drive" with a CF card (SanDisk Extreme IV, 16GB) attached via a ZIF-to-IDE adapter. The result was stunning: I get a very responsive system (46MB/sec reading throughput from "hdparm -t"), incomparable to the previous state. (35 sec booting time from BIOS, shutdown in 18 sec). A truly usable netbook that is.
The getting there, however, proved to be rather difficult: Installing Ubuntu 10.10 went well but the system would not boot. I got strange Grub errors showing that it did not even get to stage 1.5. So I recalled that puppy linux -- which had been installed on the card by coincidence -- had worked flawlessly. So I tried Extlinux as boot-loader and found that this made the difference. Every since then all works just fine with one noticable exception:
Suspending (either to disk or to ram) does not work. The system does seem to write to disk but after the disk LED turns off, the screen still shows desktop and mouse pointer but is completely unresponsive. I need to physically force power off and afterwards perform a full re-boot.
Played around with various parameters of suspend2ram but neither did work. Tried boot parameters like libata.dma=3 as well without noticable effect. dmesg shows no sign of error with dma either.
So I suppose there is some deeper cause preventing suspending as well as Grub from booting. -- Does anybody have any clue?
Cheers!
St. Mueller, Switzerland

 

Forgot to mention that this is a AAO 110L, currently running (smoothly!) under Ubuntu 10.10.
I shall post some similar questions on the German ubuntuusers.de Forum for I suspect that the point of this all might be more related to Ubuntu/Grub than to the AAO itself.
Cheers!
St. Müller, Switzerland

 

Sometimes, even a blind hen finds a corn! I happened to browse through
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne/110L?action=show&redirect=AspireOne110L#SSD Performance
when I stumbled over the following entry under Hardware Summary > Functional:
Suspend/Resume [ works out of box, but DO NOT USE with SD Cards inserted. ]

A quick test showed that indeed it was the SD card reader that prohibited suspending. I recall that I never used to have such a problem before on previously installed versions. For the moment, however, I am much too relieved about having a truly functional netbook to investigate into such matters.

Oh yeah, and it is Ubuntu 10.4, BTW.

Cheers!
St. Müller, Switzerland

 

Hi everyone... :mrgreen:

I have carrefully read all of page on this thread and i have buy the proper material.

- Amazon: 8Gb CF Integral Ultra Pro (300x)
- eBay: CF-ZIF 1,8' Adaptor


1) the first CF-ZIP Adaptor is broken ... after the normal blue installator screen of Windows XP (with successfully copied files), the disk don't want lauch the next step of the install on CF.

Boot error, can't read the disk.

2) i have re-order an other CF-ZIF 1,8 Adaptor (the same, actually...but from an other seller).
And it's OK !

3) i must format the CF with HP format tools AND SD formatter (panasonic) tool...with an USB car reader on an other PC before i can use in the CF-ZIF card with the 8GB CF from Integral constructor.
i must KEEP the format of the tools and don't use the WinXP SP2 format tools...you have 2 lines on the boot screen after that.
An WinXP normal boot line and an "no-recognize operating system"...but, not a problem, decrease the tempo. (usually 30 second) on the finished WinXP to lauch this more quickly.

4) i must bend and flip the rippon cable...with precision to align up and down contact. The white "arrow" MUST the same contact with white plot on the ZIF connector to the Acer One 110.



5) Installation is great, not fast than a "normal" 250Go IDE drive (or SATA) but the same as an old IDE 120Go drive.



6) Bench is here...i have take many example on my other PC to see the difference AND an SDHC Class 6 card !

 

From what I understand, I will need a CF/ZIF converter with the right cable, and a CF card for this mod.

I believe this converter is appropriate: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11814.

For the CF card, is there a point in getting one faster than 300X ? Is there a limit to the speeds the CF/ZIF converter and/or the interface can sustain? I see that there are some that are nearly twice as fast and relatively cheap. For instance: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...A-_-Memory+(Flash+Memory)-_-A-DATA-_-20211434.

Is there a way to tell which cards will work for the mod and which will get the best speeds?

The alternative is to get the Supertalent SSD made for the Aspire One: http://www.amazon.ca/Super-Talent-1...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1276964187&sr=1-35

 

thanks for info

 

Hi,

I have a boot up problems. I bought CF adapter and 4GB Transcend 300X CF card for my aspire one. I made flip cable by myself.
Now when i power up my aspire it will not bootup. It freezes to the state where you can press F2 or F12. Anyhow, nothing happens when i try to press keys.

small led on my CF adapter blinks when i power up computer, but after that nothing. When i take adapter off, it will start to bootup normally and then i can access ot BIOS.

Can some one give me hints how to proceed?

I am using BIOS version: v0.3310

Thanks in advance.

 

I just finished this mod using this adapter and a Transcend 600X 8GB CF card, so I figured I might as well post some benchmarks. I folded the white end of the zif cable (it is thinner) right on the middle to flip it, put the filter on, and connected the blue end to the mobo. Running BIOS 3310.

ATTO 64 - 8192 kB
ATTO 1 - 1024 kB

ATTO 64 - 8192 kB with TrueCrypt System Encryption (AES)
ATTO 1 - 1024 kB with TrueCrypt System Encryption (AES)

 

I have exactly same adapter, ordered from DX. At the beginning i didnt use flip cable (accidentally). Is there a risk that i broke my adapter in someway with non-flip cable? Its only connecters and copper wires, how can it break :?:

 

I doubt it, I had the cable connected in all sorts of ways before figuring out it needed to be flipped. Is your adapter touching the motherboard or casing in a bad way, perhaps? I have thin but rigid plastic both under and above it, similar to what can be seen in the middle image here. If that doesn't help I'd take the adapter out and carefully check it for visible damage.

 

I made the test so that adapter is places top of thick plastic, so it will not touch motherboard or casing. I need to check adapter with microscope, maybe i found something.
I places original SSD back and Bios recognises it with no problems. But when i plug CF adapter with card in, i am not even able to access bios, system just halts to first screen.

 

for my first test, i have already short-cup the CF adapter because i haven't view the commun white mark for the +VCC
It have reacted like your adapter...i have order an other (not the same), and the new work immediatly.

perhaps, your adapter is dead...

 

Thanks for the comments.

Meuh6879,
Could you advice that which adapter you ordered? Maybe i will try to get same.

Thanks!

 

the same model as in the picture page 39.

 

OK. I have same adapter. I think i will wait with the reorder untill my flip cabels will arrive, althought i dont think that problem is with the cables.

One note; when adapter is connected to motherboard without CF card mounted, computer boots up normally and i am able to accecss bios but when CF card is placed, systems halts to first screen.

 

like i have writing, try to format the CF with an external USB card reader...

 

I can try that aswell. Which file format i should use for my CF?

Thanks!

 

hi!

I just bought zif to cf adapter with 16gb 300x cf card, installed it with crossover cable BUT...

When i try to install windows i get "illegal partition table" etc. announcements. (RonsTinyXp) first then some other which did the same...

When i installed the linux ubuntu netbook remix everything seemed to be ok, but when i restart after installation only _ appears in to screen, and nothing else...

Bios identifies the drive as "CF Card" and hdd serial number appears also.

What to do? im helpless..

 

oh and the model of the adapter was same as this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0615888321
and the memory brand was CR memory, any experiences?