Issues with the 3.5" SATA to CompactFlash SSD Adapter
I had someone install the StarTech 3.5" SATA to CompactFlash SSD adapter in the 3.5" drive bay and so far, the computer is working good.
Windows Vista can detect what CompactFlash card is inside the 3.5" SATA to CF drive bay without any major problems.
However, I'm running into issues after I insert the CF card in the 3.5" SATA to CF drive bay and turn the computer on:
1. The BIOS will recognise the CF card that is connected to the 3.5" SATA to CF drive bay as it is connected on SATA Port 4 on the ASUS M5A97 R2.0 motherboard. However, when Windows Vista attempts to boot up with the "© Microsoft Corporation" Segoe UI text and the green progress bar above it, the green light indicator on the SATA to CF drive goes off and the red hard drive LED stays on and the computer hangs indefinitely. In a interval of one minute, the hard drive LED will go off and the green light indicator on the SATA to CF drive goes on for a short period of time.
One temporary work around is that when I try to eject the CF card from the SATA to CF drive, the hard drive LED light would go off. I would leave it ejected for up to one minute and it would let the internal hard drive on SATA Port 1 continue to boot the Windows Vista operating system.
2. When there is data being read or written on the CF card, not only the green light indicator is blinking, but the hard drive LED light is blinking as well and it's not supposed to do that.
I have a couple of questions to ask to try to remedy this if possible:
1. Is there a way to fix the issue that will allow Windows Vista to boot successfully even if the CF card is inserted inside the internal SATA to CF drive?
2. In any event there is read and write activity on the CF card, is there a way to stop it from using the hard drive LED light?
The model number on the StarTech SATA to CompactFlash card is 35BAYCF2SAT. The model number can easily be searched on Google. The issues that I mentioned above are minor and do not affect the functionality and performance of my computer.
On a sidenote, in order to successfully recognise the CF card inside the the SATA to CF drive, I had to set the SATA ports to use AHCI mode and not IDE mode.
I had to insert a smaller capacity CF card (1 GB or lower) in order for the Windows operating system to boot up properly.
As far as I know, if I try to insert a capacity larger than this, I'm afraid that I could run into problems to a point where it could seriously damage the CF card itself.
I already ruined the Kingston Ultimate 32 GB CF card to a point where I had to toss it in the trash.
The SATA to CF drive wouldn't work properly with that card at all. 
What is the point of the CF card? It can't be very fast.
Furthermore, I cannot afford a SSD or anymore hard drives right now. I'm gonna have to watch what I spend.
May or may not be related but did you install Windows in IDE mode? Did you install the AHCI/RAID drivers? www.askvg.com/how-to-change-sa…
As for your boot problem, the likely issue is that since the adapter allows the card to be bootable its screwing with the boot process, it's a fairly common problem with certain external devices when they're plugged in during startup i.e. phones/media players/some usb storage devices.
I already switched from SATA to AHCI mode in the BIOS and when I had the CF card inserted after I reboot, Windows Vista would stall the boot process when it attempts to detect the CF card and for some reason, it could be interfering with the boot process. Even if the CF card works "as-is", the solution is hard to pin down.
To make matters worse, StarTech describes the 3.5" SATA to CF drive as non-hot swappable. There is a chance that I could seriously damage the CF card or the drive if I eject it while the computer is in operation. SATA to CF drives can often cause issues with the crcdisks.sys driver also, including hangs on boot-up unless the CF card is ejected for at least one minute.
To do this, turn on your computer and pay attention to the screen very closely. At system startup, a message should appear that gives instructions on how to access the BIOS. Usually, you simply need to press a certain key on the keyboard, but the precise key differs depending on your machine. It's not operating system specific.
You may have to reboot the computer several times to find the message. There is only a very small window of time that you have to press the key before the system tries to boot up. Usually, you'll have one or two seconds, tops, so you need to see what key to press as quickly as possible.
Once you find the key to press, and you press it within the 1 or 2 seconds time frame of turning on your machine, you'll enter the BIOS configuration screen. You're going to want to look for the boot order settings, which will show you the devices that the BIOS knows about, and the order in which the BIOS uses them to try to start the operating system.
You have several options. You can simply put your 3.5" drive at the bottom of the list. This will sidestep your issue with system hanging entirely. Or, you can put the device which contains your Windows OS Boot Sector at the top of the list. This is the most secure method, as it removes the possibility of someone hijacking your system through a low level CD attack.
But if you're in doubt, stick with the first method. Also, a word of caution about changing BIOS settings. Be careful not to go crazy with the system setting changes. The BIOS controls your hardware configuration, not your software, and a lot of the settings shouldn't be messed with unless your really know what you're doing.
Worst case scenario, you could end up frying your processor. Good Luck!
I've went into Safe Mode and found that there appears to be a problem when it tries to boot with the CF card inserted and the computer ends up hanging after attempting to load the crcdisk.sys file.
1. Could be a problem with the crcdisk.sys file itself. It could be corrupted. But this is unlikely if you can use the device after the computer has booted properly. Likewise with device filesystem incompatibilities.
2. Maybe your bios is outdated, and is trying to access the device driver incorrectly. There are ways to upgrade your bios from your motherboard manufacturer's support page.
3. A Firmware issue(?!). Basically, the I don't know option.
1. The crcdisk.sys has a date stamp of 2008-01-19 and was included in Windows Vista SP1. I'm suspecting that this might have a issue including device filesystem incompatibilities, but it's hard to pin down the exact cause.
2. I have updated the BIOS on this motherboard twice. The latest BIOS for the M5A97 R2.0 motherboard has a release date of 2014-04-07 with the BIOS revision 2501. It is unlikely that ASUS will release anymore BIOS updates for this motherboard.
3. It's hard to pin down the firmware issue regarding the CF card or the drive itself.
But that would mean it's all on the internals, and editing binary files, even with an hex editor is not very fun.
The machine is seeing SATA 1 and 2 as being on the same PCIe lane. If the card is not bootable, do not insert it until Windows boots.
To speed up Vista boot times, make sure that the hard drive is the first boot device in the bios. If you are not booting from the card, make sure it is not part of the boot sequence in the bios.
As far as I know, only the internal hard drive located on SATA Port 1 is bootable. The ability to boot from the CF card on the SATA to CF drive is disabled and not a part of the boot sequence in the BIOS.
(I will need to double check later today to make sure that this is the case.)
I will need to go into Safe Mode to determine what driver could be causing the boot process to stop responding also.
Go to the Adaptec website and download two files, ASPICHK.EXE and the ASPI driver for Vista 64bit.
Run ASPICHK to see if the driver is registered. It is not by default.
Run the driver installer and reboot.
Run ASPICHK again. The driver should be registered in the HAL.
Make sure the mass storage USB driver is registered with the HAL.
If not, find and run the mass storage USB sdriver installer for the model of CF device you have in there.
By default, Vista does not recognize USB mass storage devices. It tries to mount them as internal SATA hard drives.
The USB mass storage driver is installed as a part of the virtual SCSI layer in the HAL.
The HAL is the Hardware Abstraction Layer driver, allowing the Windows kernel to make real mode BIOS level calls to the hardware.
Adaptec discontinued ASPI driver support as it was only designed up to Windows XP.
To get maximum boot and operational speed from a PC which is able to support it, the use of a solid state boot drive is indicated. This looks like a standard 2.5 inch hard drive, but it is RAM based. There are no moving parts. Is this what you have, an SSD on the second SATA port? I am glad you informed me of the driver status for Vista and later. This would mean that mass storage hot swapping has migrated to the kernel, as it has in Seven. My meager experience with Vista has kept me in the dark on matters such as this. The only thing I can think of is bios settings and the way Windows is interpreting them. I am as stumped as you might be.
I've managed to try to boot into Safe Mode and with the boot logging feature in the Advanced Boot Options. I've somehow detected that in Safe Mode, Windows Vista hangs indefinitely after loading the crcdisk.sys driver located in \Windows\system32\drivers.
I'm stumped as far as I know.
I found this information. I hope it helps. The origin of this is found here: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wi…
If the System Restore doesn't work, do a Startup Repair by booting to the genuine Windows Vista Installation Disk (or one you can borrow from ANYONE) or from a Recovery Disk. Here's the procedure:
www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutor…. To boot to the CD you may need to change the BIOS to make the CD-drive first in the boot sequence. To do that, wait for the screen that tells you the F key to push to access the boot menu or boot setup. Push it quickly. Make the changes, save your work, and exit. Put the CD in the drive and reboot. When prompted, push any key to boot from the CD.
If you don't have either disk, you can make a bootable Recovery Disk using neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows… along with burning software like: www.snapfiles.com/get/active-i… and, of course, a blank CD (perhaps made on a different computer).
If that doesn't work, try to boot into safe mode (repeatedly click the F8 key while booting and go to safe mode with networking – or do so from the command prompt on the disk). Then let's check some of your system files:
Go to Start / All Programs / Accessories / Command prompt and right click on command prompt and click run as Administrator (you can skip this step if using the disk).
If using the disk, cd to C:\Windows\System32. Type sfc /scannow and enter and let it run. It will scan and try to fix some of your system files. Hopefully it will complete with no corruption it could not repair (if there is such corruption post back here or try to analyze it to find the problem file(s) using support.microsoft.com/kb/92822…. Try to post any corrupted files here so we can see if they can be repaired with good copies from the installation disk (unless there are too many).
While in Command Prompt, type chkdsk /f /r and enter and let it run. It will want to schedule itself to run at the next restart. Answer yes and then reboot to run the program. It will scan and try to fix any corruption or bad sectors on your hard drive and mostly remove that as a potential cause.
If that doesn't work, then please post any repeating error messages from the Event Viewer concerning startup (Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Event Viewer). Here's how to use Event Viewer: www.petri.co.il/vista-event-vi…. Look in the System section.
You may be infected with malware. Try to run anti-malware programs (in safe mode with networking ifnecessary). To fix this problem (if it is a problem) download, install, and run the following two programs:www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php andwww.safer-networking.org/en/in…. You may also want to try a free trial of Pandasoft (www.pandasecurity.com/usa/home…). Before downloading pandasoft, uninstall whatever anti-virus program you are currently using (because installing and running two at the same time can cause conflicts, freezes, and all sorts of problems). Once you've uninstalled your current AV program, download, install, update, and scan using Pandasoft. I think you might be amazed at how much it finds that the other software missed. Once complete, uninstall pandasoft and re-install your current AV program (unless you decide to switch which I did when I first tried it about 4 years ago). You may also want to try the new, free Microsoft Security Essentialswww.softpedia.com/progDownload… (with the same caveat that only ONE AV program can be installed and running on your system at any one time). You may also want to try the free Avira at:www.free-av.com/ and Avast at: www.avast.com/index. Reboot after completing all the scans. You may also want to try the free OneCare atonecare.live.com/site/en-us/de… and let it run all the options (except the registry cleaner) because that’s good maintenance (it will take some time to complete but can be done in the background).
If that doesn't work, try a clean boot support.microsoft.com/kb/92913…. If the problem goes away then it's just a matter of tracking down the culprit causing the problem. Follow the procedures in the article. Once found, delete, remove, deactivate, or uninstall it. Once done be sure to reset Vista back to normal status as explained in the procedures. If the problem occurs in clean mode then just restore the system to normal status and reboot - this solution is not going to work.
Boot into Safe mode with networking and see if the problem occurs there. Either result helps us narrow down the search for the cause.
You may be having troubles with your device drivers, firmware, and/or software. Go to Device Manager by going to start / search box and type device manager and enter and then double-click on the program icon that appears. Check each device for a red x, yellow ! or white ?. These identify devices with problems (probably drivers, but also conflicts or something else). Click on each for further details and troubleshooting tips. If you need to get drivers (and you should do any you have time to do - they may help in ways beyond just resolving this problem), do so from the computer vendor or device manufacturer (NOT from Microsoft Updates). In fact, you should turn off automatic driver updates from Windows Update as follows:www.addictivetips.com/windows-…. Proceed as follows to get the drivers: pcsupport.about.com/od/drivers…. Once you have the drivers, you can install them through Device Manager as follows:www.vistax64.com/tutorials/193….
Let's test your hard drive and RAM for hardware problems:
To test your hard drive, check the manufacturer and then get the diagnostic utility from:www.techsupportforum.com/hardw… (and/or get one from your hard drive or computer manufacturer if they have one available – it wouldn’t hurt to try both). If it fails the test, replace it. If it passes the test, then there's probably nothing wrong with it.
You can also test your RAM at www.memtest.org/. If it fails, test each chip individually to find those that are bad and replace them. If it passes, RAM is probably OK.
If that doesn't work, we'll need to do a system repair/upgrade using the genuine Windows Vista Installation Disk (one you own or one you can borrow from ANYONE). To do this you have to also be able to boot normally. Here's the procedure: www.vistax64.com/tutorials/882…. Although this will not affect your data, settings, or programs, you should still backup your data before starting just to be on the safe side. You may have a lot of updates to re-install (including any service packs you had to remove). If the version on the system came with SP1 or SP2 pre-installed and the disk is an earlier version, then you'll need to make a slipstream disk as follows:www.vistax64.com/tutorials/151….
If that doesn't work (or you don’t have the disk), then I'm afraid the only option is a clean install. You can use Knoppixwww.knopper.net/knoppix/index-… with a good ISO copier like: isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/is… along with a blank CD. This should give you enough access to the system (if you can't get in any other way) to backup your important data. Once done, you can do a clean install either using the genuine Windows Vista Installation Disk or the Recovery Disk or the Recovery Partition (whatever process is dictated by your computer manufacturer – you may need to contact them for the procedure and perhaps to get recovery disks). To do a clean install proceed as follows:www.winsupersite.com/showcase/… (adapted as necessary by the procedures of your computer manufacturer). Then you will need to re-install all your programs, reset all your preferences, reconfigure your network and email settings, restore your backed up data, run Windows Update with possibly nearly 100 updates pending...
Hopefully one of these procedures will resolve or at least identify the cause of your problem.