Pismo PCMCIA Slot

With the info you provided, I'm thinking it's an incompatible PC Card. Have you checked the vendor's site/specifications to see if it works on Macs & OS 9?

 Cheers, Tom

Jeff,

If you are using one of the PC Card Adapters like the SanDisk that reads (depending on adapter) various flash memory cards, it should work fine in both 9.x and 10.x. Also, the G4 has the same 32-bit CardBus PC card cage as the Pismo so there is no difference there.

When you say your AirPort card works, are you referring to the Apple AirPort card that resides under the keyboard or a WiFi PC card that you insert in the CardBus slot?

Make sure you are fully seating the PC Card Adapter in the slot. It is possible the card slot is in the locked position and will not let you properly seat the card. There should be a little hole next to the slot into which you push an opened paper clip to release the lock.

Although dated, take a look at this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=16167

Jeff,

Before replacing any parts, I would try a little more troubleshooting.

Try a FireWire or USB PC card in the Pismo.

In 9.x and FireWire PC card, you already have the FireWire Enabler and FireWire Support extensions, but you will need to add the FireWire CardBus Enabler in the Extensions folder. You can get one here:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macos/10842

In 9.x and USB PC card, you already have two necessary extensions, USB Device Extension and USB Software Locator, but you need three additional USB extensions for the USB PC card:

USB Mass Storage Extension
USB Mass Storage Support
USB Support

You can easily get these three extensions here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/tech/ftp/usb/usbextensions.sit

Expand the .sit file and just drag the three extensions to the System Folder icon or drop them in the Extensions folder. These are the five extensions:

USB Support v1.4.1
USB Software Locator v1.5.6
USB Device Extension v1.5.6
USB Mass Storage Support v2.0.4
USB Mass Storage Extension v2.0.4

In 10.x and FireWire PC card, all necessary software is present.

In 10.x and USB PC card, all necessary software is present. BUT, if you do not have a USB PC card with the correct USB chipset/controller, it will not work properly.

There is another limitation with PC cards...they do not supply sufficient bus power to run anything but the lowest powered devices, e.g. mouse on USB PC card. I have read that a USB PC card will mount a USB flash memory card.

My suggestion is this for the least amount of work: Beg/borrow a USB card and use in 9.x only after adding the necessary extension. See if the card shows up in the System Profiler; test a mouse; your iPod should also work; a USB HD should also work if it has its own power supply. You can also test a FireWire PC card in 10.x without adding any software. If you have a FireWire HD with its own power supply or a FireWire CD or DVD burner, it should work.

Jeff,

You have demonstrated that the PCMCIA/CardBus slot is at least partially, if not fully, functional. Most, if not all, compatible PC cards will mount on the desktop (9.x) or the menu bar (10.x) sans software because they are recognized by the powerbook hardware. You could not configure the Ethernet PC card under 9.x since this third-party card would require its own drivers.

Although I do not believe a PRAM reset should make any difference, give it a try.

You tried booting a 9.x CD and then mounting the memory card, but I would also try a shift-key-down (extensions off) startup in 9.x, then try mounting the card. A flash memory card should work just fine with this configuration and you have eliminated any possible extension conflicts, plus it may behave a little differently than a boot to CD. If it does work, then I still have no explanation for 10.x.

What format are you using on the flash memory card?

You said none of the pins is bent; can you tell if one is missing?

It's hard to imagine (but anything is possible) that insufficient power is being supplied to the card cage since the Ethernet card works. If you would like to read through the developer notes on the Pismo and possibly find pin voltages, this should help:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/DeveloperNotes/MacintoshCPUs-G3/PowerBook/index.html

I wonder if the problem is that you are asking the PCMCIA/CardBus slot to supply power to your peripheral. The slot supplies little or no power. I have a PCMCIA slot adapter for a hard drive that works well with my wallstreet but requires an external power supply.

Jeff,

You have tried multiple PC Card Adapters in your Pismo without success, so you probably have a bad CardBus card cage and/or a problem with the logic board.

PC Card Adapters like this SanDisk have been working in powerbooks since the PB 100 series, 5300, 1400, 3400, and later, and can be bought for as little as $10.

SanDisk CompactFlash® PC Card Adapter
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Default.aspx

If it does not work, you can always move over to a USB card reader...I use SanDisk's.

You might call a shop that services laptops, even PCs, and ask if they have any cards you can test and/or if they have a device that plugs into the card slot and tests for faults.

If all you need is a card reader, I would be inclined to use a USB device as opposed to replacing the logic board or card cage.

Jeff,

I have read reports from other users that the Pismo, and possibly the Lombard, dropped support for booting from the card slot. This may be contrary to your linked reference, but you can try 9.x on your G4 unless it is newer than the Titanium G4/1GHz and does not support Classic booting.

Regarding OS 9.x, the Pismo does support booting from the USB and FireWire ports; 10.x does not support USB booting except on the new Intel Macs.

Having said this, one user reported using a USB flash drive (not a USB card reader) to boot 9.x. It will be slower than the CardBus slot, but should work.

If you are still monitoring this thread, I just came across it when researching the same issue on my Pismo.

I actually tried this about a year ago without success. Running Mac OS X, it would not recognize a compact flash card reader that goes in the cardbus slot. I actually have two of them and neither one worked in my Pismo. The description was the same as your problem (except I never tried it in Mac OS 9). They both worked fine in my PC laptop. At the time, I didn't have time to troubleshoot the problem.

Today, I tried it again. Here's my somewhat amusing solution. PUSH THE CARD IN HARDER.

In all the previous attempts (many), I inserted the card and pushed it in until I felt resistance. I thought it was fully seated. However, on my last attempt, I pushed the card a little harder and I noticed it when in another millimeter. Suddenly, the card showed up on the Pismo's desktop.

I hope your "problem" was the same as mine, and that the rather trivial solution works too

Message was edited by: Kenichi Watanabe

Glad it worked...