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July 19th, 2011 03:00

PCMCIA slot not working on Dell Latitude E5520 laptop

Hi from Spain.

The PCMCIA slot on Dell Latitude E5520 laptop does not work.

At my job we purchased from Dell website for Spain (http://dell.es) three identical Dell Latitude E5520 laptops, and in none of them the PCMCIA slot works. The failure varies from a complete freeze when introducing a PCMCIA card, to card not being recognized, depending on the laptop and card.

We tested eight different types of PCMCIA card:

  1. Compact flash to PCMCIA adaptor (with any CF card).
  2. 5 in 1 card reader.
  3. Serial port.
  4. Parallel port.
  5. Ovislink RJ45 10/100 ethernet.
  6. Modem 56K.
  7. Ecom wifi.
  8. Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK.

Since at work we use heavily this last very expensive (much more than the laptop itself) PCMCIA Allen-Bradley communication card, we thought this laptop would fully fulfill our needs. On the contrary, if this card doesn't work the laptop is as useless as a brick for us.

All above mentioned PCMCIA's are old tested cards, all working in other laptops (Toshiba, Clevo, HP, another four years old Dell, etc).

And it is not a matter of these just three laptops manufactured at the same time: in the third repair attempt (see below) by Dell of one of the laptops the motherboard was substituted. The motherboard was probably not manufactured at the same time as the laptops, and, being a refurbished motherboard, it was supposed to be tested.

Also, it is not an operating system issue (Windows 7 32 bits, but see below). Booting in Linux (pendrive or live CD) error messages are generated when inserting or removing cards ('dmesg'). Also, on this post: http://groups.google.com/group/comedi_list/browse_thread/thread/04ed51e0772e2fe3/7749503d789dff2b?show_docid=7749503d789dff2b&pli=1 he is working in Linux with an expensive specialized measurement PCMCIA NI-DAQ 6024e by National Instruments, and has problems.

Repair attempts by Dell, having started with one of the three deffective Dell Latitude E5520 laptops more than one month ago:

  1. Deffective Dell Latitude E5520 laptop sent to wherever. PCMCIA cage substituted (good guess). Problem remained the same. Obviously, they didn't test.
  2. Same deffective Dell Latitude E5520 laptop sent to wherever. OS changed from Windows 7 32 bits to Windows 7 64 bits. Problem remained. Obviously, they didn't test, although we included, as suggested by Dell support for Spain (in Romania), three PCMCIA cards for test. And worse, Windows 7 64 bits turned the laptop into a complete brick for us, since we use some specialized licensed programs which run only in Windows 32 bits. Obviously, they also deleted our information, installed programs, updates, etc. There was no reason to change the OS (it was a hardware problem) and problems remained.
  3. A repairman sent by Dell came to the office to substitute the motherboard in above same deffective Dell Latitude E5520 laptop. The motherboard version had the same version and bios, but it was a refurbished one, which could be a good hope. Problem remained. Obviously, even if the motherboard was a refurbished one, it had not been tested. The repairman told us that in ten years working with Dell and other laptop manufacturers he hadn't seen anything like this.

This is a hardware problem (not OS), and it can be a bad batch of components, a laptop design error, or some chip design error. But worse, it shows that Dell doesn't test the laptops they sell, and does not test refurbished motherboards meant for repairs. And yet worse, if it is a chip design error it can appear not only in other Dell laptops, but even in others from other manufacturers using the same chip.

Another consideration: above mentioned old Dell laptop (Latitude D520) in which the PCMCIA's work was made in Ireland, and has always worked beautifully. These deffective Dell Latitude E5520 laptops are made in China. Not only they are deffective: obviously they have not been tested. Does this happen with other chinese Dell laptops?

And, what does Dell Service for Spain (in Romania) do? Incredibly, since the laptop has been tried to repair three times without success, we must accept that the laptop has this deffect. No matter how many times I call them, no matter how many times I talk with a supervisor, that is the answer. Not accepting this (we need the PCMCIA slot as appears above) they say they will call us later and never call, and this happens day after day.

I have no contact above Dell Service for Spain (in Romania) to complain or just to communicate the problem. They just ignore us.

I thought that Dell guaranteed their products against any manufacturing deffect, but this does not seem the case. What warranty is "accept the deffect"? The manual for this Dell Latitude E5520 is . The PCMCIA slot appears there. Well, really it does not say it works, so it must be decorative.

So people reading this and having recent Dell Latitude E5520 laptops with PCMCIA or ExpressCard should test this slot. The simplest test for PCMCIA is a PCMCIA to Compact Flash card adapter with a Compact Flash card inserted; this adaptor is only mechanical (connects the 50 CF card pins to some of the 68 PCMCIA bus pins) and very cheap. When inserting it, after a while, the CF card should be recognized and should appear in Windows as a new drive unit. 

Above is a comparison of what appears in a deffective Dell Latitude E5520 laptop with Windows 7, and the same in a Clevo with XP. But note that it is not an operating system problem (appears also with Linux).

People reading this can post their experience, good or bad. It would also help if someone posts his PCMCIA slot really working.

Regards, Tarantulito, Spain.

10 Posts

July 29th, 2011 04:00

Hi.

Above I wrote:

Since there have appeared posts in other phorums asking if this card Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK is supported in Windows 7 here I include screen captures (on laptop named E5520-L above) on it, showing its resources and driver:(incluir E5520-L_1784_PCMK.png)

This refers to the Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK, working in one of our three deffective Dell Latitude E5520 recently purchased (may 2011) laptops, named E5520-L above. Some people have asked if this card was supported in Windows 7. I had to leave, so I had no time to include figure E5520-L_1784_PCMK.png, which includes screen captures on this board, showing its resources and driver. Note driver date (january 25 2010). Here it goes:

When describing resources on a XP SP3 laptop with two PCMCIA slots and a PC CARD and a Cardbus cards inserted:

  • Compact Flash adaptor (with a CF card);
  • Parallel port (Moschip);

 I wrote:

They appear as a PCMCIA IDE/ATAPI controller (with ISA IRQ4) and a PCI Parallel Por (LPT3) (with PCI IRQ10), and also coexist peacefully. IRQ10 is shared by a lot of devices.

  IRQ4 should be IRQ7, as appears in the figure. ISA IRQ4 is occupied by COM1 communication port, and cannot be shared.

SpeedStep says:

I have no Idea what VISTA or Windows 7 does but I suspect that the 16 BIT DOS ISA IRQ's are not supported.

On above tests of PC Card cards and Cardbus cards using a PCMCIA to PCI adapter based on a Ricoh RL5C475A chip inserted in a modern desktop with Windows 7 64 bits, low numbered IRQ's are indicated as ISA. When the 56k modem PC Card card is inserted, its IRQ is numbered as 0x10 (16), one unit above classical ISA interrupts (0-15). Go figure.

All I can say is that it worked perfectly (see above Teraterm session).

Regards, Tarantulito, Spain.

10 Posts

August 1st, 2011 09:00

Hi.

While above posts were written, on july 28 2011 Dell released a new bios for the Dell Latitude E5520 (version A02). On its features nothing is said about its PCMCIA slot problems, but it seems that this bios A02 solves them.

Resources for following cards:

  • Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK (Cardbus),
  • Parallel port (Moschip) (Cardbus),
  • Serial port (Oxford Semiconductor) (Cardbus),
  • Compact Flash adaptor (with a CF card) (PC Card).,
  • USB 2.0 adapter (NEC) (Cardbus),

follow:

    We have succesfully upgraded to bios A02 two of the three laptops (named E5520-L and E5520-N above) and PCMCIA cards work satisfactorily, with resources shown above. Third laptop (named E5520-M above), which froze when inserting any Cardbus card, will be tested in two weeks.

    No one from Dell Service for Spain (in Romania), after one and a half month since problem was detected (mid june), told us to wait for a next coming bios. In adition, someone, graciously illuminated, for solving a bios problem, as we had anticipated, substituted in named above E5520-N Dell Latitude E5520 its Windows 7 32 bits operating system for the 64 bits one, deleting our long Windows upgrades, our installed programs and our documents, and leaving the laptop as usefull as a brick for us, since we use some industrial software which needs 32 bits Windows.

    So people owning a Dell Latitude E5520 laptop should upgrade its bios to version A02. Finally, it is an excellent laptop, with an excellent screen (we purchased the one with 1920x1080 screen).

    Regards, Tarantulito, Spain.

    8 Wizard

     • 

    47K Posts

    July 19th, 2011 08:00

    16 BIT ISA PCMCIA 5V is no longer supported.

    You will not find 5V compatible laptops from ANY vendor today.

    ISA IRQ's are no longer supported.

    Does not matter if its DELL or any other laptop.

    Low voltage CPU's mean that  32 BIT 3.3V cardbus is all that is still supported.

    ALL laptops only provide only 3.3V power in the PCMCIA slot (rendering them incompatible with 16 BIT ISA 5V PCMCIA)

    PCMCIA cards no longer supported under DOS? 

    There is no more DOS support for PCMCIA cards.

    5V ISA cards were built to work with Card and Socket Services from System Soft.

    Newer laptops do not use this software, and System Soft is no longer supporting it.

    For more information on PCMCIA go to: www.pcmcia.org

    ISA irq requests are DISABLED BY default in XP service pack 1, 2, 3.

    5V PCMCIA cards are known to be incompatible with most laptops because they do not provide 5V power for the card.

    PCMCIA Device May Not Work in Windows XP - Microsoft Support

    A Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) device that works correctly in Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, and Microsoft Windows 2000, may not work correctly in Windows XP. If this problem occurs, a black exclamation point (!) on a yellow field is displayed on the device in Device Manager. Additionally, no resources will be allocated to the device.

    As Far As I can tell Cardbus is gone.  This is due to the Chipsets for motherboards being express card/PCI-E  vs CardBus/AGP

    http://www.startech.com/item/PCI2PCMCIA1E-1-Port-CardBus-PCMCIA-to-PCI-Adapter.aspx

    1.  5V PCMCIA is Dead aka ISA bus.

    Does not support 5v or 16-bit PCMCIA cards such as ATA Flash, 4-in-1 DigiAdapter
    or CF DigiAdapter. Under Mac OS X, Panasonic P2 cards are currently
    not supported with this adapter.

    Drivers for the devices connected through this adapter must still be installed.

    2. 3.3v Cardbus is almost Dead.  You can get PCI to Cardbus Cards still but thats limited.

    3. There are USB to Cardbus extenders that tend to be overly expensive and only support 3G cards.

    Theres also a Cardbus to Express Card adaptor but again I wouldn't hold my breath on it supporting All Cardbus cards.

    http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/adexc34cb.asp

    http://www.startech.com/item/CB2EC-CardBus-to-ExpressCard-Adapter.aspx

    http://www.techonweb.com/products/productdetail.aspx?id=A00C8N

     

    Newer Chipsets do not support ISA aka they only support 3.3v Cardbus not PCMCIA.

    XP introduces other problems.

    Service pack1, Service pack2 , Service pack3  Disable ISA IRQ's because they do not
    support ISA  IRQ's.  By default ISA to PCI IRQ routing is Disabled.

    You set a registry entry to ZERO to Re enable the IRQ due to it being disabled by default.
     
    To turn on IRQ routing when you are using Windows edit the registry. To do so, start Registry Editor, and then view the following key in the registry:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pcmcia\Parameters
     
    Add the following registry value to this registry key, and then quit Registry Editor:
    Value name: DisableIsaToPciRouting
    Data type: DWORD
    Value data: 0
    The Text of the .REG file looks like this.
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pcmcia\Parameters]
    "DisableIsaToPciRouting"=dword:00000000

    These KB articles apply to WIN2000 but they work EXACTLY the same in XP for the same reasons.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257458/EN-US/

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279491

    http://www.kvaser.com/support/technote/pcmcia_adapter.htm

     

    If you don't know how to do this then download the following file and save.

    Then double click the file to "import" into the registry.

    http://www.elandigitalsystems.com/support/supportfiles/disable_isa_to_pci_routing.reg

    Or

    http://www.tssc.de/download/support/IsaToPci.reg

    A similar article from toshiba

    http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/faq.jsp?service=UK&FID=TIU0000001c35

    They add an additional parameter when using a 16 bit orinoco wireless card

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pcmcia\Parameters

    "IrqRouteToPciController"=dword:00000006

    Their Registry file can be downloaded here

    http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/Contents/Toshiba_uk/EN/Others/TICardBusIrqRouting.zip

     

    If the operating system routes an interrupt from a 16-bit PC Card that does not support shareable PCI interrupts, then the system might stop working. To prevent this from happening, you should indicate that the card does not support shareable interrupts by placing a PcmciaExclusiveIrq directive in the card's INF file.

    For example, assume you have a modem whose driver contains an interrupt service routine (ISR) that was not designed to support interrupt sharing. You can direct the operating system to assign a fixed ISA interrupt to the modem by adding the following line to an AddReg section in the modem's INF file:

    HKR,,PcmciaExclusiveIrq,0x00010001,1

    Note, however, that once you put the PcmciaExclusiveIrq directive in a device's INF file, the device will not function with any controller or bridge that does not have access to ISA interrupt.

     

     

    There are problems related to 16-bit PC Card devices that require ISA interrupts to operate and why vendors should move to support shareable PCI interrupts. It also explains how device vendors with devices or drivers that do not support sharable PCI can inform Microsoft Windows operating systems using an INF.

    The article also introduces Microsoft plans to require that 16-bit PC Card devices and drivers support shareable PCI interrupts in order to receive the "Designed for Windows" logo.

    On This Page

    Introduction Introduction
    INF Overrides INF Overrides
    Logo Requirement Timeline Logo Requirement Timeline
    Resources and Call to Action Resources and Call to Action

     

    Introduction

    16-bit PC Card devices that require ISA interrupts cause significant problems for end users because, in some systems, CardBus controllers do not have an ISA interrupt connected to them. Therefore, such CardBus controllers cannot provide an ISA interrupt to devices inserted into CardBus slots. If a device appears that requires an ISA interrupt (which is relatively common for 16-bit PC Cards), the device cannot function and may cause system-wide problems, such as interrupt storms.

    This article explains this problem in detail. The long-term solution to this problem is to implement a proposed new logo requirement that would require all 16-bit PC Card devices to support shareable PCI interrupts.

    Note: Before the advent of CardBus, 16-bit PC Cards were connected to the system over a legacy PCMCIA bridge (also referred to as a PCIC bridge). These bridges are not capable of running CardBus cards or routing 16-bit PC Card devices to a PCI IRQ. The information in this article about routing to PCI interrupts does not apply to PCIC bridges.

    Types of PCMCIA Devices

    There are two classes of PCMCIA cards, both of which are supported by CardBus controllers:

    • 32-bit PCI-compliant CardBus PC Cards. In this document, these devices are referred to simply as "CardBus cards."

    • 16-bit PC Cards, which are essentially ISA devices.

    Interrupt Routing for CardBus and 16-bit PC Cards

    CardBus cards are essentially PCI devices, and their interrupts are routed to PCI IRQs as defined by the PCI specification. 16-bit PC Cards were defined before the advent of PCI, and their interrupts were, therefore, typically routed to ISA IRQs. It is important to note that 16-bit PC Cards can also support routing interrupts to PCI. However, they have to meet the following two basic requirements in order to successfully use PCI interrupts instead of ISA interrupts.

    • Support PCI level-triggered interrupt generation. Most 16-bit PC Cards support level-triggered interrupts because the support is defined in the PCMCIA specification and because CardBus controllers have the ability to route 16-bit PC Card interrupts either to an ISA IRQ or to a PCI IRQ.

    • Support interrupt sharing. PCI interrupts are shareable. Therefore, 16-bit PC Cards and their drivers must be designed to handle interrupt sharing. Many 16-bit PC Card drivers do not successfully support interrupt sharing. Common problems that prevent devices and drivers from sharing interrupts are:

      • The Interrupt Service Routine (ISR) in the driver for the card was not designed to return the proper indication that a given IRQ was generated by its respective device. This is one of the primary prerequisites for correct ISR operation.

      • The card does not correctly provide an indication in hardware registers that it is asserting an IRQ, thus denying the ISR the ability to function correctly on a shared IRQ.

      • The card generates a spurious interrupt on power up.

      All of these problems cause an interrupt storm, which will cause the system to stop responding.

    System Configuration Issues

    Although many 16-bit PC Card drivers do not successfully support interrupt sharing (and therefore require an ISA interrupt), there are system configurations on the market in which the CardBus controller is not connected to any ISA IRQ, and therefore, cannot provide an ISA interrupt to 16-bit PC Cards.

    Examples of configurations where CardBus controllers do not have a connection to an ISA interrupt include:

    • A desktop machine with a CardBus controller plugged into a standard PCI slot. In this case, the CardBus controller does not have access to an ISA interrupt, because ISA interrupts are never present at a PCI slot. In the past, these PCI cards may have been distributed with an ISA "paddle card." The purpose of the paddle card was to provide a connection to ISA IRQs. However, paddle cards are typically no longer available.

    • A Mini-PCI device that contains an R2 PC Card device installed behind a CardBus controller. These are typically wireless devices.

    Because no ISA interrupts are available for CardBus controllers in these configurations, PCI interrupts are the only type of interrupts available. However, if a device that does not support PCI interrupts is inserted into a CardBus slot in this system, it will not function and may cause system-wide problems, such as an interrupt storm.

    Ideally, no device would require an ISA interrupt, and Windows could just assign shareable PCI interrupts to all 16-bit PC Cards. Microsoft is planning to require support for PCI interrupts in future versions of the "Designed for Windows" Logo requirements so that this problem can be avoided.


    INF Overrides

    If Windows routes an interrupt from a 16-bit PC Card and that card does not support shareable PCI interrupts, then the system may stop responding. To avoid this problem, vendors should always support shareable PCI interrupts. If a device does not support shareable PCI interrupts, it should inform Windows using this INF override so that an interrupt storm can be avoided.

    PcmciaExclusiveIrq:
    This setting can be specified in the INF of the target device to prevent Pcmcia.sys from routing that device to a shared IRQ. For example, if the a modem fails to support interrupt sharing because its drivers ISR was not designed for it, the following directive can be specified in its INF (in an AddReg section):

    
      
      
      
      
      
    1. HKR,,PcmciaExclusiveIrq,0x00010001,1

    CAUTION: This INF setting effectively breaks this device for all bridges that have no ISA IRQs detached. Use this setting only when it is absolutely certain that the device cannot function on a shared PCI IRQ.


    Logo Requirement Timeline

    As stated earlier in this article, future planned logo requirements will require all 16-bit PC Card devices to support shareable PCI interrupts. This is a proposed logo requirement and will take effect 18 months after the formal requirement is published.

    Note to 16-bit PC Card vendors: In the same timeline, your devices will be required to support flexible allocation of I/O resources for your devices. That is, 16-bit PC Card devices will not be allowed to request specific ranges of I/O space, but will only be allowed to request a specific amount of I/O space.


    Resources and Call to Action

    Call to Action:

    • System manufactures should be aware that there are devices that require ISA IRQs. Therefore, system vendors should ensure that ISA IRQs are available to CardBus controllers in the system until the logo requirements described in this article help phase out this problem.

    • System manufacturers should ensure that BIOS code sets CardBus controllers to PCIC mode for compatibility with Windows 95/98/Me operating systems, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

    • Device manufacturers should implement CardBus devices instead of 16-bit PC Card devices because they are PCI compliant and not legacy ISA.

    • If a vendor must implement 16-bit PC Card devices, design them to support shareable PCI interrupts. R2 cards that support PCI shared interrupts are much more likely to work properly because they do not rely on system manufacturers to wire an ISA interrupt to the CardBus controller.

    • Driver developers should design drivers to support shareable PCI interrupts.

    • For more information, see CardBus Controllers and Windows.

    10 Posts

    July 28th, 2011 09:00

    Hi SpeedStep.

    CONSIDERATIONS ON YOUR POST

    I appreciate your effort in answering my post. It is a good repository of problems related to PCMCIA/PC Card/Cardbus issues and some workarounds. I see it is an updated version of your post here:

    http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19351953/19897449.aspx

    PCMCIA Problems with Dell Latitude E6410

    (related to National Instruments (NI) card DAQCard-6024E) but applied to our case I will extract in what follows a few sentences from your post (shown in red).

    "16 BIT ISA PCMCIA 5V is no longer supported"

    "Newer Chipsets do not support ISA aka they only support 3.3v Cardbus not PCMCIA"

    In spite of what Dell seems to suggest in Latitude E5520 manuals (see later) this is a sad conclusion and applies to above post about the Latitude E6410. From NI documentation:

    But see later that PC Card type cards are supported in Windows 7.

    Your posts refer in general to 2000 and XP; nothing is specific to Windows 7. I will group the PCMCIA cards we tested in our E5520 laptops (plus a new one: an USB 2.0 adapter) in a different way:

    • PC Card cards:
      • Compact Flash adaptor (with any CF card).
      • 5 in 1 card reader (with a SD card).
      • Modem 56K.
    • Cardbus cards:
      • Serial port (Oxford Semiconductor).
      • Parallel port (Moschip).
      • Ovislink RJ45 10/100 ethernet (Linksys).
      • Ecom wifi.
      • USB 2.0 adapter (NEC).
      • Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK.

    According to what appears above, for the moment I will not consider PC Card cards. In my initial post appeared:

    "...we purchased ... three identical Dell Latitude E5520 laptops, and in none of them the PCMCIA slot works. The failure varies from a complete freeze when introducing a PCMCIA card, to card not being recognized, depending on the laptop and card..."

    None of the three laptops recognize the PC Card cards.

    I didn't want to make the post too long but what really happens is that the three Dell Latitude E5520's work differently. In all that follows I'll call them E5520-L, E5520-M and E5520-N (they have very similar service tags, differing only in one letter L, M and N). This is what happens:

    • E5520-L: parallel port, usb adapter and Allen-Bradley cards work; the other three show resource problems.
    • E5520-M: freezes when inserting any Cardbus card (this also happened in E5520-N before first repair attempt by Dell (PCMCIA cage substitution)).
    • E5520-N: parallel port and usb adapter cards work; the other four show resource problems.

    All above mentioned Cardbus cards work in every other laptop I have tested apart from our three Dell Latitude E5520's (other Dell made in Ireland, Clevo, HP, Toshiba, etc). If some work and others not in our three Dell Latitude E5520's the conclusion is that the PCMCIA slot on Dell Latitude E5520 laptop does not work; possibly, according to this:

    http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/19351953/19897449.aspx

    there are also problems on the Dell Latitude E6410.

    Moreover, the card most important for us (Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK) works differently on the three laptops:

    • E5520-L: Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK works. It shows correct resources and even got its driver automatically from the web.
    • E5520-M: freezes when inserting the Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK (and any Cardbus card).
    • E5520-N: it froze before first repair (PCMCIA cage substitution) when inserting the Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK (and any Cardbus card). After this repair, it shows resources problem when inserting the Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK.

    We have no idea of why this three different behaviours of the Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK in our three Dell Latitude E5520's, but this shows that there is certainly a problem with the PCMCIA slot on the Dell Latitude E5520.

    "Low voltage CPU's mean that 32 BIT 3.3V cardbus is all that is still supported"

    I agree, but as a conclusion all cardbus cards should work on the Dell Latitude E5520, and not a few; in other words, we have no idea of which cardbus card will work and which won't. In adition, why a particular card (Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK) shows three different behaviours?:

    • works perfectly in our Dell Latitude E5520 named above E5520-L;
    • freezes our Dell Latitude E5520 namded above E5520-M;
    • shows resource problems in our Dell Latitude E5520 named above E5520-N.

    Anyone can wonder how these three China manufactured Dell laptops were tested.

    "For more information on PCMCIA go to: www.pcmcia.org"

    For being rigorous and according to the Wikipedia, it is confusing to name PCMCIA a particular group of cards (although it began being so). The term PCMCIA englobes now three types of cards:

    • PC Card cards (moreless ISA).
    • Cardbus cards (moreless PCI).
    • ExpressCard cards (moreless PCIe).

    In most cases PC Card and Cardbus cards are distinguished by the gold grounding strip in Cardbus cards. ExpressCards are conceptually, electrically and mechanically different.

    PCMCIA means "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association", although for other it means "People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms".

    The PCMCIA association was disolved in 2009; www.pcmcia.org doesn't exist. The Wikipedia is a very good source of information for PCMCIA issues. Information about ExpressCard cards can be found in http://expresscard.org.

    "PCMCIA Device May Not Work in Windows XP - Microsoft Support"

    This is part of a Microsoft document that can be found here:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310772/en-us?fr=1

    Article ID: 310772 - Last Review: May 17, 2007 - Revision: 1.3

    PCMCIA Device May Not Work in Windows XP

    APPLIES TO

    Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

    Microsoft Windows XP Professional

    This and other mentions on your post are helpful for making PC Card and Cardbus cards work in XP. From what I have seen XP (and possibly 2000) support perfectly PC Card and Cardbus cards, even in strange situations. They may require registry adjustments, as you say. Some examples follow, taken from a laptop with XP SP3 with two PCMCIA slots controlled by a Texas Instruments PCI-1520 cardbus controller chip.



    Above two PC CARD cards are inserted:

    • Compact Flash adaptor (with a CF card).
    • 5 in 1 card reader (with a SD card).

    Both appear as a PCMCIA IDE/ATAPI controllers, which coexist peacefully. One gets assigned ISA IRQ4 and the other ISA IRQ7.

    Above two PC CARD cards are inserted:

    • Compact Flash adaptor (with a CF card).
    • Modem 56K.

    They appear as a PCMCIA IDE/ATAPI controller (with ISA IRQ4) and a KORTEX 56000 PCMCIA Card (with ISA IRQ7), and also coexist peacefully.

    Above a PC CARD and a Cardbus cards are inserted:

    • Compact Flash adaptor (with a CF card).
    • Parallel port (Moschip).

    They appear as a PCMCIA IDE/ATAPI controller (with ISA IRQ4) and a PCI Parallel Por (LPT3) (with PCI IRQ10), and also coexist peacefully. IRQ10 is shared by a lot of devices.

    See also that when a PC Card card is inserted its resources appear out of the resources ranges belonging to the Texas Instruments PCI-1520 cardbus controller chip. When a Cardbus card is inserted its resources appear within the resources ranges belonging to the Texas Instruments PCI-1520 cardbus controller chip.

    So all this, and what is mentioned in your post, shows that XP supports very well PC Card and Cardbus cards. But, what about Windows 7?

    The only laptops with Windows 7 and a PCMCIA slot I have at hand are our deffective Dell Latitude E5520 laptops. Since some Cardbus cards work, it is clear that Cardbus cards are supported by Windows 7. For other tests of PC Card cards and Cardbus cards I inserted a PCMCIA to PCI adapter based on a Ricoh RL5C475A chip in a modern desktop with Windows 7 64 bits. Captures of three PC Card cards and three Cardbus cards follow.

    PC Card cards tested:

    • Compact Flash to PCMCIA adaptor (with a CF card).
    • 5 in 1 Card Reader (with a SD card).
    • Modem 56K.

    Cardbus cards tested:

    • Parallel port (Moschip).
    • USB 2.0 adapter (NEC).
    • Serial port (Oxford Semiconductor).

    PC Card cards.

    Compact Flash to PCMCIA adaptor (with a CF card) PC card card.

    5 in 1 Card Reader (with a SD card) PC card card.

    Essentially, the Compact Flash to PCMCIA adaptor (with a CF card) and the 5 in 1 Card Reader (with a SD card) appear the same (as a PCMCIA IDE/ATAPI controller) and use the same resources.

    Modem 56K PC Card card

    Shown: resources, modem diagnostics and some dialog using Teraterm terminal emulator.

    A conclusion that follows is: Windows 7 still supports PC Card type cards.

    Cardbus cards.

    Parallel port (Moschip) Cardbus card.

    Shown: resources and interrupt settings.

    USB 2.0 adapter (NEC) Cardbus card.

    Resources shown. Note that also appears a NEC USB 3.0 controller located in the motherboard.

    Serial port (Oxford Semiconductor) Cardbus card.

    Resources shown.

    Somebody may argue that since interrupts from the PC Card cards go through a PCI connector ISA problems mentioned before cannot appear. The answer is: that could also be done inside the Dell Latitude E5520 laptop electronics.

    In above other tests of PC Card cards and Cardbus cards using a PCMCIA to PCI adapter based on a Ricoh RL5C475A chip in a modern desktop with Windows 7 64 bits one thing was clear: all cards (PC Card and Cardbus cards) were installed easily and accepted their drivers easily (even in Windows 7 64 bits), very different to what is happening with our three deffective made in China Dell Latitude E5520 recently (may 2011) purchased laptops.

    "As Far As I can tell Cardbus is gone. This is due to the Chipsets for motherboards being express card/PCI-E vs CardBus/AGP"

    Wouldn't it better to say Cardbus/PCI than Cardbus/AGP?

    Yes, Cardbus is gone; it is substituted with ExpressCard. See what appears above about NI Cardbus cards. Newer laptops appear with a ExpressCard slot. But we looked for a laptop with PCMCIA slot, and Dell offered it in the Dell Latitude E5520, and we hoped it would work. This has not been the case, and we are extremely angry and dissappointed. The three repair attempts by Dell have been useless, and more: Dell service for Spain has substituted without any reason the Windows 7 32 bits operating system in one laptop for the 64 bits one, which not only is useless for us (we use some industrial software which needs 32 bits Windows): they deleted our long Windows upgrades, our installed programs and our documents. This laptop is as usefull as a brick for us now, and Dell service for Spain (in Romania), not only doesn't help at all about the PCMCIA problem (they tell us to accept the laptop with this deffect), but also doesn't respond about the operating system substitution, no matter how many times we call them. 

    "If the operating system routes an interrupt from a 16-bit PC Card that does not support shareable PCI interrupts, then the system might stop working..."

    This is part of a Microsoft document that can be found here:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff537217(v=VS.85).aspx

    which is one of several documents related to PCMCIA IRQ Routing on Windows XP found here:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff537608(v=VS.85).aspx

    which are:

    For above documents appears "Build date: 2/1/2011", when Windows 7 has become common.

    "There are problems related to 16-bit PC Card devices that require ISA interrupts to operate and why vendors should move to support shareable PCI interrupts..."

     This is part of a Microsoft document that can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463295

    PCMCIA IRQ Routing on Windows XP

    Updated: April 15, 2002

    This article includes an interesting link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463037

    CardBus Controllers and Windows

    Updated: December 4, 2001

    But all above discussions refer to XP, with dates up to 2007, therefore before Windows 7 era, and without any mention about applying or not to Windows 7. Our complaints about the three deffective Dell Latitude E5520 purchased laptops refer specifically to the fact that problems also appear booting in Linux (pendrive or live CD): error messages are generated when inserting or removing cards, as can be seen with the 'dmesg' command. It is a bios problem, hardware problem or design error, and remember that the three deffective Dell Latitude E5520 purchased laptops behave differently with the Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK:

    • E5520-L: works.
    • E5520-M: freezes.
    • E5520-N: resources problem.

    Recall also that these three deffective Dell Latitude E5520 purchased laptops have been made in China; the old Dell in which all tested PCMCIA cards (PC Card and Cardbus type) work without any problem was made in Ireland.

    CONSIDERATIONS AS SIMPLE USER

    If thinking as a common user, follows the information we had about the Dell Latitude E5520:

    • From Dell Latitude 5420/E5420/E5420m/5520/E5520/E5520m Setup And Features Information manual here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/late5420/en/SFITS/sfits_en.pdf  It refers to a ExpressCard slot where our three deffective Dell Latitude E5520 purchased laptops have the PCMCIA slot. Possibly it is also sold with ExpressCard slot.
    • From Dell Latitude E5520 owner's manual here:

      <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

      linkto ExpressCard/Smart Card/PCMCIA Module http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/late5520/en/SM_EN/GUID-44EE4B0F-73E0-4875-952A-EB81E48E5F2F.html 

      <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

       Clearly it mentions a PCMCIA module, as appears in our three deffective Dell Latitude E5520 purchased laptops and how to remove and install it. How can anyone imagine it was not going to work?
    • From our offer from Dell for three Dell Latitude E5520 laptops, dated may 6 2011: On that image I would like to point out:
      • 212-10373 Base Option : PCMCIA card base. How can anyone imagine it was not going to work?
      • 619-26317 Operating System : Spanish Genuine Windows 7 Professional (32Bit OS). The three deffective Dell Latitude E5520 purchased laptops were supplied with this operating system, but on the second PCMCIA repair attempt by Dell on one of them (previously named E5520-N) it was substituted without any reason for the 64 bits one, which not only is useless for us (we use some industrial software which needs 32 bits Windows): they deleted our long Windows upgrades, our installed programs and our documents. This laptop is as usefull as a brick for us now, and Dell service for Spain (in Romania), not only doesn't help at all about the PCMCIA problem (they tell us to accept the laptop with this deffect), but also doesn't respond about the operating system substitution, no matter how many times we call them.

    CONSIDERATIONS AS ADVANCED USER

    All that has been said before about interrupts and interrupt sharing has a very simple explanation at the hardware level. In the beginning, the IBM PC had a poor interrupt hardware design:

    • Few interrupts, specially in the 8 bit PC (8 bit ISA bus).
    • Interrupts were not shareable at the hardware level. Being so, the operating system didn't support sharing interrupts.

    The AT added some interrupts on the small connector on the 16 bit ISA bus, but they were still few and were not shareable.

    The following is the original hardware on the IBM PC parallel port.

    B21 on the left is IRQ7; this signal comes from a buffer on U10 (74LS125) at the lower right (pins 11, 12 and 13). 

    Suppose you put two of this cards on ISA connectors on an old ISA PC (so B21 IRQ7 is common for both), and you enable its interrupts (pin 13 on U10 on both cards is low). While there are no interrupts from any card (pin 12 on U10 on both cards low) pin 11 on U10 on both cards will be low. They are shorted in B21 on the motherboard; this is not elegant, but still is not a problem. Now suppose one card interrupts, but not the other. It will try to raise its pin 11 on U10, while the other is holding it low. Disaster. So basically, if you try to share interrupts on the ISA bus you will violate TTL rules. If connecting ISA interrupt lines you must be sure that only one interrupt is active (for the previous example make sure that only one card uses interrupts).

    Some brave people could try to cut traces on the motherboard and add diodes and resistors, or add an OR gate, but then there would come the other limitation: the operating system may not include the necessary code to share interrupts (basically, when a shared interrupt is generated make sure that all devices which may cause that interrupt are attended).

    PC Card cards have many common characteristics with the 8 bit ISA bus. This explains many of the limitations which have appeared on all that has been said before.

    As time passed, the PCI bus appeared, which allowed sharing interrupts at the hardware level, so operating systems (Windows, Linux, etc) supported it.

    Therefore, above, when having two PC Card cards using ISA interrupts, they have to be carefully assigned so that they are different, and also different from other ISA interrupts used. However, this limitation does not appear in Cardbus cards and PCI devices, since they use PCI interrupts that can be shared at the hardware level, and the operating systems (Windows, Linux, etc) support it.

    We consider the PCMCIA slot in our three Dell Latitude E5520 recently purchased (may 2011) laptops to be deffective mainly because of the following reasons:

    • PCMCIA slot with different behaviour on the three made in China Dell Latitude E5520 laptops. What about testing in Dell laptops made in China?
    • PC Card type cards are not recognized in all three (a previous conclusion is that Windows 7 still supports this type of cards).
    • Cardbus cards froze one of the laptops (named E5520-N above) until PCMCIA cage substitution (first repair attempt by Dell), and freezes other (named E5520-N above).
    • Problems appear booting in Linux (pendrive or live CD): error messages are generated when inserting or removing cards ('dmesg').
    • In particular our Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK works differently on the three laptops:
      • E5520-L: works.
      • E5520-M: freezes.
      • E5520-N: resources problem.

    Since there have appeared posts in other phorums asking if this card Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK is supported in Windows 7 here I include screen captures (on laptop named E5520-L above) on it, showing its resources and driver:(incluir E5520-L_1784_PCMK.png)

    It itself downloaded its driver updating from Internet automatically.

    CONCLUSIONS

    • We looked for a laptop with PCMCIA slot, and Dell offered it in the Dell Latitude E5520, and we hoped it would work. This has not been the case, and we are extremely angry and dissappointed. The three repair attempts by Dell have been useless, and more: Dell service for Spain has substituted without any reason the Windows 7 32 bits operating system in one laptop for the 64 bits one, which not only is useless for us (we use some industrial software which needs 32 bits Windows): they deleted our long Windows upgrades, our installed programs and our documents. This laptop is as usefull as a brick for us now, and Dell service for Spain (in Romania), not only doesn't help at all about the PCMCIA problem (they tell us to accept the laptop with this deffect), but also doesn't respond about the operating system substitution, no matter how many times we call them.
    • Windows XP and Windows 7 support PC Card and Cardbus cards. We purchased three Dell Latitude E5520 laptops with Windows 7 32 bits and claim PC Card and Cardbus cards to be supported.
    • The most important card for us (Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK) works different in the three laptops: freezes one (named above E5520-M), is not recognized by other (named above E5520-N) and works in other (named above E5520-L), which makes one wonder about China manufactured Dell laptops testing.
    • In spite that in one laptop (named E5520-L above) the most important card for us (Allen-Bradley communication card 1784-PCMK) works, we don't consider that its PCMCIA slot works, since other known to work cardbus cards don't work in it (apart from the PC Card type ones which as has been shown are still supported in Windows 7).
    • In spite of all considerations above about Windows XP and Windows 7 working or not with PC Card and Cardbus cards, in spite of all considerations above about PC card cards and Cardbus cards essentially disappearing from market, in our three deffective made in China Dell Latitude E5520 recently (may 2011) purchased laptops the PCMCIA problem is a hardware or bios problem, since booting in Linux (pendrive or live CD) error messages are generated when inserting or removing cards ('dmesg'). We keep waiting an answer from Dell to this.

    Regards, Tarantulito, Spain.

    8 Wizard

     • 

    47K Posts

    July 28th, 2011 12:00

    "Wouldn't it better to say Cardbus/PCI than Cardbus/AGP?"

    No.

    Cardbus/AGP specifically because newer Laptops use

    Express Card/PCI-E

    PCI on older systems with AGP has 32 bit 33mhz PCI slots that support ISA IRQ.

    PCI-E on current systems without AGP replaced by PCI-E X16 use PCI 2.3 3.3v slots that

    Do not support ISA  IRQ's especially the IRQ 7 for LPT1:

    The IBM/AT added some interrupts on the small connector on the 16 bit ISA bus, but they were still few and were not shareable.

    XP with service packs DISABLES ISA IRQ's by Default.

    I have no Idea what VISTA or Windows 7 does but I suspect that the 16 BIT DOS ISA IRQ's are not supported.

    The 1984 IBM PC with DOS was where ISA IRQ's and LPT Ports came from.

    Default ISA IRQ Assignments

    IRQ 0 System Timer
    IRQ 1 Keyboard
    IRQ 2 Cascaded with IRQ 9
    IRQ 3 Default COM2 and COM4
    IRQ 4 Default COM1 and COM3
    IRQ 5 LPT2
    IRQ 6 Floppy Drive Controller
    IRQ 7 LPT1
    IRQ 8 Real Time Clock
    IRQ 9 SEE 2
    IRQ 10 Open
    IRQ 11 Open
    IRQ 12 PS/2 mouse or Open
    IRQ 13 Math Coprocessor
    IRQ 14 Primary Hard Drive controller
    IRQ 15 Secondary Hard Drive controller

    There may be a way of writing drivers and bios etc to support this but I doubt that a mere user could

    do this.

     Legacy Plug and Play Guidelines

    Note the article is from 1999.

    Plug and Play configuration of resources for the following system components

    Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus and devices

    Serial ports and devices
     IEEE 1284­based parallel ports and devices


    Under Windows 95/98 (but not Windows NT® 4.0 or Windows 2000, XP, VISTA, Windows7), an ISA device and its driver can support IRQ sharing if resource requirements cannot be met. This capability applies only for devices of the same class, not across device classes.

    To share IRQs, the following requirements must be met:

    • The IRQ line must be pulled high by the system board.
    • The IRQ line must never be driven high by the devices.
    • To signal an interrupt, devices must pull the IRQ line low for a minimum of 100 nanoseconds and then release it. The interrupt is signaled by the rising edge that occurs as a result of the pull-up on the IRQ line.
    • The drivers for all devices connected to the IRQ line must correctly support the interrupt-sharing services of the virtual programmable interrupt controller device (VpicD). This means that after dispatching an interrupt from VpicD, the drivers must respond to VpicD and correctly indicate whether they actually processed an interrupt for their devices. VpicD will ensure that all devices with pending interrupts have been serviced before returning from the interrupt.
    • IRQ sharing support implemented in the device driver for servicing interrupts.

     

      8 Wizard

       • 

      47K Posts

      July 29th, 2011 12:00

      If your requirement is to be able to read compact flash cards then 32 bit Cardbus or Express card readers may help.

      However I would recommend conversion to some other medium Like SATA or USB.  

      1784U2DHP by ALLEN BRADLEY - Buy or Repair at PLCCenter ...

       Automation Systems - Data Highway Plus Interfaces

      USB-to-Data Highway Plus Cable Installation Instructions

      Allen Bradley 1784-U2DHP USB version 1784-PCMK W/PCM5

      Allen-Bradley 1784-U2DHP USB-to-Data Highway Plus Adapter for connecting to a Data Highway Plus (DH+) network via an unused USB port on the computer, 0.61 m (2 ft) USB Cable Length, 2.44 m (8 ft) 8-pin DIN Cable Length, allows to program PLC-5 or SLC 5/04 processors using a personal computer and RSLogix 5 or 500 Programming Software, Series A

       

      StarTech.com SATA to Compact Flash SSD Adapter - CompactFlash Card ...

      Bytecc BT-EC1S1P Parallel/serial adapter - ExpressCard/34

      StarTech.com 1 Port ExpressCard Laptop Parallel Adapter Card - SPP ...

      SIIG ExpressCard/54 CF Reader Writer Card adapter ExpressCard/54 - ...

       

      SIIG ExpressCard/54 CF Reader Writer Card adapter ExpressCard/54 - CompactFlash Card type I, CompactFlash Card type II, Microdrive - PC

      8 Wizard

       • 

      47K Posts

      August 6th, 2011 16:00

      You should have less issues if you avoid 20 year old PCMCIA and opt for USB instead.

      Allen Bradley 1784-U2DHP USB version 1784-PCMK W/PCM5

      3 Posts

      August 6th, 2011 16:00

      Tarantulito - Would you be so kind as to share the exact configuration of your laptops? I am also looking at purchasing new laptops for our company and am concerned about functionality with Rockwell's PCMK and Windows 7.

      If you have successfully configured a laptop to do this I would very much appreciate knowing the details.

      All the best,

      jjapol

      10 Posts

      August 7th, 2011 01:00

      Hi jjapol.

      I think that for Rockwell PLC software you will need at this moment Windows 7 32 bits.

      See above copied and pasted captures related to 1784-PCMK drivers and resources.

      Also, you can find above the composition of the laptops ordered (Dell Latitude E5520), as were offered in Spain. Main requirements:

      -Windows 7 32 bits.

      -Screen 1920x1080.

      -PCMCIA slot.

      If you purchase one (start with one and test thoroughly), upgrade to bios A02 if needed.

      HTH.

      3 Posts

      August 7th, 2011 16:00

      So you have not tested the PCMK with 64 bit OS, correct?

      Also, have you had any experience with using the PCMK in a VMware virtual machine? From what I gather on the net, a VM client cannot access PCMK resources. Do you have any insight?

      There is a good compatibly spreadsheet for Rockwell products at this link:

      rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/.../support%20matrix

      The actual KB number is 42682 on the Rockwell KB.

      I'd like to be in a 64 bit world because then the laptop can be outfitted with 8gb of ram and use it all.

      10 Posts

      August 8th, 2011 10:00

      Hi jjapol.

      We didn't do any test in 64 bits while we had the 64 bits operating system which erroneously Dell substituted in one of our Dell Latitude E5520 laptops (the one named E5520-N above).

      We had a communication from Rockwell before the laptop purchase thet their software wasn't supported in 64 bits at that moment, so we went on with 32 bits, even this supposed the 4GB limit (actually less).

      No experience in VMware.

      Get a PCMCIA to PCI adapter and do the tests you want in a desktop. They are very cheap. Se above tests wit one based on a Ricoh RL5C475A chip in a modern desktop with Windows 7 64 bits.

      HTH.

      3 Posts

      August 9th, 2011 18:00

      Thank you Tarantulito. You have been very helpful. I appreciate it.

      3 Posts

      March 16th, 2012 14:00

      On my E5520's the PCMCIA cage was messed.  It was missing the Polyimide Film Tape that separated the pins from the conductor that they lay on.  They sent me new cages with tape, and I tested the old cages with some different tape just to check if I was right.

      3 Posts

      March 16th, 2012 14:00

      You need 1/2 INCH Polyimide Film Tape to fix if you want to do it right and system is out of warranty.

      1 Message

      July 9th, 2015 22:00

      I am now used Winds Trial Version 10, but I can not find where this exists and I am having problems also are not running some definitions and definition screen, wait for the solution.
      Signature:<ADMIN NOTE: Email id removed per privacy policy>

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