On 8/16/2009 4:25 AM, James Wages wrote:
> My 32MB linear card died after I did a hardware reset by pushing the button
> on the back (because that was the only thing I could go at the time). As I
> recall, it took multiple presses of that button to initiate the boot
> sequence too.
>
> But I still don't know the technical reasons why this should fry a card. To
> me, having to eject the card is about as silly as a statement like
> "disconnect your external SCSI drive before you cold boot your SE/30." I
> would think the Newton should have been built better to avoid destruction to
> valuable cards in the PCMCIA slots. Indeed, the loss of my 32MB card cost
> me about $70. I have a new 32MB card now that is working fine, but I am
> still quite disturbed about why my other card was destroyed. Indeed, that
> is the only major complaint I have in my years of using the Newton.
>
> --James Wages
>
Ah I thought that might have been the case. I agree that it should be,
and apparently Pretec cards are really susceptible for some reason. I
have not heard of other cards getting fried in this way. And if I
remember correctly they had (perhaps still do) have a warning on their
website about this. Pressing the reset button on the back does more
than a software reset. I am not 100% of the details but I do know it
resets the power system as well. Perhaps this is what can damage a
Pretec card (or possibly other cards).
You can pull the power if everything is locked up rather than hitting
the reset (and then remove the card if you are still concerned before
reinstalling the batteries).
-Dan
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Received on Sun Aug 16 11:49:16 2009
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