In article <1187615522.792567.267580@a39g2000hsc.googlegroups. com>,
wrote:
>First test: Plug in the expresscard and see if it's detected and the
>relevant modules loaded
>This failed. Even after
>modprobe pciehp
>modprobe pci-hotplug
>(and anything else i could think of!)
>it still failed to be detected when plugged in

Would some of the tools needed for PC Card/CardBus support also apply to
ExpressCard slots? You might check your distro's notebook-setup
documentation.

>Third and subsequent tests: Connect an external drive to the card and
>try to use it.
>Initially, the sbp2 module was loaded, the drive showed up, but the
>directories on it showed as unidentified files (ie, I couldn't access
>them). On further testing, attempting to mount the partitions
>resulted in errors along the lines of "not a valid block device".

Some FireWire-to-IDE adapters get their power from the FireWire connection
instead of the power supply in the drive enclosure. Unless your FireWire
card has a separate power supply attached to it, it's unlikely that it'd
supply enough power. (If it has 4-pin connectors instead of 6-pin
connectors, it doesn't supply power at all.) You might try putting a
powered FireWire hub between the computer and the drive and see if that
works.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

On 20 Aug, 19:45, sc...@alfter.DIESPAMMERSDIE.us (Scott Alfter) wrote:
> In article <1187615522.792567.267...@a39g2000hsc.googlegroups. com>,
>

> >it still failed to be detected when plugged in
>
> Would some of the tools needed for PC Card/CardBus support also apply to
> ExpressCard slots? You might check your distro's notebook-setup
> documentation.

Good idea - I will investigate

> >Third and subsequent tests: Connect an external drive to the card and
> >try to use it.
>
> Some FireWire-to-IDE adapters get their power from the FireWire connection
> ...
> powered FireWire hub between the computer and the drive and see if that
> works.

I didn't give quite enough info in my original post. The drive is a
regular hard drive in a case with a (Prolific) bridge device in it,
which gives a usb and a ieee1394 connector. It worked fine on my old
laptop (a Vaio) which has a built in 4 pin iLink (ieee1394) connector,
- since the old Vaio's usb is 1.1 I used the iLink connection. As I
think ieee1394 is a cool technology I want to stick with it.

I've got a better usb cable with me today, and tried the drive with
the new expresscard's usb connection using that, and it works fine, so
I know the expresscard is working. I re-booted into windows and tried
the ieee1394 connection - it didn't work at first but then I played
with the cable a bit and it found the drive. So I reckon I've a dodgy
cable - so that's my next thing to try an alternative to.

I then re-booted into Ubuntu again with the connection established as
working - it picked up the drive but didn't find any folders or
files. I just hope this is down to the dodgy cable!

Thanks for the help - I will investigate what tools there are to
support hotplugging the card, though I don't think the standard pcmcia/
cardbus tools support the new standard (as it no longer has all the
bridge circuitry)

Alexis