Mitsumi 7-in-1 card reader

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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Shadowknight
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Mitsumi 7-in-1 card reader

Post by Shadowknight » Tue Aug 02, 2005 6:33 pm

Due to having lost my proprietary cable for my digital camera, I decided to buy a floppy combo device to allow me to transfer my digital pictures. I've been wanting to upload pics of my rig in the gallery section.

Unfortunately, I can't get it to work. The floppy portion works fine. There are supposed to be 2 removable storage drives that show up in Windows. Only one shows up, and it's NOT the one I need.

BIOS detects both of the USB drives. I've been trying to read the POST messages, but as usual they flash past too fast for me to read.

Any ideas?

lenny
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Post by lenny » Tue Aug 02, 2005 7:05 pm

Darn, I've been waiting for your pics..

I don't think BIOS shows the drives, but if you want to pause on the BIOS screen, try the PAUSE key. It works on some of my systems.

Alternatively, you can try unplugging your keyboard if it pauses on all errors.

I'm not familiar with the Mitsumi, so I'm afraid I can't offer much help. You can try plugging in the USB headers only after Windows has finished starting up. You can also check Hardware Manager to see if it give any tips. Are you out of drive letters?

Thats all I can think of. Good luck.

Shadowknight
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Post by Shadowknight » Wed Aug 03, 2005 4:33 pm

Apparently, after searching for THREE HOURS I've found two references where the drive isn't compatible with ANY Asus boards. Suppsedly some people have had no problem using them with Asus equipment, but others can't. The BIOS detects both virtual drives, but Windows still can't see it. I'm using a "borrowed" drive from Best Buy I intend to return tomorrow. It has NO issues working. I'm going to order another one online because a) it's $40 cheaper than the one from Best Buy, and b) it's black and actually matches my P180.

Oh, and lenny, I've posted pics in the gallery section.

Klaatu
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Post by Klaatu » Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:37 pm

This wouldn't be for a FA404M drive, would it? I seem to be having the same issues.

Shadowknight
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Post by Shadowknight » Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:48 pm

Yeah, the FA404A/FA404M series. I'm going to try one by Siig. It's available from overstock.com for $32 with free shipping.

alleycat
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Post by alleycat » Wed Aug 03, 2005 11:13 pm

My PC's USB port recently decided it didn't like my camera any more so I bought an SD card to USB adapter for $15 including postage. Very nice little unit and runs at USB2 speeds instead of the camera's slow USB1 connection. It also has the advantage that it is like a USB key so I can use it in other machines.

~El~Jefe~
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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:26 pm

I have a KV8 Pro from ABit, never worked for me. Made me sad too. I liked the idea of having a super pimped A drive.

shrugs.

Klaatu
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Post by Klaatu » Sat Nov 12, 2005 8:19 pm

I left the doggoned thing in mostly for looks and the fact that the floppy drive worked, then I did a BIOS upgrade. I got all freaked when two new removeable drive icons showed up under "My Computer" :P
Upgrade your BIOSs fellas

Googlie
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Post by Googlie » Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:10 pm

Works perfectly for me. FA404M on an ABN-SLI Premium...

:)

Googlie

~El~Jefe~
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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Tue Nov 15, 2005 2:36 am

almost 80% of the people who buy the VERY cool idea mitsumi 7 in one floppy fail to have it work with windows XP.

it sux.

id say 80% is conservative actually. Microcenter refuses to carry them now cuz they get brought back by even the most technonerds like myself.

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:26 am

Jeez, maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket. I've been using two of those Mitsumi 7-in-1's and they've worked perfect on every board I've tried (all Intel chipsets, but boards from Intel, Asus, AOpen and DFI).

I've found a fresh install of WinXP to become a bit confused if the USB cables from the 7-in-1 are plugged in during setup. I wait until after the OS is installed and updated with the latest chipset drivers and MS Hotfixes before plugging in the 7-in-1s' USB cable. Using this method I've had 100% perfect results so far.

FWIW, I also have the SIIG X-in-1 drive mentioned above and it has the same peculiarity as the Mitsumi with regards to it's order of install.

~El~Jefe~
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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Tue Nov 15, 2005 9:50 am

Hm.

I may try the mitsumi again. I really could use a card reader for my system.

nici
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Post by nici » Tue Nov 15, 2005 9:59 am

Why not use an external USB reader..? If you dont need a floppy-drive that is, if you need on those then the Mitsumi might be worth it.

Klaatu
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Post by Klaatu » Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:38 am

nici wrote:Why not use an external USB reader..? If you dont need a floppy-drive that is, if you need on those then the Mitsumi might be worth it.
Simple aesthetics and convenience. Most of us have enough clutter around our machines as it sits, and another set of cables and external box in my workspace isn’t welcome. There is a certain cool factor to the reader, too, if it weren't for that we'd have just gotten a run of the mill floppy drive.

egalitarian
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Post by egalitarian » Wed Nov 16, 2005 1:57 am

I had the same device with an Epox 8rda+ (Nforce2) board. In the beginning it worked like a charm. Then after a reinstall it worked only if it was unplugged and the replugged when windows was already on so it could reinstall its drivers wich was really annoying. Imagine opening your case and unplugging/plugging those little cables when system is on each time you need it. Now after messing with usb settings in bios like setting it to 1.1,2.0 or keyboard compatible mode etc. etc. it works again without problems.

Clearly it has a compatibility bug in it. I saw a firmware update on their site but unfotrunately not for the exaxtly same model.

dfrost
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Post by dfrost » Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:41 pm

egalitarian,

Could you tell me more about where in BIOS you changed those setttings? Can't find any obvious place to do so in mine.

I have the same issue needing (sometimes) to unplug and re-connect the internal USB connection for the flash drives to work. BTW, this was also true with a previous flash-only reader from a different manufacturer.

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