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Hey y'all.

I've had my friends NOAH EX over, together with my own NOAH, and I have no idea how to get the CF-card to work on both of them. I have tried 3 different CF-cards; one 192MB, one 1Gb and one 2Gb - and none of them works.

Nothing happens when I put the card in the devices. If I go into the System/Memory/Compact Flash, it just says 0 kb free. If i try using Optimize, nothing happens.

Does anyone know if the CF needs to be formatted in a special way (the manual doesn't mention).

Hope anyone in here can help me out - I guess it's either a malfunction from both devices (they're from the same batch), or it's an issue with formatting.

The CF cards need to be formatted according to the devices file system. I'm not sure of the Noah's file system but CF cards use FAT (FAT16), FAT32 and exFAT. The difference is in the time they were introduced and the total capacity accessible by the particular device. Case in point: My old Fuji S1 Pro camera will only use CF cards formatted to FAT16 with a maximum capacity of 2GB. The cards will only work if they are formatted in the camera or on a PC to FAT. My guess is that the Noah (according to the time of it's introduction - April 2003) uses FAT16 or FAT32. Most likely FAT16 which can only access 1 or 2GB cards. A card formatted with the "wrong" system will not be readable in a device. Since all your cards are unreadable, including the baseline 1 and 2GB cards (which should be readable in any device) it sounds like only the file system is not compatible and not the card itself, which is unlikely. Even a larger that 2GB CF card can be formatted in FAT16, but only 2GB will be accessible by the device.

If there is no option to format the memory card in the Noah, you can try the following in Windows:

Important: The card must be 2gb or less (I'm guessing for the Noah).

1. Insert the card into a reader on your computer
2. You'll need to know the drive letter it gets assigned. THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT for obvious reasons!!!
We'll use E: for this guide
3. Click on START
4. Click on RUN
5. Type: cmd.exe
6. Click OK or press Enter
7. In the black window type FORMAT E: /FS:FAT16 (it could be /fs:fat depends on which version windows you have) That should do it.
If you want to go back to FAT32 use "FAT32" as the option. For NTFS use NTFS.

More than likely you will succeed with a FAT or FAT16 format.

Hey Ronnie.

Thank you for the reply. I've only tried FAT(16) with no result, since I apparently can't CMD format through my EHX2880 (which is my only CF card reader). And my Roland SP404, which can perform formatting on board, does only FAT format. So I guess the NOAH requires FAT32 then - Can anyone confirm this?

You probably need to get a cheap CF card reader and format through the Windows or the Command Prompt on the PC. It's possible that the devices you have are using a proprietary file system if you can only format inside them and not from a PC to work properly.

A cheap generic card reader will appear as a drive in Windows so you can format the card in any file system mentioned that way.

Here's one for around $10:

I have now gotten my hands on a generic card reader and tried ALL formats. The NOAHs still does not recognize the cards. Maybe the units are broken.

Sounds like the cards are the wrong type, you probably need earlier "type 1" cards. The Transcend TS512MCF80 512MB 80x Type I Compact Flash Card has solved many compatibility issues with older devices like cameras and printers that would not work with Type II or later cards. This may be the case with Noah. Although no longer made this card is around in limited stock usually on Amazon or Newegg....

I would try to talk with someone in ts who would have a clue as there could be other factors involved including a proprietary format/file system with unique block and cluster sizes.......

yes, i'm sure that the Noahs need the type1 cards....

Sounds like a plan! Get a type 1 card and format to FAT16 (most likely) or FAT12 (unlikely) on the PC.

I've been testing with two cards; mainly a 192mb SanDisk from '99. If that isn't Type I, then I don't know what. The other one is a 1gb Kingston Elite Pro from 2003.

It just doesn't work.

Get a new Type 1 card. Sounds like the one you have is no good.

Hi there,

I just found out, that I have the same problem with my NOAH EX.
CF cards will not be recognized, when I push the "external" button. LED stays off.

I have an old SanDisk 512MB CF card from 2003 and a current one with 16GB.
Tested both with FAT16 and FAT32. Nothing works.
And I remember that the 512MB CF card worked on my former NOAH EX that I sold some years ago.

I also checked the current on CF card adapter inside the case. 5V is active as soon as I push the "external" button.
The driver chips do not look broken, but I do not know which PINs to test in order to see what is wrong on the device.

Also a reflash of the OS did not help...

Does anybody has an idea how to solve this problem?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Best regards

marcolinski wrote: CF cards will not be recognized, when I push the "external" button. LED stays off.

Definitely the same issue. I wonder if an earlier OS-version would work. I just wish someone could come up with an explanation

This may seem stupid but are you sure the Type 1 card is completed seated in the slot? Also, if a card was ever inserted upside-down (which is possible with earlier cards) the pins in the slot can be bent or broken) which is easy because many times the logo is on the bottom which makes it look like the top .

ronnie wrote:This may seem stupid but are you sure the Type 1 card is completed seated in the slot? Also, if a card was ever inserted upside-down (which is possible with earlier cards) the pins in the slot can be bent or broken) which is easy because many times the logo is on the bottom which makes it look like the top .

Trust me, I've triple checked everything. There's nothing psychically wrong with the card or slot. I suspect it's a bug in the newest firmware, that just slipped under the radar, perhaps because most NOAH-users might not be using the CF-card. That, or there's a "switch" somewhere that nobody noticed.

Sorry I couldn't help.

ronnie wrote:Sorry I couldn't help.

Thanks for trying though

Hi there,

i have tested some different cards, and found one that work.
Only an WD SiliconDrive 256Mb PATA.
Exactly SSD-C25M-3502 is the Type.
It seems, that the Noah only accept PATA Drive CF-Cards.
I looked inside, i think its an standard IDE Drive Connector where the CF-Card Reader is connected.
These Cards are find at ebay for a few bucks.

But, the Plugins can't installed on the CF-Card, only Presets. At least, i found no Way.
So its not reasonable to buy high-capacity cards.

Hope this helps.

Regards Mario

great found