how to flash a dead orinoco card?

_Vince_ · 04-06-2005

hi,

few months ago, when I was searching informations to flash an old stock of orinoco silver into gold (alchemy rocks!), I remember very well having read a post of somebody explaining that by using the old method (no alchemy.exe but flash.exe) he successfully resuscitated a dumb card (initially recognized by the system as memory card and of course not working).

I have now such a dumb card and unfortunatelly I can't figure how to find again this post :-(
I still have .pda file of a genuine orinoco silver and could use it.
somebody could help me? any suggestion would be appreciated.

regards,

v

King_Ice_Flash · 04-06-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Vince_

hi,

few months ago, when I was searching informations to flash an old stock of orinoco silver into gold (alchemy rocks!), I remember very well having read a post of somebody explaining that by using the old method (no alchemy.exe but flash.exe) he successfully resuscitated a dumb card (initially recognized by the system as memory card and of course not working).

I have now such a dumb card and unfortunatelly I can't figure how to find again this post :-(
I still have .pda file of a genuine orinoco silver and could use it.
somebody could help me? any suggestion would be appreciated.

regards,

v

http://www.andrewhakman.dhs.org/orinoco/

He's my hero!

_Vince_ · 04-07-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by King_Ice_Flash

http://www.andrewhakman.dhs.org/orinoco/

He's my hero!

yes, I read already this page, tried, and it doesn't work.
I'm looking for the url where a dead card has been turned alive.

04-07-2005

No soft way dead for Hermes I Orinocos, only with flash desoldering, until
initial RAM firmware will be published.

streaker69 · 04-07-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubaka

No soft way dead for Hermes I Orinocos,
only with flash desoldering,
until initial RAM firmware will be published.

Your Tech Support Haiku.

lincomatic · 04-07-2005

it was probably me. I completely killed a card while working on alchemy and attempting to add a CIS writing function (which i subsequently abandoned after the mishap because i didn't want to take any more risks).

what format is the pda file in? if the file is binary, you need to convert it to S3F format first. During conversion, set the address to 390000h ... that's the address the PDA resides in. Then you can use flash.exe to just flash it in.
of course, you have to be lucky enough to have a version of ORiNOCO card which can actually be written to by flash.exe.

i'm going out of town for a week and probably won't have internet access. good luck on it.

I've attached some files I hacked for conversion to/from S3F format.

_Vince_ · 04-08-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by lincomatic

it was probably me. I completely killed a card while working on alchemy and attempting to add a CIS writing function (which i subsequently abandoned after the mishap because i didn't want to take any more risks).

and the card is back alive now?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lincomatic

what format is the pda file in? if the file is binary, you need to convert it to S3F format first. During conversion, set the address to 390000h ... that's the address the PDA resides in. Then you can use flash.exe to just flash it in.

the .pda is already in text format. No conversion seems necessary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lincomatic

of course, you have to be lucky enough to have a version of ORiNOCO card which can actually be written to by flash.exe.

I have an old card and several flavors of flash.exe

Quote:

Originally Posted by lincomatic

i'm going out of town for a week and probably won't have internet access. good luck on it.

for the moment, card returns an error during flashing process.
when you'll be back, may be you could help me with exotic options of flash.exe

04-09-2005

Just keep knocking with your head against a wall. It will help to flash dead
orinoco. Dead prism can be flashed in genesid mode, but nobody has initial
firmware for Orinoco, or by host flasing mode that don't support EEPROM
istalled in old Orinoco cards, and this goes also to the prism dos flash v 1.21 . So just keep knocking.

streaker69 · 04-09-2005

Geez, just buy a new card, they're not that expensive.

lincomatic · 04-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubaka

Just keep knocking with your head against a wall. It will help to flash dead
orinoco. Dead prism can be flashed in genesid mode, but nobody has initial
firmware for Orinoco, or by host flasing mode that don't support EEPROM
istalled in old Orinoco cards, and this goes also to the prism dos flash v 1.21 . So just keep knocking.

I don't know where you get the idea that you're an expert on ORiNOCO cards, but from what he said there is absolutely no proof that the initial firmware needs to be reloaded. When a CIS gets trashed it can be rewritten to the card as long as the Primary firmware is intact. I should know ... I've done it. So why don't you just post when you actually have something useful to say and keep your smart*ss comments to yourself. I'm sick and tired of jerks like you on this board who have nothing constructive to say.

lincomatic · 04-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Vince_

and the card is back alive now?

the .pda is already in text format. No conversion seems necessary.

I have an old card and several flavors of flash.exe

for the moment, card returns an error during flashing process.
when you'll be back, may be you could help me with exotic options of flash.exe

Yes, my card not only works perfectly, It used to be an IBM silver card, and is now a Lucent Gold ORiNOCO. I didn't say text format. You need a CIS in hex (S3F) format. No exotic options needed. The proper address is in the S3F file.. you just flash it in w/ the standard write options. Sorry I don't remember them... It's been over a year since I've messed w/ these things.

So the problem you're having is that the PCMCIA device id is messed up? How did the card get into this state?

BTW, I got Internet access today, but I'm not sure I'll have it every day until I get back into town.

_Vince_ · 04-10-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by streaker69

Geez, just buy a new card, they're not that expensive.

hacking is more fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lincomatic

Yes, my card not only works perfectly, It used to be an IBM silver card, and is now a Lucent Gold ORiNOCO. I didn't say text format. You need a CIS in hex (S3F) format. No exotic options needed. The proper address is in the S3F file.. you just flash it in w/ the standard write options. Sorry I don't remember them... It's been over a year since I've messed w/ these things.

so, I should forget my file orinoco.pda (obtained with flash.exe on working orinoco silver card) and use your programs, right?
the readme.txt within your .zip file seems corrupted, or at least incomplete (list begins with "1)", and ends!).

Quote:

Originally Posted by lincomatic

So the problem you're having is that the PCMCIA device id is messed up?

when I insert the card, XP displays non ascii characters!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lincomatic

How did the card get into this state?

I remember I get it from a broken apple airport wifi station, but it worked great in my linux laptop. I forgot what I did to get the card dead :-/

04-12-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by lincomatic

I don't know where you get the idea that you're an expert on ORiNOCO cards, but from what he said there is absolutely no proof that the initial firmware needs to be reloaded. When a CIS gets trashed it can be rewritten to the card as long as the Primary firmware is intact. I should know ... I've done it. So why don't you just post when you actually have something useful to say and keep your smart*ss comments to yourself. I'm sick and tired of jerks like you on this board who have nothing constructive to say.

I think very constructive jerks are those know that initial firmware
is RAM not ROM firmware, and know that intersil dos flash will not write with 4.0 Hermes primary firmware on any options used, but pushing other to mess with the dead card, exactly knowing that there will be nothing.
Here is f..en Orinoco CIS( 5V ), show how to flash it on 4.0 primary firmware

04-06-2005	#1 (permalink)
_Vince_ Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 4	how to flash a dead orinoco card? hi, few months ago, when I was searching informations to flash an old stock of orinoco silver into gold (alchemy rocks!), I remember very well having read a post of somebody explaining that by using the old method (no alchemy.exe but flash.exe) he successfully resuscitated a dumb card (initially recognized by the system as memory card and of course not working). I have now such a dumb card and unfortunatelly I can't figure how to find again this post :-( I still have .pda file of a genuine orinoco silver and could use it. somebody could help me? any suggestion would be appreciated. regards, v

04-09-2005	#9 (permalink)
streaker69 Psychic Amish Stumbler Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Virginville, BlueBall, Bird In Hand, Intercourse, Paradise, PA Posts: 12,239	Geez, just buy a new card, they're not that expensive. __________________ Treat your gun like your genitals, only whip it out when it's absolutely necessary.

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04-07-2005	#4 (permalink)
bubaka Posts: n/a	No soft way dead for Hermes I Orinocos, only with flash desoldering, until initial RAM firmware will be published.

04-09-2005	#8 (permalink)
bubaka Posts: n/a	Just keep knocking with your head against a wall. It will help to flash dead orinoco. Dead prism can be flashed in genesid mode, but nobody has initial firmware for Orinoco, or by host flasing mode that don't support EEPROM istalled in old Orinoco cards, and this goes also to the prism dos flash v 1.21 . So just keep knocking.