What CF Card Do I Need? And My HMI Will Not Boot. Says No Boot Device Found Even After Running the Flashback Utility for My HMI Model

A common error to see when making a new flash drive for the HMI products is no boot device found. Even after running the flashback utility successfully it still will not boot.

The common cause for this error message is having a non-bootable flash disk. Even though they look identical and sometimes have manufacturer part numbers that are almost the same, Compact flash cards are not all created equal.

In order for CF cards to work in so many devices and be recognized in everything from your digital camera to the HMI on the plant floor they have a built in "controller" that needs configured by the flash manufacturer. Think of it like the old drive controller cards you had to move jumpers on to change it from a "slave" aka: non-bootable drive to a "master" bootable drive. In this case, instead of physical jumpers, the factory sets the internal programming in the CF card as one or the other. One that is configured as a slave will accept all the files and the flashback utility will say that it was successful. But that just means all the files copied, software can not change the nature of the card. There is no software way to reprogram the internal controller once it leaves the factory. Even we have to order the right part numbers to get ones that boot.

Commercial cards (BestBuy, Office Depot, New Egg etc.. ) are primarily non-bootable flash cards for use in home electronics.

To be sure you have a CF that is bootable, use one that came in an HMI or you can order one of the following part numbers to get the right one for your HMI.

FLH-0512P     Works in all Interact HMI units in the field and current product.

FLH-0512       Works in all XPR / XPR2 and original PFD family of units.

FLH-8192       Works in the Windows based EPX / EPX2 / IPX family of units.

added 3/2/15 dm 

edited dom 02/13/2019