Pfaff Creative 2144/2170 - Need Help w/ Error Message!
 

Hello! I could really use help with a Pfaff Creative 2144 I recently acquired (upgraded to the 2170). The machine has firmware version 01.05.07 and BIOS 00.01.03.

I've been trying to connect to it via the USB to PC connection card, but whenever I insert the card it gives the following message:
"⚠️ Unknown card type! Do you want to prepare the card for this system? All the information on this card will be lost! (Confirm with OK)."

Pressing OK gives this message:
"⚠️ Deactivate write-protection!"

The machine works fine with the standard memory cards. I've tried using a new (well, new enough) USB to PC card and get the same message, and I'm starting to get at my wit's end trying to get this machine working. Has anyone here dealt with this before? Does anyone have any advice?

Thank you!

Call a dealer and talk to their tech. It maybe worth going to see them.....but allt of techs will share over the phone if it is an easy fix.

Not familiar with your machine. For the write protection as a general idea, there is often a switch or cover that needs to be moved for the "deactivate write-protection" part. This article may help -- but does not explain the dreaded "but it worked before and doesn't now" problem.
https://www.usbmemorydirect.com/blog...ion-usb-drive/

On a friend's Brother Embroidery machine we had a somewhat similar problem -- the standard modern flash drive was too large to be read by the sewing machine -- ah, the speed of computer power and obsolescence. We had to buy a set of lower capacity flash drives, which were fortunately cheap and distinctive in appearance. She could still transfer from her laptop to the lower capacity drives and then to the machine.

Did you ever figure out what to do? I’ve been using my 2144/2170 for years then took a break from it for a few years and just started it up again today. Same error messages and I’m using the same old WinXP laptop that I always used to transfer files so neither the machine or computer have been updated or changed in any way since both are now unsupported and can’t be updated. I have never had that error message before today.

Hi, melyaro! Sorry for the late response. I got some advice from the Pfaff 1471-2170 FB group. Basically, the USB PC cards seem to be somewhat unreliable, and may suddenly stop working after a few years.

I ended up using a Magic Box converter to write to the Pfaff cards, and then plug them into my machine. So far it seems to be working well on my Windows 11 machine, though I did have to find some creative workarounds when I ran into some software issues.

Thank you for the update!

You're welcome, let me know if you have any questions!