Strange SD card behaviour

[joele]

Whenever I soft reset the device the memory card is not picked up, or only half the directories are picked up, and I have to pop it out and back in again for it to recognise everything correctly..

I am running 1.72 and we have three imates here at my work and they all behave like this.

Sometimes the Storage Card just seems to vanish even when there was no reset and the card has to be ejected and reloaded to pick it up again! This occurs daily for me (only had the device 4 days though) and one of the other guys here says it hapens quite frequently to him too!

Is this common behaviour for the imate/xda2 ???

[andmjones]

I had similar problems with my SD card in my XDA2 (1.66.00wwe), i took out the card and formatted it a few times in my PC and so far it dosent seem to have happened again. This problem originally occurred in my ipaq 4150 so im not sure whether it was card related or not. There's an application called Pocket Mechanic which can run tests on SD cards, might be worth running that to see if it picks up anything. If you need a copy of it you can "borrow" mine.

[joele]

mmm, no problems with pocket mechanic test!

Might back up data on card and try a low level format through PocketMechanic and see if that helps, but it is strange we have multiple devices and cards here (my work) all with the same behaviour. My Card and imate are both brand new..

[edsub]

Might be of interest: what brand of cards are you using?
There ARE issues with SD cards, mostly related to data transferrate.
Some brands are fast (ie KingMax i read) some are very slow (ie Kingston/Toshiba i noticed)

[andmjones]

I bought a Fujifilm 512MB SD card off ebay for a silly low price, originally blamed my problems down to that fact but it seems to be ok now.

[joele]

It is a Sandisk card (256mb) so VERY slow :)

[IanF]

Not sure if it is related, but I had an issue with mine, where I could read the SD Card in my PC, but not in my XDAII, unless I pushed it very firmly down, holding it in place.

It turned out to be dirty connections on the Card. With a bit of a clean (with a Screwdriver), everything works again!

Ian

[BRosenow]

FYI - a pencil eraser is the best thing to use to clean contacts on PC boards, memory cards, etc. It is only mildly abrasive but does a great job of removing grime, etc.

HTH :)

[Jupiter]

Browsenow - excellent idea. In fact it comes close to my blue-tack inventions. Well done! :D

[BRosenow]

Jupiter - Thanks! I have adapted pencil erasers to another problem for which your solution was BluTack . . . the missing external aerial cover. I found a pencil eraser that was the same diameter as the aerial (antenna for those of us in the US) connector hole, chopped it off and inserted it. It has the added benefit of being firm and slightly longer than the hole, so it provides stability when the device is laying on the desk.

Oh well . . . I guess I need to find something more interesting to fill my days . . . like making my imate work as a TV remote so I don't have to wrench the actual remote from the Mrs. :wink:

[Jupiter]

Are you trying to say that the rubber solution is better than the blue-tack solution! I vouchsafed you the honour of saying that it came close. Dont throw that back at me. ! :(

Blue-Tack is better because

1. Its sticky
2. Its blue
3. You can use it to stick things
4. In an emergency you can take it out of the XDA and stick a note to the fridge
5. In the event of being bored you can make a baby teddy with it

What can rubber do apart from rub. :roll:

It was a 'good' idea but lets keep it at that

[BRosenow]

First of all, you did not say it was a 'good' idea - in fact you said it was an 'excellent' idea. As for BluTack . . . if you use it too many times it will be neither blue nor sticky!

As for the eraser, it is better because -
1. It is firm
2. It is NOT blue
3. It can erase things
4. In an emergency you can . . . um, you can . . . :?
5. In the event of being bored you can use it to CARVE a baby teddy - well a really tiny one!

Ha! Long live the eraser 8)

[Jupiter]

Now your just being silly!

Where are my blue-tack buddies when I need them?

[BRosenow]

They have all abandoned you and are out searching for various sizes, shapes and colors (colours?) of ERASERS!

They should start their search here: http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?PageType=1&Sku=507053