Help!! Sd Card Not Seen By Device

[mattyboy]

Help! I have an XDA IIs which was working fine for the last two years. It has a 1GB SD Card in there. I used it for TomTom all this time, with no problems at all.

A couple of days ago, I forgot to grab my device from the car as I was in a rush and I left it in the car (powered off, but with TomTom running) most of the day.
When I got back in the car, TomTom wasn't working right so I closed it and tried to re-open it, whereupon I received the nasty message "Cannot determine location of data".
To put it simply, the device no longer recognises the presence of an SD Card! It's not in File Explorer, nor under Settings / Memory / Storage Card.

What is going on?
Here's a list of what I've tried already (none of these ideas has solved the issue):
o Tried a different SD Card
o Tried a soft reset on the device
o Tried a hard-reset on the device
o After hard-reset, tried a restore from a recent Active Sync backup-to-PC.
o Downloaded PocketPC Mechanic and played around A LITTLE (didn't do anything that seemed dangerous like defragging, registry cleaning, etc)

Any help will be VERY gratefully received!

Thanks

Matt

[mattyboy]

Quick update

I also tried formatting the SD Card. No help (I have since copied all data back onto the card and it still doesn't work).

[vovaxxxx]

Quick update

I also tried formatting the SD Card. No help (I have since copied all data back onto the card and it still doesn't work).

Apparently, the motherboard your device is dies slowly.

[rafa1215]

Have you tried a diifferent sd card? reinstalling the software all over again?

[mattyboy]

Yes, I have tried a different SD Card (as noted in the original post, list of things I have tried). It's a 128MB one which works fine in the SD Card reader slot on my PC (my main 1GB card works fine in PC slot as well).

Here's a further titbit of information which may or may not be useful in helping me:

I've tried several times to restore the backup-to-PC I made at the end of April (essentially the same stuff on the device then as now, luckily). Normally, when you insert (or remove) the card, it turns the screen on. Each time I perform the restore (of the same backup, over and over again), the SD Card slot actually performs this function when I insert the card again - but ONLY ONCE each time I restore from backup.

As for reinstalling software all over again... I have performed a hard-reset on the device, and tried the card as soon as it is ready to use... no luck there either.

In reply to vovaxxxx:
Is that a serious comment? The motherboard slowly dies? If that's true then this device is fit for nothing but the rubbish bin! :(

More ideas are welcome please, I thank you for the feedback!! :)

[LGSilva]

If you're luck enough to have a friend that have a BA you could test his sd card on your BA and your sd card on his BA. If his BA can read your card and yours can't read his then you have 2 situations:
1) Your sd card slot is dirty or slightly melted so you have no good contacts, try to clean it.
2) Time to buy a new phone or try to buy a new circuit board for your phone but for the price I think is better you get a new phone.

Edit: If you have $100 you can get a new circuit board here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=310283

[xplode]

search google for panasonic sd formatter or something like this, this is a lil program which is used to format your SD properly. Insert your SD card into the card reader, start the program and reformat the SD card.

The problem is within the SD card file system

[rafa1215]

search google for panasonic sd formatter or something like this, this is a lil program which is used to format your SD properly. Insert your SD card into the card reader, start the program and reformat the SD card.

The problem is within the SD card file system

If that doesn't work try
Storage Tools by softwinter.com

You can at least do a Scandisk and fix any errors during the scan

[mattyboy]

OK I formatted the SD card with the Panasonic formatting utility. (Backed everything up to the PC first, from the card!)

Still no difference. To reiterate - the SD Card(s) I am trying to use are working fine in my PC's SD Card reading slot.

I think it's the hardware (i.e. the XDA itself)... LGSilva says I could try cleaning the contacts. Any recommended ways on doing this? The slot is too small to get any kind of decent cleaning implement in there, and I can't dismantle the device because it's held together with special screws (6-pointed-star-shaped heads).

[Nunwood PDA]

Hi

the company i work for has around 300 device and this happens every now and again. not sure if this will help but normally call our mobile network and get a replacement. it's normally the card reader in the device.

[mikealder]

The slot is too small to get any kind of decent cleaning implement in there, and I can't dismantle the device because it's held together with special screws (6-pointed-star-shaped heads).The screws are size 6 Torx bits, suitable sets of these drivers can be bought from Maplins in the UK, although you don't mention where you are located.
There is also a guide to taking the BA to bits in the WiKi and a very comprehensive one containing pictures etc. at the bottom of the WiKi page, well worth reading both before you try taking it to bits - Mike