HOW TO FIX Disappearing SD Cards!

Search This thread

LegolasTheElf

Senior Member
Dec 24, 2006
483
0
SoCal - gnawed.com
gnawed.com
Ever since I upgraded to the new AKU3.3 Cingular roms, I've been having an issue where my 2GB Sandisk MicroSD Card will just 'disappear'. It can take one of two different forms when it disappears:

1) The card looks like it's simply not there. The OS creates another directory on the device itself called "Storage Card". Ejecting the card and reinserting it makes it visible to the device again, but, then the card itself is called, "Storage Card2", with the obvious issues of all links being broken until I manually rename everything to be what it should be.

2) The card is there, and I can navigate the directories, but, there is nothing IN the directores. Removing and re-inserting fixes this, and all my info is there again.

This is getting REALLY annoying, and only happened since the upgrade to the new Cingular rom. Anyone have any ideas of what is causing the problem, and/or how to fix it?

Thanks!

EDIT:

After working at the issue for a while, here is the end results:

Do the following reg. hack (numbers are in DECIMAL! hex equiv. is 0x2004):
[HKLM\System\StorageManager]
"PNPUnloadDelay" = dword:8196
[HKLM\System\StorageManager]
"PNPWaitIODelay" = dword:8196

Additionally, the Kingston 1GB MicroSD Card is *much* better (Japanese made) than the SanDisk or even the Crucial :eek: MicroSD (Taiwan).

I had SEVERE issues with the card going missing; changing to the Kingston SD and applying the above fixes made the issue GO AWAY!
 
Last edited:

shark1

Senior Member
Aug 8, 2006
128
0
I had the same problem when I used this rom, I think its a bug, I chnaged to the HTC test rom and did not have any issues.

I think you will have wait until the formal release rom comes directly from AT&T, as you know this site will not have roms from next week
 

edwinyuen

Member
Mar 31, 2006
28
0
Had that with a cheap card, Changed to Kingston and all is perfect.

I have a SanDisk and it has the same issue. It has issue #2, where the directories are there but no files. It caused my ringtones to go missing. Only since the upgrade to the Cingular AKU 3.3 ROM. Just ANOTHER issue with this ROM. :(
 

elivne

Senior Member
Dec 21, 2006
276
0
I have the HTC 3.3 ROM, same prob. 2 situations:
1. card shows gibberish text(signs - not letters)
2. folders are there but no files.

SR always solves the situation.
 

LegolasTheElf

Senior Member
Dec 24, 2006
483
0
SoCal - gnawed.com
gnawed.com
I just ordered a new Crucial.com MicroSD 1gb memory card. It's smaller than my SanDisk one, but, since I need it to be reliable more than I need it to be big to store music, etc.. I'll take the crucial chip. Hopefully that solves the problem.
 

booda

Member
Nov 27, 2006
39
0
I have similar problems, where the card (ExtremeII Sandisk 2GB):

1) disappears, or
2) shows up in the folder tree but reports as having no free space, or
3) becomes temporarily corrupted and hangs the whole system when trying to access it.

Eject/reinsert or soft reset fixes all of these. However, I was having problems 1) and 3) on the old ROM too, and used to see similar problems on my old Axim X50v.
 

sugardad

Senior Member
Oct 6, 2005
149
24
SPiTi Mou!
eten-users.eu
You 're not alone Test ROM 2.05.255.1 - Radio 1.34 - AKU 3.3
Has the same effects
PLUS sometimes the hard Buttons doen't seem to respond after some amount of time, GEESH!!!
 

LegolasTheElf

Senior Member
Dec 24, 2006
483
0
SoCal - gnawed.com
gnawed.com
I got totally fed up with my SanDisk 2GB SD Card and did a backup and a reformat. However, this time I formatted it as FAT32; it seemed to make a difference. It seems to be a LITTLE more stable, and a LITTLE better at keeping the information; however, there is DEFINATELY a bug in this rom... I wish there was some way to track it down and squash it. It's probably a stupid registry hack... <sigh>
 

kalrykh

Senior Member
Feb 3, 2007
56
1
kinda off topic, kinda not :p just thought i'd throw this in. 2 gb sandisk microsd cards are on sale at compusa this week for 40 bucks if anyone's looking to get one.
 

bsica

Member
Feb 9, 2007
23
0
Seeing this also, and its irritating me as well. If i run an app from the SD card, and the card goes to lunch as described, my device locks up.
 

wwwes

Senior Member
May 11, 2005
101
0
scandisk?

I have a 2gb sandisk and just loaded cingular 2.06.
I DON'T have this problem yet, but I had lots of issues with my 1.34 load hanging due to storage card issues. I have gotten in the habit of putting it in a card reader periodically and running scandisk with all options checked under xp, then defrag. almost every time there are found.000 directories. once it was 100mb worth of dead files.
this seems to help for a while.
has anyone else tried running scandisk when this happens?
wes
 

LegolasTheElf

Senior Member
Dec 24, 2006
483
0
SoCal - gnawed.com
gnawed.com
So far my 1GB MicroSD from Crucial is working MUCH better! No problems so far. I'm thinking the SanDisk 2GB just has issues generally...

Those who aren't having problems, are you using SanDisk? Or, did you use a different chip? Or, is it that the 2GB is causing the issues?
 

LegolasTheElf

Senior Member
Dec 24, 2006
483
0
SoCal - gnawed.com
gnawed.com
I spoke too soon. It's exhibiting the same problems, although, not as badly as the sandisk.

All the directories were there, just none of the files. Remove and reinsert, and it's all good again.

This is nuts.... This is a BIG bug... :mad:
 

LegolasTheElf

Senior Member
Dec 24, 2006
483
0
SoCal - gnawed.com
gnawed.com
I think I may have found something. Can someone with the ORIGINAL Cingular rom tell me what they have in their registry at the following key? Exporting the entire thing would be even better!

HKLM\System\StorageManager

Specifically, I want to know what the PNPUnloadDelay is, and the PNPWaitIODelay is.... I'd LOVE the export of the entire key though, but, I'll take those two keys too :)

Thanks!
 

Maarten_NL

Member
Jan 13, 2006
44
0
Tilburg NL
Same here... AKU 3.3 and 2gb Sandisk:

Sometimes the card is gone, but I don't get the Storagecard2 when reinserting.. it just pops back as StorageCard and works again. (so the stupid camera asks every time I want to take a pic if I want to use the storagecard)

Sometimes when I access the StorageCard from my PC, I see the directories in the root, but when I try to access them activesync or TotalCommander just hangs..

and just random hangups of the complete OS, SR fixes everything... *sigh* feels like windows 98 :(
 

piannetta

Senior Member
Nov 14, 2004
124
1
Sydney, Australia
Well until I came across this thread, I thought it was just me. This issue is annoying. I'm getting the second issue where the card is there but the folders are empty.

I really hope a fix is found.

Pete
 

hardcore

Senior Member
Sep 12, 2006
3,435
7,992
Just wanted to add my experience to the mix. Same problem here.

HTC Test AKU 3.3 ROM, running on a Dopod 838 Pro. 2GB Sandisk minisd card. The card disappears after a while, causing lockups.