Help!! Sd Card Not Seen By Device - MDA III, XDA III, PDA2k, 9090 General

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

Update... but still have problem
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).

mattyboy said:
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).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently, the motherboard your device is dies slowly.

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

Replying to Rafa1215
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!!

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

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

xplode said:
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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

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).

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.

mattyboy said:
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).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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

Related

microSD card corrupted...

I decided to replace the 512 MB card in my Cingular 8525 with a 2 GB card. When I put the 512 card in its adaptor, the PC read the directory, showed a FAT format, but would not copy/read/or otherwise manipulate any of the files. I plugged the card back into the 8525 and found that it couldn't even see it. Giving up on any kind of file recovery, I tried to reformat it in the PC, but then IT couldn't detect the card! After I played with it awhile, I finally got it to start the format process, but it always failed just before the "green line got to the end" and, after several attempts, it reported "disk cannot be formatted."
Is there any way I can save this card, or is it a (VERY small) boat anchor?
I've seen yesterday in the Sandisk site and somebody told me that they have some kind of software tool (file recover, unformat, etc.), that's very capable, unfortunately it is not free, there's a trial version (does not allow to save any files). Sofware's name is "Rescue Pro", if you can get yourself a copy you might give it a try.
Another thing about an SD (in my experience), I'm talking about a Verbatim 512MB SD, i borrow it to a friend, when he was giving it back, just cancelled all his things up, stopped the card reader (from XP), extracted the SD and it was dead, fortunately I had kept my proof of purchase and they (Verbatim) exchanged it with a new one (in europe the warranty is at least 2 year long), they asked me to send it to Ireland to check if it could be recovered and within three weeks (just because there was christmas in the middle) I got a new one back.
hope this helps
Try putting it in a Digital Camera with SD Slot (put in SD Adapter first;-))
Then format it via your Digital Camera
Or
Download VaioSoft Recovery Manager and try to format with that one
http://vaiosoft.com/products/recoverymanager.htm
Eelcol
that link is not working please post another link for that software
What PQI support suggests
I´ve had trouble with PQI miniSD cards, so I asked support from PQI on corrupted files, this is their answer in order to check if the card is damaged or not and includes several tips on using memory cards, it´s alittle bit long to read, but maybe it worths, so here it goes:
Some hints of using flash memory cards
1. Do NOT remove the memory card while it is operating, otherwise it may be
damaged.
2. Do NOT turn off the device, while the operation of writing /reading is
not completed.
3. When the battery power of system is low, do not write to the memory card to prevent loss of data.
4. Make sure the device (card reader/phone/camera/pda/camcorder) has finished reading/writing to the card before you take another shot/turn it off or the data will be corrupt/lost and the card will be damaged. You can tell by the device indicator light where it flashes when it is reading and writing to the card. Wait until the indicator light is off and stops flashing before you take another shot/turn the device off or remove the card/drive.
Before you continue, please make sure you have a reader that can read and write to 2GB card properly. DO NOT use in built-in reader on laptop and desktop, or old readers made 2 years or longer ago, because these readers can only use up to 1GB card. I recommend using it in external USB 2.0 reader that is made within 1 year ago.
If you do not have such reader, then connect the device (gps/camera/pda/camcorder) to the computer with USB cable and the card inserted and if works you should see new drive letters show up under My Computer.
Otherwise, if used in devices that do not support the 2GB card, the card will be damaged.
Please try the following troubleshooting guide first and see if it can solve the problem. Try one step at a time. If one works, then you can stop trying. You don't need to try all of them.
The following guide will erase all the data on the drive/card. So make sure you backup your data first before you try the steps below:
1. First, remove the card/drive from your computer.
Download the low level format tool below to your computer.
http://hddguru.com/download/software/HDDGURU-Low-Level-Format-Tool/LLFsetup.2.36.1181.exe
Install the program into your computer.
You should see a new icon called "Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool".
a. Insert the card/drive and run the program.
IMPORTANT!!! MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE CORRECT DISK OR YOUR COMPUTER MAY NOT START LATER!!!
It should shows as BUS: USB. Select the BUS: USB. Also check the size and make sure.
If you don't see BUS: USB, that means the card is unreadable and need to be replaced. In this case, please STOP here and close the program and DO NOT continue below.
b. Then click Continue->Low Level Format->Format this Device.
c. Wait for a few minutes until it finish successfully with a message of asking you to partition and format it. (if you see formatting error, you can stop the formatting and the card needs to be replaced.)
d. Flash Card:
Put the card back to your device (camera/phone/pda/camcorder) and then use the format utility in the device to format the card.
Please let me know your test results. Thanks.
Reference: Program homepage
http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.04.12-HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool/
2. Please go to the site below:
http://www.sdcard.org/Downloads.aspx
Please try to download the software sdfv2000.exe (for windows only) and the manual for your reference.
Install the sdfv2000.exe in your computer, then insert the card into the card reader (if you do not have reader, you can try to connect your device to the computer with USB cable) and then run it:
a. Check the drive letter and also the size and make sure it is the correct card.
b. Click Option:
Format Type: Full Erase ON
Format Size Adjustment: ON
c. Click OK, then click Format. Wait until it finish.
d. You will be prompted to remove the card after it finish. Then go ahead and insert it in your (camera/pda/camcorder etc) and see.
16. T-mobile MDA (cannot format 2GB mini SD card)
Please install the software below to your phone (you can download the free trial):
http://www.pdatopsoft.com/PocketPC/StorageTools---Analyze,-Defragment,-Verify,-Repair-and-Format
Then use the Storage Tools software above to format the card and see.
does this method also apply on mini sd and mmc rs dv cards?????
Actually this was given for miniSD´s
Awais said:
does this method also apply on mini sd and mmc rs dv cards?????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume that this applies to all types of SD cards, I don´t know about the others.
Awais said:
that link is not working please post another link for that software
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://vaiosoft.com
goto recovery manager
Eelco
luiggi said:
I assume that this applies to all types of SD cards, I don´t know about the others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is there any technical differnece between mmc and sd cards???/
cuz we can also use mmc or rs dv cards in htc devices but sd card is not useable for nokia and other mmc supported sets
Thanks for all of the input! I tried formating it with my camera with no success, then took the easy way out: I took it back where I bought it and got it replaced.
I'm filing this information away for next time, though! Thanks again.
Awais said:
is there any technical differnece between mmc and sd cards???/
cuz we can also use mmc or rs dv cards in htc devices but sd card is not useable for nokia and other mmc supported sets
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SD cards where made to improve the lack of speed of MMC cards, also they include the writing protection/lock, it is the small switch you see in one side of the SD.
Also, SD cards are slightly different from MMCs phisically, SDs are thicker than MMCs (that's why you cannot put them in a Nokia phone), the electrical specs should by backwards compatible (aside from phisycal differences).
Recently some updatings/improvements have been done to MMC specs, they claim to be the fastest memory card technology available, there are MMC plus, etc.
I know all these things that I read recently (I just can't remember where).
hope this info can be used, and one last thing is that information on this subject can be found easily on the net, it's juest a matter of look for it, personally I like a lot an electronics web site: www.epanorama.net
thanks for the useful info and that link too
hmm today i got a miniSD topram, 2gb and it worked fine it was fat format i believe so i went to the winxp format utility and formated with fat32 16k everything seemed to work fine then i put it in the pda phone and nothing it did not see it, so then i put it back in the PC to format back to fat and nothing it does not see the card now at all
what happend i have been trying a million apps to some how force a format but none have worked, windows pretty much hangs while trying to read the card and at end says there is no media there, so do other apps
Low level format
losborn said:
I'm filing this information away for next time, though! Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Low level format tool once done good job for me
http://www.killdisk.com/
I would proberbly say its fubarred, but you could try using software like SCAN DISK and carios other things.
Memory card fixes
Guys
We've seen this issue quite a bit lately.. Memory card simply locks up Windows when inserted.. It seems to be related to a flakey FAT table on the card. Formatting does nothing... Disk manager can't deal with it either..
The solution we found that worked was to use Paragon Partition Tools to remove the partition table on the card.. Recreate it.. then reformat..
Unless the card is physically cactus, it works every time..
Good luck!
Andy
www.pressdigital.com.au
Press Digital Support Team
???
any link for a free-ware partitioning tool !!!
wanna know more about erasing and recreating partition table on micro-sd cards
http://hddguru.com/download/software....2.36.1181.exe
Thank you, Luigi.
This work perfectly. My microSD 2GB was formated a 1GB and with this program now is all OK. I have microSD a 2GB again.
memory card recovery
This tool can help you to recover your files from damaged media.
www softorbits com/flash-drive-recovery
This device cannot be accessed because it is smaller than 65535 sectors.
:crying: It says "This device cannot be accessed because it is smaller than 65535 sectors" when I tried to low level format using LLFT.
---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:08 PM ----------
losborn said:
Thanks for all of the input! I tried formating it with my camera with no success, then took the easy way out: I took it back where I bought it and got it replaced.
I'm filing this information away for next time, though! Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good for you. But I'm still getting headache as I can't contact the manufacturer.
I had formatted the micro SD card in ext4 format for using with app2SD. I had it in 2 partitions.
And then after a while, the card stopped functioning (with so little and useless 30MB storage).
I had tried things like recovery, formatting, partition recovery.
Nothing can return it to original state. I just want it to be blank. It's ok I lost all the data.

SD Card not detected

I am using O2 XDA IIs PPC 2003 SE.
Now when I insert my SD Card 2 GB, the OS does not recognize it.
(It was good before.)
I've tried with another 256 SD Card, same result.
Those SD Cards are working well with my Card Reader plugged into my PC.
Anyone could help me please?
Thanks in advance.
I'm sorry I don't know.
However.. you've come to the wrong place if you want help.. people here seem to have an aversion to actually helping people out.. don't get me wrong, there are some very talented people that call this forum 'base', but they are understandably busy.. and the other's who hang just don't answer **** unless it suits them..
You are more likely to get the answer "read the wiki" which isn't the most helpful thing in the world. Even those of us who try others to help despite our knowledge being somewhat wanting.. just in the hopes of being seen to be at least trying, aren't deemed to be worth giving an answer to.
I suggest these two forums.
http://www.ipmart-forum.com/index.php
http://www.totalpda.co.uk/forum/
You will get help there.
Try soft resetting the device, poke the stylus in the reset hole and once the device re-boots it should see the card, you will not loose information performing a soft reset - Mike
thanks guys.
Hi, I've also have a sort of problem like yours. I tried soft reset n it actually works. But sometimes my BA still can't read my SD. I've tried format my SD n even upgrade my ROM. It seems that the problem is in hardware. I don't know what to do anymore
U have probably what I also have.. a faulty SD card reader or a bad soldering (welding)...
Last night I dissambled my BA n I found out that the screws around SD card reader were loose. I've tightened them up n so far I don't have any problem with SD card. But I've still exprerienced problem with my screen keep active when my BA was pressed even though I've locked the device n power off. I don't know what to do anymore. Any suggestion?
Problem already solved.
It was because tiny plastic dirts on the SD slot.
Once I cleaned it up, it's working as before.
Thanks to you all. What a nice forum we have here.
I had similar problems with a 1GB card. Formatting it in a PC-based card reader fixed it. Remember not to select quick format.
Can I put a 4GB SD Card in the Blue Angel? Will it work?
noone85 said:
Can I put a 4GB SD Card in the Blue Angel? Will it work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will work if the card is *NOT* a SDHC card.
I found my 4 gig card on ebay, topram is the brand, and it works fine as it is a non-SDHC card.
Sdcard not reconized
HI TO ALL..
I had installed miopocket 4.0 on my VDO Dayton PNA6000-WINCE 5 but
because of problems with Garmin XT I had to uninstall but the uninstall
did not do the best for me, now my SD slot dont read any sdcard i think
its corrupted registry and i dont have access to usb active sync only
have MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) when i connect to usb(no data
transfer). How can i access my resident flash(INTERNAL MEMORY) to edit
registry,change usb mode to activesync or something else???, i think sdmemory.dll is making
load problems.
Tnx in advance!
To have access to registry use TotalCommander or SKTools
but i dont have access to system, sdslot is not functional and i cant install active sync driver just mtu in device manager..

Storage Card Trouble

Hi Guys, before hand great forum. Anyway, I've had my Hermes/ 2gb Sandisk Memory Card for about a year now. I've had absolutely no problems with it up until now. I upgraded to WM6 about 2 weeks ago, and everything was fine.
ANYWAY, My storage card is not recognized, I tried cleaning it, I tried using WM5Storage, nothing. When I am in finder, and I put in the disk, it seems to act as if something was placed in with a quick like flash of the screen indicating something was place, but nothing in finder. I tried to see if I could format it, however it acts like nothing is in there?
Any suggestions, Thanks again for your time.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=294324
It sounds like the disk has failed. Try to read the disk in another reader to check that the disk has not fried it's self.
If this is the case then you may be able to return to the manufacture if it has a life time warrenty. I.E. Kingston have this feature.
Hope this helps.
D
I agree with the above post. Try inserting your card into your computer, and see if it can be recognized that way. If so, maybe copy all of your data off the card, use Windows to format the card (FAT or FAT32 only), and move your data back. Good luck.

[Q] HTC Desire doesn't recognize sd card, please help.

Hi everybody,
I posted a similar post in one of the threads, but I did not get any replies. So I thought I might as well post a new thread.
I really hope that you can help me out.
My HTC Desire doesn't recognize the sd card (Samsung micro SDHC 4gb) that is in it. It also doesn't recognize another sd card (SanDisk micro SD 2gb).
I've tried to follow up the steps 'chippieuk' has listed in this thread.
Everything went fine, until I reached steps 8 and 12, because my pc doesn't recognize the sd card either. (I've tried to put it in two other computers and another phone, but it hasn't been recognized in any of them. I've also tried to use another sd card in the sd card readers and adapter, and that sd card was recognized, but it was a SanDisk micro SD 2gb.)
Here's some background information.
Something like 7 months ago I rooted my HTC Desire (in the process of rooting I partitioned the sd card) and I put custom ROM 'opendesire v1.5' on it. I was satisfied with it, so I never changed it since then. But my HTC Desire stopped working properly something like 6 weeks ago. Every time I switched it on, it went into bootloop. So two weeks ago I did a hard reset via 'hboot' and my phone seemed to work again, but then I discovered that the sd card wasn't being recognized and that has been the problem ever since.
I've, btw., (temporarily) unrooted my phone with a RUU (android 2.1). I've not yet upgraded it to android 2.2, because I want my phone to function well first and I will probably root it again soon (if I will succeed with my sd card etc.)...
So... Have any of you got an idea? Could it be something with the readers that I've used (that they can't read micro sdhc cards)? Or because I once partitioned it? I really don't know...
Once again, I would really appreciate it if you could help me.
Thanks.
Regards
If nothing is picking it up then you have no partition on the SD card, or the wrong one. Format it with Windows to FAT32. If Windows picks it up, then Android should pick it up. If it isn't picking it in Android after the format, go to Settings > Storage and see if it's mounted in there, if not, then mount it, if you can't mount it, then it's either a problem with the rom or a problem with the SD card.
Okay, thanks. I'll try that.
Is it, btw., possible to get the data that's on it back?
Not if you format it. To be honest, the only way you can get data off it anyway is by getting it to mount, which it isn't doing.
Yeah, true... I should have made a backup. ;p
Okay, I just connected my phone with its sd card to my computer.
It actually shows a 'Removable Disk' in 'Computer',
but I cannot access it when I try to format it.
So I'm going to try to format it now, using an adapter.
Let me know how it goes
Hmmm.. When I put the micro sd card in an adapter and insert that into my computer, it sort of reacts to it. The icons at the bottom right sort of move, but that's all. When I look into 'Computer', there are no removable disks. I really don't know how to access it..
Plug it into your PC. Go to start, right click on my computer and click on manage. Click on disk management on the left and see if the SD card loads up
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Okay, so I tried what you said, but the SD card doesn't load up.. I also tried it with that other SD card I talked about, just to check again if it really isn't because of the adapter, but that SD card was recognized.
Put it in your phone and loads up Android. By default, if Android detects a non compatible SD card then it will ask you to format it. If you don't get this option then I guess it's buggered and you'll need to get a new one.
It appears to be a USB brick....
See solution on this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=691187
To be more precise, the fix is mentioned in the thread above, but is here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6634033&postcount=115
Had a similar problem myself, see if my little thread is of any use to you
As soon as I'll be back home, I'll try your suggestions. Thanks a lot, all of you.

All files on external SD card corrupt after unexpected shutdown

Hey guys and girls!
This morning my phone turned off by itself (13% battery left) and needed somewhat longer than usual to reboot (in the meantime I plugged it back in to the charger). First thing I noticed was that my whole theme got reset as well as it started showing me introductional tips ("long press here to move your apps to the homescreen, ecc.). It also started to update apps in the Play Store even though I set it to manual ... so basically a LOT of things were reset.
The biggest problem I'm having now is though that all my files (pictures, videos, music) that are stored on an external micro SD card are corrupt. It's not possible anymore to open anything. I already removed the micro SD card and put it into an adapter to have a look at the files via the laptop. But nothing, even though the sizes of the files seem OK, I can't open them.
Does anyone have a clue as to what exactly happened here? Are those files lost (at least of some I have a backup) or is there anything I can do to "repair" them? Help is really appreciated, thanks!
PS: Things like the card unmounting and re-mounting never occurred. So I can't tell if the card was dying or if actually the phone ruined my files.
Did you happen to be using a SanDisk SD Card? I've had my 10 brick 2 of those until I switched to Samsung SD Cards about a year ago and haven't had issues since.
I never could manage to recover files from the damaged SD cards.
I have a Samsung SD card and had something similar.
I guess I was on Viper Rom and basically my phone restarted around 15-20% of battery. After a long wait for booting back again, all my settings were gone.
Files and others in the SD card was okay but basically until I formatted the card, I wasn't able to boot into the Download Mode to install a new rom...
I fixed the restart issue by installing the official HTC Rom.
Thanks for your replies.
It is indeed a SanDisk 16GB card. It seems though that the card is still working (no problems accessing it via phone or laptop), just the files appear to be broken. In the meantime I also tried apps like PC Inspector File Recovery, but to no success
I'm still on stock HTC Sense by the way, no root, nothing.
Anyone know though why that happened (resetting everything, etc.)?
Hit me with a PM I'll give you a SanDisk restore tool which works quite ok. there is a huge chance some files can be recovered, some will be damaged though. Don't push any new files on the card after you tried to restore the files
HTC 10-Corrupted microSD card
I know this is an older thread, but I was wondering if there is a solution. I have an HTC 10 which has an micro SD card in it, that is "married" to the phone. When connected to a computer, the computer recognizes the phone, and the microSD card, and begins to load the folders/files. Eventually this process stalls, and the phone/drive is no longer readable by the computer. To get the computer to recognize the phone/card again, I need to restart the phone, but the same thing happens again.
I have like 20gigs of data on the card, and cannot just put the card in a reader, because it's encrypted to the phone. Any possible solutions? It's frustrating to see the files/pictures for a minute or two, and then have them disappear. I have tried copying/pasting the files while they're visible, but this often triggers the computer to no longer recognize the phone/memory card. I've tried to un-encrypt the microSD card, but the phone can't recognize/access the microSD card long enough to complete that process.
Please help if you can.
Glenn

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