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Raspberry Pi Forum SD card not working any more.
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  • Replies 26 replies
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Related

SD card not working any more.

wallarug
wallarug over 12 years ago

I have a Sony 8GB Class 10 (SF-8NX) SD card which seems like the raspberry pi does not want to boot from.

 

Odd considering it worked with the first image I put on it back in April.

 

I wiped it clean with "SD"formatter" as surgested by the wiki but it still won't come back to life on the RPi.

 

When I image it with "win32diskimager" the imaging seems to be successful.  I can put it into my SD card reader and see the /boot partition in Windows but the RPi will still not boot it.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?  I would hate to see a 8GB card go to waste.

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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago

    Try this, it worked for me:  You need a digital camera that takes SD cards.  Just use the format function in the camera to "blank" the card.  Not a 100% solution but I have had success with it.  A more conventional approach if you are a  Linux user:  go to distrowatch.com and download the system rescue CD.  You will just have to burn the image to a CD and you will have plenty of tools in you kit bag for dealing with these problems. There is a much better imaging app in the Ubuntu repository which hasn't failed me so far.  I always say this, "non-Linux users deserve everything they don't get."  image   Cheers...GB

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  • wallarug
    wallarug over 12 years ago in reply to Former Member

    I tried formating the Card using 'EASEUS partition master'  and the "SDformatter"  but nothing has caused the card to work in the Raspberry Pi.

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  • wallarug
    wallarug over 12 years ago in reply to wallarug

    I am trying it with a fresh 2012-12-12 image now.  I will get back to you shortly.

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  • GreenYamo
    GreenYamo over 12 years ago in reply to wallarug

    Hi Fergus,

     

    It could have just died, SD cards to have a finite life, although not *this* finite usually :-)

     

    I use EASEUS partition manager and that hasn't let me down other than on a corrupt / damaged SD card.

     

    Hasn't been near any strong magnetic sources has it ? image

     

    Steve

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  • wallarug
    wallarug over 12 years ago in reply to GreenYamo

    Steve Read wrote:

     

    Hi Fergus,

     

    It could have just died, SD cards to have a finite life, although not *this* finite usually :-)

     

    I use EASEUS partition manager and that hasn't let me down other than on a corrupt / damaged SD card.

     

    Hasn't been near any strong magnetic sources has it ? image

     

    Steve

    The Card itself works fine.  It just doesn't boot when in the Raspberry Pi and imaged.

     

    I wrote 300 images to it in 1 minute with my camera and the card formatted to one partition FAT16.

     

    The image works on another SD card that I have that is 2GB but not in this card.

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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago in reply to wallarug

    Some ideas:

     

    Was the working card also formatted to FAT16? Your choices are FAT16 (the oldest standard), FAT32 and NTFS. Plug the card into a PC and see if you can format it using one of the more modern choices. Also, Windows Disk Manager will tell you how each card was formatted. Launch Windows Explorer, right-click on Computer, left-click on Manage, click Disk Management.

     

    Don't remove a card from your PC without "stopping" the device (click the little icon in the System Tray). If you have a file open when you yank it out, that file can go corrupt. Modern devices and PC's should be more tolerant, but it's always a very simple step. If it refuses to "let go" just make absolutely sure you don't have a file open somewhere and pop it out anyway.

     

    The advice about using a camera should be a last resort. Some camera manufacturers use odd systems (FAT12, for example), and some can actually make a card work only with that brand of camera. I once paid money to get my Olympus camera cards working after I formatted them in a PC. Format camera cards in a camera.

     

    You can trash nearly any modern electronic device with a static shock. You get it from wool clothing, leather-soled shoes, sliding off the sleeves on nylon jackets, etc. Before you touch any metal on any device, make sure you won't wallop it with static. Touch a faucet to drain off your static charge. I've also discovered that looking at the card's contacts under a powerful magnifying glass shows more little bits of crud, hair and fibers than you can imagine. Try cleaning the gold pads with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip, both on the card and in the socket, if you can, and wait 5 minutes for everything to dry out (moisture will collect from the alcohol evaporating). And getting greasy, dirty skin oil on those super-conductive 24-karat gold contacts defeats their purpose, so no touching.

     

    If you wish you can use the old DOS FC command (File Compare) to compare all the files on both cards to each other, bit for bit, folder by folder in a CMD (Command) window on a PC. I won't go into it here -- do a Google search and plan on spending a few minutes to learn how. You might have to modify the File Attributes using the ATTRIB command with -s and -h arguments to make any System or Hidden files visible.  e.g., e:\attrib -h -s /s *.*   For help with the command, use /? as in e:\fc /? -- and don't forget to hit the Enter key after each command. Type exit and hit Enter when you're done, or just hit the Close X in the top right corner.

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  • wallarug
    wallarug over 12 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Thanks for your thoughts but the problem I have is not a broken SD card but the raspberry pi not booting from that card.  The card works in other devices but just not rpi

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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago in reply to wallarug

    Again, the PI may not be able to read FAT16 (reformat), or you may have a corrupt file (re-copy files or compare them), or the card may have been damaged by static (which can cause very unpredictable behavior). Your Pi will boot, but the card will not.

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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago in reply to wallarug

    Call it quits and re-flash the sucker - if the card still doesn't work you can use it as a plectrum for your banjo.  Buy a new one for the Pi - they don't cost that much... image

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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago

    Another alternative, obtain a USB-Stick flashable image or live CD/DVD of a Linux Distro, that has 'Disk Manager', which is a graphical disk partition handler/formatter.. I had to do this with my 32GB card about a week after I got my RPi running, because I had set something wrong, and lost all video.. the objective, is to completely wipe ALL paritions off the card.  I booted my Win-7 Laptop off a distro of Ultimate Edition, and went in and re-wiped the entire 32GB card.  Glad I got the 32GB's for only $17.95 (USD) back after thanksgiving..

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