SD card not working any more.

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 20:55:28 GMT

I have a similar problem. I have a Kingston SD Adapter with a MicroSD card inside it.

After 3 weeks running without disruption I noticed I lost contact with the server (no ping, no ssh), So I decided to disconnect it and power on again, but it isn' t boot any more.

I had another MicroSD card and a microSD Card adapter from the same provider. I installed Raspbian again then boot and it starts up smoothly. After this, I exchange the microSD between adapters resulting in booting without problems with the brand new adapter and the two microSD cards. Looking closely to the adapter I noticed a crack on the back of the contacts side,

https://www.dropbox.com/s/it3859rvtupfwpk/SD-Adpater-Broken.jpg

I suppose the problem is related to the lack of back support of the SD card reader in conjunction with the pressure pins make to touch the contacts of the SD Card. Maybe this problem is not noticed when we use a full sized SD Card (without adapter) due to the fact that the full sized is more robust that the microSD adapter, that seems to be very weak, at least with the kingston trademark for 8GB microSD cards.

I had to glue a piece of ultra-thin playwood with epoxy (a very non orthodox solution) to have the enough support to not have a bend adapter that over time tends to break.

I hope Raspberry PI engineers evaluates the possibility of changing the SD Card reader or migrate to a microSD card reader instead. I think it is a more robust solution, as beaglebone has (I have one without any issue so far related to the microSD).

I hope this help people with similar issues.

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 21:16:33 GMT

I found that my problem was that the SD card was cracked, meaning the SD card did not sit properly in the RPi but sat fine in my computer. The way I tested this was:

1. Power on RPi

2. Press SD card upwards in the SD card slot (gently)

3. The Card will boot.

There is no way to fix this... but if you get a new card, be VERY careful with how you handle it!! Make sure you do not force it into any slot (including on your PC).

If this doesn't work then you have a different problem to what I had. What I suggest: Buy and external USB SD card reader because most Computer internal SD card readers don't work after the initial image.

Let me know how you get on. Hope this helps!

RE: SD card not working any more.

johnbeetem — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 14:22:36 GMT

PA CHAPELLE wrote:

Hello,

Any improvement here ?

I have the exact same problem. SDcard are not working on Rpi (just the red LED and no boot at all) while it perfectly works anywhere else (music, photos...).

The trouble is that I already bought 3 new cards of different brands to solve this trouble and it is always the same story. It works fine for the first image burn and if unluckilly, the install process or the update at whatever level goes wrong, then start the troubles. I precise that I have 5 Rpi, with 2 different power supplies and this happens whatever the Rpi I use. And if I change the working SDcards (I still have some... for how long ?) to other Pi, they still work... That is how I conclude that the trouble really comes from the SDCard, not from the Pi or power supplies.

So I'm a bit fed up with buying new cards every time an updating process goes wrong (which 'appened last saturday with XBMC while it was OK before. I should have blocked the automated update process).

Any new idea ?

How are you shutting down your RasPi? If you just turn off power RasPi may have pending SD card updates that aren't performed, resulting in a corrupted file system. A GUI-based OS generally has a shutdown command somewhere in the menu system. From the GNU command line you enter a command like "sudo shutdown -h now".

There are other SD card suggestions at the RasPi Troubleshooting Wiki. You should be able to do a full erase of the SD card and get it working again. This works best with GNU/Linux using "dd". I have read about Windows SD card tools misbehaving, depending on the version.

Hope this helps.

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:59:29 GMT

Hello,

Any improvement here ?

I have the exact same problem. SDcard are not working on Rpi (just the red LED and no boot at all) while it perfectly works anywhere else (music, photos...).

The trouble is that I already bought 3 new cards of different brands to solve this trouble and it is always the same story. It works fine for the first image burn and if unluckilly, the install process or the update at whatever level goes wrong, then start the troubles. I precise that I have 5 Rpi, with 2 different power supplies and this happens whatever the Rpi I use. And if I change the working SDcards (I still have some... for how long ?) to other Pi, they still work... That is how I conclude that the trouble really comes from the SDCard, not from the Pi or power supplies.

So I'm a bit fed up with buying new cards every time an updating process goes wrong (which appened last saturday with XBMC while it was OK before. I should have blocked the automated update process).

Any new idea ?

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 08:09:22 GMT

pet 22 wrote:

I have had exactly the same problem. After reading these posts, I tried the same solution and held the SD card while booting...it worked but on further investigation, I discovered a hairline crack on the SD card, just next to the lock slider. My fix was to carefully glue a thin, plastic shim to the broken corner and sand it down so that it fits snuggly into the Pi. I don't know how long it will last and I probably wouldn't have bothered if it had been one of my lower capacity cards.

Now I have the card working and put my Pi back into it's case, it appears that the slot for the SD card is slightly too narrow causing the SD card to be slightly raised, I am left wondering if it is this that has caused my card to break?

Hope this helps.

My SD card was cracked as well.

I think the end of this post should say:

An SD card not being recognised means that it has a break somewhere on the top. Due to the design of the raspberry pi, that means that it will no-longer work with the RPi but may still work in other devices.

Is it worth fixing it?

I guess it depends how badly damaged the card is and if it still 'functions' correctly. Also, if you know how to fix it.

Marking as assumed answered.

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Fri, 31 May 2013 07:11:39 GMT

The switch on the side stops you from being able to over-ride the information on the card.

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Fri, 31 May 2013 04:59:21 GMT

If it's any consolation, my RaspberryHut SD quit for no known reason after relatively little use, so I just bought a new one. In my case the card became completely unreadable and was not recognized as a device by any Linux operating system. What is the little "switch" for on the side of the card?

--Grahame

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Wed, 29 May 2013 08:36:58 GMT

I have had exactly the same problem. After reading these posts, I tried the same solution and held the SD card while booting...it worked but on further investigation, I discovered a hairline crack on the SD card, just next to the lock slider. My fix was to carefully glue a thin, plastic shim to the broken corner and sand it down so that it fits snuggly into the Pi. I don't know how long it will last and I probably wouldn't have bothered if it had been one of my lower capacity cards.

Now I have the card working and put my Pi back into it's case, it appears that the slot for the SD card is slightly too narrow causing the SD card to be slightly raised, I am left wondering if it is this that has caused my card to break?

Hope this helps.

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:15:38 GMT

John Beetem wrote:

Fergus Byrne wrote:

Good news!

I got the SD card to boot .

Problem:

I need to hold the SD card into the slot on the Raspberry Pi.

I discovered this after a bit of research:
http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/873/raspberry-pi-fails-to-turn-on

Any Ideas so that I don't have to hold the SD card in for the rest of its life?
1. If it's still under warranty, help improve RasPi quality by exchanging it.
2. Replace the SD card socket with something that costs more than US$0.02.
3. Use a cardboard shim to hold SD card in place, or maybe toothpicks.
4. Replace the SD card with an Adafruit MicroSD card adapter, and use combination of toothpicks and glue to hold the adapter in place.

It is only a problem with one card.

RE: SD card not working any more.

johnbeetem — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:42:47 GMT

Fergus Byrne wrote:

Good news!

I got the SD card to boot .

Problem:

I need to hold the SD card into the slot on the Raspberry Pi.

I discovered this after a bit of research:
http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/873/raspberry-pi-fails-to-turn-on

Any Ideas so that I don't have to hold the SD card in for the rest of its life?

1. If it's still under warranty, help improve RasPi quality by exchanging it.

2. Replace the SD card socket with something that costs more than US$0.02.

3. Use a cardboard shim to hold SD card in place, or maybe toothpicks.

4. Replace the SD card with an Adafruit MicroSD card adapter, and use combination of toothpicks and glue to hold the adapter in place.

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:05:29 GMT

Good news!

I got the SD card to boot .

Problem:

I need to hold the SD card into the slot on the Raspberry Pi.

I discovered this after a bit of research:

http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/873/raspberry-pi-fails-to-turn-on

Any Ideas so that I don't have to hold the SD card in for the rest of its life?

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 23:54:24 GMT

Ok I am going to spend some time working out this problem.

First thing to do is: format using 'SDformatter'. After that I will format the Card to exFAT using Windows partitioning tool. Then image the SD card with my custom image file.

I will get back shortly with the results.

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:01:59 GMT

So it seems to be a mystery...that may stay un-solved for some time by the sound of it.

I might conduct some more testing in this area later on since I am now interested in what the cause is.

There is also a lot of work being done in SD card prevention on a thread called 'overclocking' on the RPi Forums.

Guess I have to buy a new card then...might opt for a 95mbit/sec card this time

on the raspberry pi wiki, there is a list of memory cards that do not work.
not sure if this helps, though hope it does,
Joe

I know about the list and my Specific card is not on it. Thanks for the reply anyway.

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:09:21 GMT

on the raspberry pi wiki, there is a list of memory cards that do not work.

not sure if this helps, though hope it does,

Joe

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 06:03:55 GMT

Fergus,

SD card corruption is a longstanding but not well understood issue.

Gert van Loo acknowledged that there was a problem back in July.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=10775&start=8

The RPF has two people (Lorna and Helen) working trademark issues,

and someone working Scratch optimization, and Gordon volunteering

on USB issues, but nobody as far as I can tell working SD card issues,

according to Liz's account here:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=26412&start=17

The foundation's total spending in calendar year 2011 on SD card testing

was less than £2,719, according to its annual report, probably much less,

since this figure includes all reported spending.

(see post immediately following the one in the previous link)

So it isn't too surprising that there are unresolved technical issues.

On 12 October, 2012, Liz was asked by user P.D. to address

technical matters, specifically naming SD card corruption. She replied

"All I can say is just you wait. I think you’ll enjoy the next couple of weeks."

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2168

I am probably not the only one still waiting.

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:01:57 GMT

I don't think I have made myself clear here...

1. I have re-flashed the SD card multiple times with different images (none booted)

2. I tested the images that I re-flashed to the SD card (8GB problem card) to a different SD card and the pi booted nicely on the TEST SD Card.

3. I wiped the problem SD card with many different windows software such as 'SDFormatter' and 'Easeus partitioning tools' and then re-imaged the card and nothing worked.

4. The SD card works when I have it connected to my PC or (when there is no image on it) in my camera. I wrote 300 pictures to the card in the space of 3 minutes. All came out fine. When I re-imaged the card after this...NOTHING on RPi.

1a. This was the card that I first used when I got my RPi back in april and I had no problems with it then.

The problem I now have is why this card is not booting when it used to work fine.

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 20:41:24 GMT

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..

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:03:36 GMT

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...

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 07:19:45 GMT

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.

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:37:26 GMT

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

RE: SD card not working any more.

Former Member — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 03:47:22 GMT

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.

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:57:05 GMT

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 ?

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.

RE: SD card not working any more.

GreenYamo — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:27:41 GMT

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 ?

Steve

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 10:39:45 GMT

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

RE: SD card not working any more.

wallarug — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:52:07 GMT

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