Mac Osx - Can't Get Gp2x To See 4gb Sd Card

[Project37]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a GP2X newbie, and a newbie to these boards as well. I tried searching the old threads, but couldn't find anything so am trying here.

Along with my brand new GP2X (running firmware 3.0), I ordered a Ridata 4GB SD card. My iMac G5 (OSX 10.3.9) couldn't read the card with the cheapskate reader I had, so I picked up a SanDisk Extreme USB 2.0 Reader today and was able to see it. I then dragged and dropped some videos, emulators, photos, and mp3s. However, the GP2X itself doesn't want to read the card no matter which menu I try (including Explorer). Selecting the USB connection via the unit doesn't work either. The card still shows up fine when I look at it via the reader.

As I said, I'm a total newbie at this, so I'm not sure if it's a question of formatting the card properly or something else. I couldn't find much with Google, although I did try this (http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=23016&hl=), but it didn't seem to work.

If you have any ideas as to what I could try, I'd be grateful. Thanks in advance!

 

[Goemon4]

find a win comp, format the card (using fat32 file system) and it should work like a charm, i have 10.3.9 to and have no problems with my little 5 dollar card reader and a 2gig card, if you mac formatted it (hence HFS) it will not work on the 2x, since linux in generally picky with HFS formats/partitions, so yeah, fat32 format it with a win comp and it should work fine

 

[imhotep]

Another thing is to make sure it's not an SDHC card (some 4GB cards are, most aren't). These are not compatible with GP2X.

 

[evol]

hold the gp2x in front of the monitor and swear alot

 

[carlgeorge]

I know that your GP2X came with firmware 3.0.0 but I would consider dropping it back to version 2.0.0.

I updated to 3.0.0. earlier this week and my GP2X couldn't read any of my SD cards, so I put it back to firmware 2.0.0 and everything is fine again.

I don't know if there would be a problem downgrading, but version 3.0.0 does have problems with reading cards that work fine in version 2.0.0.

 

[Project37]

Thanks for the replies so far!

imhotep The card I have isn't SDHC.

carlgeorge - Are you on a PC or Mac? Also, have you heard if other firmware 3.0 lost their SD card access?

I ordered it from Dynamism, and they offer tech support (I'm thinking that they might have actually opened up the package to upgrade the firmware before sending it out to me). I'll give them a call tomorrow and see if they have any ideas (or can possibly talk me through a downgrade, as I have no idea how to do it on my own). I'm thinking that in the end, unless it's a firmware-related issue affecting users on both platforms (hopefully someone can confirm?), it might be better to be safe than sorry and just wait to try a PC format first, as Goemon4 suggested.

 

[aapje89]

yeah try to format it using windows or linux in fat32, or use something like a digital camera or dvd player to format it.

 

[kgonepostl]

Pretty sure it's because it's not in fat32 dude. Try that before downgrading.

 

[DJWillis]

I know that your GP2X came with firmware 3.0.0 but I would consider dropping it back to version 2.0.0.

I updated to 3.0.0. earlier this week and my GP2X couldn't read any of my SD cards, so I put it back to firmware 2.0.0 and everything is fine again.

I don't know if there would be a problem downgrading, but version 3.0.0 does have problems with reading cards that work fine in version 2.0.0.

The unofficial rip of F/W 3 and the version that comes pre-installed on GP2X's are subtlety different. If you have a GP2X that came with 3 from the factory so to speak there should be no compelling reason to downgrade. They are both using the same MMC/SD driver code.

You mention your new Sandisk reader can see the card but your old cheap'o one can not, are you 100% sure the card if not SDHC? It is a real shame that the non SDHC 4GB cards vary so much in there 'extensions' to the SD 1.* spec, it may be that you have a card that is just not going to play nicely.

I assume by now you have tried the usual things like creating a 2GB FAT partition on the card and seeing if the GP2X sees that etc.?

 

[Project37]

Thanks, everyone, for the continued feedback.

I ended up buying another SD card, this time a 1GB SanDisk (on sale for $20), and formatted it on my work PC (running Windows 2000) before doing anything. No surprise (but great relief!), it worked. I then used it to downgrade to FW 2.0 on the advice of Dynamism's tech support.

Unfortunately, when I tried to PC format the 4GB card, the GP2X *still* wouldn't read it. I wonder if there's some residual data from my original Mac format of that card (I don't fully understand how it works). A friend has the same exact card running on FW 2.0, so now I'm trying to figure how to get my 4GB card back into shape.

Meanwhile, I brought the working PC formatted 1GB card home and tried some basic drag and drop on the Mac. It works fine, but occasionally leaves some "ghost" files - similarly-titled duplicate files that show up when browsing on the GP2X but don't actually do anything. Running FinderCleaner on the SD card cleans them up.

I know that this is off the original thread topic, but if there's someone out there willing to help a newbie, is there something more to formatting a card than right-clicking and selecting "format" on a Windows 2000 machine? Should the card be free of partitions? If so, how would I do that? *Many* thanks in advance!

 

[timcumming123]

Meanwhile, I brought the working PC formatted 1GB card home and tried some basic drag and drop on the Mac. It works fine, but occasionally leaves some "ghost" files - similarly-titled duplicate files that show up when browsing on the GP2X but don't actually do anything. Running FinderCleaner on the SD card cleans them up.

The "Ghost" files you refer to should all start with a dot, these files are where Macs store the Finder data relating to that file when they are not on a native file system (ie comments, label, preferred application to open file, and icon data) and would normally be invisible on Macs and Linux machines. They are of no use to other systems, and can be removed if you wish.