Smc Won't Read In Card Reader..


skeezix

skeezix

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I'm sure this has come up a few times but I'm in a hurry and on a crappy connection for a bit :)

I've got 2 SMC's that have worked for ages, and suddenly don't work in Win XP via card writer; ie: Pop them in the slot and nothing happens. XP explorer hangs when you try and pull up properties so I'm unable to run scandisk on 'em.

I recall a few people having similar issues ages back.. any good resolution?

I'll have to fiddle with fsck under BSD/Linux and see if I can fix them up that way, or get another SMC and install soe GP32-side fixes, or write up some SMC info block inspectors.. but I'd rather avoid doing that :p

jeff
 
I cant help you with this, but I just want to say: Dont scandisk them, ever. I messed one up like that and had to buy another so I could format it with slubmans.
 
Skeezix, do you have GPDrive on the smc? cause then you could use it to run the smc repair thing included with it on the gp32 and see if that helped... or try slubman's firmware's formatting (it has quick and full format)

You could try using GPLink or GPRun to launch one of the above mentioned programs.

Blah:he didn't say that it didn't work in the gp32 just in XP so I wasn't sure...
 
Blah posted on May 31 2005 at 03:09 AM said:
I cant help you with this, but I just want to say: Dont scandisk them, ever. I messed one up like that and had to buy another so I could format it with slubmans.
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Heh, I tried that too. It is good to have a small spare SMC just in case ;)

Skeezix: can you format them in your GP32? Have you tried cleaning the contacts of the SMCs?
 
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Try putting into a camera that can handle SMC - I have an Olympus and this fixed my SMC a long time back. The SMC was unreadable on GP and in the card reader, yet somehow after turning the camera on it fixed it somehow (?)
 
lizard808uk posted on May 31 2005 at 08:59 AM said:
Try putting into a camera that can handle SMC - I have an Olympus and this fixed my SMC a long time back. The SMC was unreadable on GP and in the card reader, yet somehow after turning the camera on it fixed it somehow (?)
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had same problem - turned out to be a crappy reader - works fine on branded cards - not on cheap chinese ones - it was a belkin - and im sure it was a driver issue - it was a multi card reader.

I just bought a jenoptic from ebuyer £1.50 inc recorded delivery

works fookin perfect like!!! - it uses xp standard drivers! and is smart media only

sorted

sPaCe :ph34r:
 
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Once, I installed my old card reader on a different machine, and the card (straight out of a camera) refused to read! Took it out, re-inserted it, still no good. Back in the camera, still no good.

Everything back to the original computer, still no good.

Then suddenly - after a couple more reinsertions between camera and card reader - and pulling out of hair and cussing - it was okay!
The camera read it, the card reader saw it.
I've not had the guts to try it in the other machine, though that was a shortcut at the time :rolleyes:

I haven't a clue what was wrong. Bad contacts? Bad USB stuffing things up? Charge build up on the SMC?? Who knows.

What I'm saying is .. the card *may not* be dead. Give it just one more go? Or leave it to rest a while.
 
I have the exact same problem, apart from the fact that mine is dead now. It wouldn't work at all, it just said "SMC not inserted or no files" or whatever. It had done this before and all i had to do was put it in the card reader and it would fix it, but now i've really broken it. I got really mad, as i was doing really well on FF6 and then after saving and turning it off it wouldnt start again, I got so mad that i decided to bite it, this actually did break it and now when i put it in the gp32 it makes the screen go all crazy, so now i have to buy a new one and start a new file on FF6 and Phantasy Star 4 !!! so if i have any advice it would be, Dont bite it, no matter how annoyed you get. :angry:
 
matt goode posted on May 31 2005 at 12:54 PM said:
I have the exact same problem, apart from the fact that mine is dead now. It wouldn't work at all, it just said "SMC not inserted or no files" or whatever. It had done this before and all i had to do was put it in the card reader and it would fix it, but now i've really broken it. I got really mad, as i was doing really well on FF6 and then after saving and turning it off it wouldnt start again, I got so mad that i decided to bite it, this actually did break it and now when i put it in the gp32 it makes the screen go all crazy, so now i have to buy a new one and start a new file on FF6 and Phantasy Star 4 !!! so if i have any advice it would be, Dont bite it, no matter how annoyed you get. :angry:
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lol, should have backed it up (and I can know it :()
 
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skeezix posted on May 31 2005 at 03:02 AM said:
I'm sure this has come up a few times but I'm in a hurry and on a crappy connection for a bit :)

I've got 2 SMC's that have worked for ages, and suddenly don't work in Win XP via card writer; ie: Pop them in the slot and nothing happens. XP explorer hangs when you try and pull up properties so I'm unable to run scandisk on 'em.

I recall a few people having similar issues ages back.. any good resolution?

I'll have to fiddle with fsck under BSD/Linux and see if I can fix them up that way, or get another SMC and install soe GP32-side fixes, or write up some SMC info block inspectors.. but I'd rather avoid doing that :p

jeff
​
Click to expand...


Every time that I had trouble with reading from an SMC it has been caused by a dodgy reader. I had one of those 8 in one things and I had to remove and insert the card like 10 times to get it to read. Finally one day it never worked after like 30 tries so I got pissed so I busted the reader to pieces with a hammer. I pulled out the cheap Hong Kong single SMC reader that I got "free" with my BLU from GBAX and it has worked perfect since. So it may be the reader, I have had much trouble with those combo readers. Try a different one, especially if the card works fine in the GP32.
 
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heh; I'm using a pretty good reader I think (Lexar) .. never had a problem with it over the years, except with these SMC's now. Fast and solid.

I've always blamed the GP32's shoddy filesystem implementation as its easy to corrupt.. ie: It doesn't handle long filenames really well, and its possible to break your FAT table by mucking with deletes on the GP32 itself..

Hmm.. guess I'll have to pick up another fresh one, format it with the GP file manager, and then use it to get a repair tool onto the GP32 :)

Wo wheres the repair tool?

jeff
 
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