What I Thought Was A Corrupted Sd Card...


TheGrandPubaa

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
131
Age
38
Location
Arkansas
Website
www.vgtheory.com
I got a 1GB SD card off ebay for my GP2x. I formatted it in FAT32 and put some emulators and whatnot on it, and it worked fine. I used it for a few hours, in fact, and was completely satisfied. Later, I put it into my USB SD reader and was putting some more files on it. I checked back after it was written and ejected the drive to put it into my 2x when I realized that none of the files were showing up. Checked the card on my iBook again and it said the card was unreadable. Rather surprised, I tried initializing the card and reformatting it, and, long story short, it can't format. I've tried formatting it inside VirtualPC running Windows 2000(which is how I formatted it in FAT32 the first time), and it said that Windows couldn't format the card. I even tried some third party SD format software, which does not seem to have worked.

Here's the odd bit. I put STerm in the NAND and ran it, and was trying to use FDisk to format the card from inside the 2x itself, and I attempted writing an empty DOS partition table to it(as per it's options), wrote it to the card, and couldn't find any other formatting options so I quit it. I tried putting STerm onto the SD card from the NAND and it worked. I launched it FROM the SD card, even though it's supposedly corrupted. I've since put an emulator on the SD, from one card to the NAND to the SD card, and it works just fine. But that's the only way I can write files to the SD. I can't hook it up to my iBook, as it just gives me the 'format OS X cannot read' message.

Since I can't seem to format the card on my Mac, is there any way to format the SD card from inside STerm in FAT32 so I can write files to the SD card on my computer? If not, then is there at least a simple way to transfer files from my Mac to the SD card through the 2x via USB(mouthful...), a la FTP? Is this even a normal occurence?
 
BobBorakovitz posted on Sep 5 2006 at 03:49 PM said:
I'm sorry about your problems and that I have no idea how to solve it...

but...you gotta love all those dumb "Macs are easier" commercials on tv :rolleyes:
I don't necessarily know if i'd call them easier, but I do think they are better. *shrugs*
 
Last edited by a moderator:
is the little write protect switch one the side of the sd damaged/in the wrong posistion ?

im guessing the mac doesnt like it (the gp2x doesnt even use the switch) maybe try a piece of tape over the switch then put it back in the mac, then u will know if it works, its the switch.
 
I had a card do the same thing. It seems the 2x (because of Linux?) is better at reading faulty cards then a windows or mac pc.

I sent my card back, since nothing but the 2x could read it anymore. Some SD cards are just flaky. There's no fix available that I could find, and I'm pretty good at looking. ;)

Edit: Ooh, just saw you bought it on Ebay. I hope they allow you to return it. You might try contacting the manufacturer if the seller isn't helpfull.
 
Well, I would probably be just fine with it if I could transfer larger files to the card in another means, such as FTP, but I don't have a BoB, just the USB cable that came with the unit. Is there any way to FTP into the 2x from a Mac(i'm sure there is, but it's more a question of how..)?

Samba Pa Ti posted on Sep 5 2006 at 04:50 PM said:
is the little write protect switch one the side of the sd damaged/in the wrong posistion ?

im guessing the mac doesnt like it (the gp2x doesnt even use the switch) maybe try a piece of tape over the switch then put it back in the mac, then u will know if it works, its the switch.
I've tried formatting it with the switch in both positions. In the locked position, it just said that the card couldn't be read by OS X and wanted me to eject it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
TheGrandPubaa posted on Sep 5 2006 at 05:12 PM said:
BobBorakovitz posted on Sep 5 2006 at 03:49 PM said:
I'm sorry about your problems and that I have no idea how to solve it...

but...you gotta love all those dumb "Macs are easier" commercials on tv :rolleyes:
I don't necessarily know if i'd call them easier, but I do think they are better. *shrugs*

I guess that depends on what you're trying to run on it. If you like Photoshop or Garageband or ProTools, then yeah, a Mac is the way to go. But for anything else, I'd say a PC is light years beyond it. But that is a futile debate, it's been done over and over again. I personally won't touch a Mac with a 10 foot pole, but that's just me. I do have to say that now that they finally got off their high horse and took up X86 architecture instead of that horribly slow overpriced PowerPC setup they've been using for far too long, it actually sounds a little bit better than before. But just a little! ;)

I do have a friend that is a huge Mac freak and does a lot of work with digital cameras and stuff, maybe he has a solution for you, I'll ask him to take a look at the thread. If he has something, I'll be sure to pass the info on to you. In any case, good luck :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BobBorakovitz posted on Sep 5 2006 at 07:51 PM said:
TheGrandPubaa posted on Sep 5 2006 at 05:12 PM said:
BobBorakovitz posted on Sep 5 2006 at 03:49 PM said:
I'm sorry about your problems and that I have no idea how to solve it...

but...you gotta love all those dumb "Macs are easier" commercials on tv :rolleyes:
I don't necessarily know if i'd call them easier, but I do think they are better. *shrugs*

I guess that depends on what you're trying to run on it. If you like Photoshop or Garageband or ProTools, then yeah, a Mac is the way to go. But for anything else, I'd say a PC is light years beyond it. But that is a futile debate, it's been done over and over again. I personally won't touch a Mac with a 10 foot pole, but that's just me. I do have to say that now that they finally got off their high horse and took up X86 architecture instead of that horribly slow overpriced PowerPC setup they've been using for far too long, it actually sounds a little bit better than before. But just a little! ;)

I do have a friend that is a huge Mac freak and does a lot of work with digital cameras and stuff, maybe he has a solution for you, I'll ask him to take a look at the thread. If he has something, I'll be sure to pass the info on to you. In any case, good luck :)
We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one, I guess, because I have different reasons for my Mac preferences.

Thanks in advance for asking your friend.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
TheGrandPubaa posted on Sep 5 2006 at 07:46 PM said:
I got a 1GB SD card off ebay for my GP2x. I formatted it in FAT32 and put some emulators and whatnot on it, and it worked fine. I used it for a few hours, in fact, and was completely satisfied. Later, I put it into my USB SD reader and was putting some more files on it. I checked back after it was written and ejected the drive to put it into my 2x when I realized that none of the files were showing up. Checked the card on my iBook again and it said the card was unreadable. Rather surprised, I tried initializing the card and reformatting it, and, long story short, it can't format. I've tried formatting it inside VirtualPC running Windows 2000(which is how I formatted it in FAT32 the first time), and it said that Windows couldn't format the card. I even tried some third party SD format software, which does not seem to have worked.

Here's the odd bit. I put STerm in the NAND and ran it, and was trying to use FDisk to format the card from inside the 2x itself, and I attempted writing an empty DOS partition table to it(as per it's options), wrote it to the card, and couldn't find any other formatting options so I quit it. I tried putting STerm onto the SD card from the NAND and it worked. I launched it FROM the SD card, even though it's supposedly corrupted. I've since put an emulator on the SD, from one card to the NAND to the SD card, and it works just fine. But that's the only way I can write files to the SD. I can't hook it up to my iBook, as it just gives me the 'format OS X cannot read' message.

Since I can't seem to format the card on my Mac, is there any way to format the SD card from inside STerm in FAT32 so I can write files to the SD card on my computer? If not, then is there at least a simple way to transfer files from my Mac to the SD card through the 2x via USB(mouthful...), a la FTP? Is this even a normal occurence?


I actually had a very similar situation.
I ended up returning the SD card to the seller (still waiting for the refund).
I browsed through his ratings a bit more and noticed some people had Sandisk verify that his cards were actually counterfeit. I thought I was buying a nice Sandisk card, but it may have been fake (and crappy).

Just a heads-up
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top