Camera Labs

Hi everyone,

One of my memory cards stopped working for an unknown reason, and it was quite new, I haven't owned it for any longer than 1 month and it already stopped working. It was inside my cellphone (it's a microSD card, but I use it also with an SD adapter) and suddenly it stopped reading it. I put it out of the cellphone and then back in, and even if it recognized that there was a card inside, it would refuse reading it. I tested it with my camera using the SD adapter and it just displayed the message: "Memory card error"
An attempt to use it with an SD to USB adapter and connecting it to the computer resulted in a failure to read the memory card.

I would like if someone could explain to me a couple things:
1) Why did the card stop working?
2) Can I fix it? And if I can, how?

Thanks

_________________
Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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when removing it from your PC was you using the remove hardware option in task bar or just pulling it out????

Well actually a small update here before I continue:
After like 4 hours after I posted this I attempted to use the card again and surprise, it worked!
Unfortunately though, it just returned to it's non-functioning state about 11 hours ago
This time, the card was in a small box that comes with the packaging and it was stored away in a shelf when I took it and attempted to use it in my camera.

Now, back to your question: The memory card, just to clarify, is a microSD card that I use with my cellphone AND my camera, I use an SD adapter to use it in the camera. When the card stopped working, it was inside the cellphone and it had a video that I was watching and I paused the video and locked the cellphone (it was still on though). When I tried unlocking the cellphone like half an hour later to finish seeing the video, the cellphone showed a message that said the video was incompatible and it quit the playback. When I tried to access it again, it wouldn't read it, so I took out the microSD card as I always do, by quitting all files and menus and locking the cellphone and then pulling out the card. When I tried to put it back in, it would not read it yet it would recognize there was a card there (same situation right now). When I tried it with the camera, the result was a "Memory card error" message displayed by the camera. The computer refuses to read it as well, but the indicator light from the SD card reader does light up as it normally would when a card is inserted. So yeah, that's the situation

Sorry if I went on too long, but I wanted everything to be clear.

PS: I ALWAYS eject the card or any volume in my computer (it's Mac by the way, so it's a little different than PCs when ejecting stuff) before removing it.

_________________
Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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Pin 4 on a micro SD is voltage, if it fails to be turned off before removal there is a chance it could cross pollinate the data connections at 3 & 5 Which are connections for data
. Try putting it in a pc and doing a low level format. If that fails its buffered for want and a better term.

With PC do you mean a non-Mac computer or just any computer? By the way, I tried connecting it to my computer and it won't recognize it, in other words, I can't access it.
Oh and also I did not understand what you mean with this:

_________________
Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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Sorry was meant to say buggered but phone auto updated it.
Put it in computer
Go to my computer
Right click
Choose manage
Disk management
See if it shows in there
Try to repartition it then format it.
If its a Mac you have sorry im not a Mac expert. But I am MCSA
and an Electrical Engineer
MCSA = Microsoft certified systems administrator

Well actually I tried a similar thing in the Mac. I connected it to the computer and tried to display all the connected volumes in Terminal via the df -ah command which basically what it does is it displays every volume connected to the computer, but it just wouldn't show up.
I'd like to mention though that sometimes my current computer has had some strange issues regarding external volumes. For example, once it just stopped wanting to display my hard drive and I couldn't fix it so what I tried after a while of frustration, was to connect it to my main computer (Mac as well) and surprisingly it worked perfectly. What I did to fix it was to change the read & write permissions to allow my user in other computer to access it, and it actually worked.
The problem is that I don't think the issue is anything like that this time. I'll still try but I'm not entirely sure it will work.
Oh and by the way...
That knowledge could come in handy

_________________
Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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UPDATE: It works yet again, yay
I'd just like to ask one more question, what can I do to the card to prevent it from malfunctioning another time?

Thanks for all the help

_________________
Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Visit me and leave me a comment in My Flickr

Not really sure what is causing it to do this, you could try cleaning the SD card contacts with a micro fibre cloth to clean off any skin oils that might of got on to them.

PS youre welcome

Alright, thanks

_________________
Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Visit me and leave me a comment in My Flickr