Compact Flash problem

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.dcameras (More info?)

I have a fairly old Fujifilm 256MB CF card that have worked for the
past year in both my parent's camera and in my PDA. But in the past 2
weeks it has consistiently refused to work properly.

If I put it into the card reader (2 different model) the activity
light blinks and any other memory card I may have inserted dissapears
off the explorer (ie SD or MS card doesn't show up anymore) but when I
remove the CF card, the reader works fine.

When I used it in the camera I am still able to take picture & view
them but it won't let me delete (unknown error) and won't let me
format (card not present error) forcing me to remove and reinsert the
card before I can use it again.

When I used it into the PDA I can add and delete files either directly
in the PDA or from the desktop PC through the USB cradle but I can't
format the card at all.

I originally thought the card had expired (all Flash ROM can only
handle so many rewites, in the million range before it stops working)
but I was still able to add and delete fine in PDA and add only in the
camera.

I have a 16MB crd (came with camera), 128MB card, and 1GB card (bought
it just for my PDA for MP3) and they all work fine in PDA, both card
readers, and in camera.

Any idea what is going on? I would think a reformat would solve this
but I can't reformat it for some reason.
--
When you hear the toilet flush, and hear the words "uh oh", it's already
too late. - by anonymous Mother in Austin, TX
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[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.dcameras (More info?)

Impmon wrote:
> I have a fairly old Fujifilm 256MB CF card that have worked for the
> past year in both my parent's camera and in my PDA. But in the past 2
> weeks it has consistiently refused to work properly.
>
> If I put it into the card reader (2 different model) the activity
> light blinks and any other memory card I may have inserted dissapears
> off the explorer (ie SD or MS card doesn't show up anymore) but when I
> remove the CF card, the reader works fine.
>
> When I used it in the camera I am still able to take picture & view
> them but it won't let me delete (unknown error) and won't let me
> format (card not present error) forcing me to remove and reinsert the
> card before I can use it again.
>
> When I used it into the PDA I can add and delete files either directly
> in the PDA or from the desktop PC through the USB cradle but I can't
> format the card at all.
>
> I originally thought the card had expired (all Flash ROM can only
> handle so many rewites, in the million range before it stops working)
> but I was still able to add and delete fine in PDA and add only in the
> camera.
>
> I have a 16MB crd (came with camera), 128MB card, and 1GB card (bought
> it just for my PDA for MP3) and they all work fine in PDA, both card
> readers, and in camera.
>
> Any idea what is going on? I would think a reformat would solve this
> but I can't reformat it for some reason.

It's worth a try to verify on your PDA that you have formatted the drive as
a FAT file system, and not FAT32.

One way or another you need to reformat. Another way to do this is to
access the card on a PC, using a card reader. If you have a notebook
available, a PCMCIA or PC-Card adapter is probably the most direct way to
access the card for formatting purposes.

If your PDA supports this, do a disk check, scanning for any bad sectors and
"hidiing" them where they will not be used. Otherwise, see if you can do
this on a PC.

If it's any consolation from an economic standpoint, the price of a 256 meg
card is much lower than it was when you first bought it.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com