Guys,
Don't flame me... I haven't fully tested my theory, but so far it's working well!
As you know, MANY of us have issues with the card not being recognized sometimes; the device hangs; the camera doesn't capture images, etc.
Well, today I was trying to take some pictures facing downwards (of a leak in my car door), and I would just get a black image almost every single time.
I would then do a test and snap a picture of my garage, and it worked.
Back to the door, it didn't work.
Etc.
I wasn't sure if there wasn't enough lighting or what.
HOWEVER.....
I then realized that everytime the unit was pointing down, THAT is when it didn't work!
I examined where the contacts are on the card (top), and sure enough, it MAY be that by the force of gravity, one or two contacts are losing contact.
So I tested my theory.
I stuck my thumbnail (the REAL one, not a mini image ) under the card, and pressed it up.
EVERY single picture worked PERFECTLY.
No freezing! No black! No issues!
So, I took a small peice of paper, and slid it under the card, like a shim. (It was actually a piece of an envelope, so it's a big thicker.
Gentlemen... Since I put that paper underneath the card, my 8525 has worked flawlessly.
I just took 20 pictures, stored on the SD card, and not one issue!
And this is a 2GB Sandisk, by the way.
I will do more tests, but I am really feeling confident that this may solve some of our problems.
(I hope this is not a "welcome to last week" thread! I have seen LOTS of threads regarding the camera, freezes, and SD issue.. but I never read anything about solving problems with a piece of paper!)
Thoughts???
Hi Michael_514,
While I appreciate your efforts here, the one thing that seems to have solved ALL of my SD Card issues was upgrading to WM6. Nothing to do with gravity nor Elfen registry edits ... just a new OS.
While I think your tack, dealing with gravity and the directional orientation of the device is interesting, I think the heart of the problem exists in the drivers for the SD Cards, which were corrected (or at least ameliorateed) in the newer OS builds.
All the same, I am interested in your final results, so please continue this post.
All the best,
-pvs
Don't forget guys, maybe you are both right! We should not assume that everyone has the same problem - though the symptoms may be the same. Actually, when reading the many posts on this issue, I AM convinced there is in some cases a poor contacts issue that will afect the camera and other software/files on the SD card. I am also convinced there is in other cases a driver/software issue that may well be improved with WM6.
Always be cautious, yet open minded about claims from folks to have solved an issue. It may be for some but not all, and a different solution may exist for others.
Mike
Point taken, Mike. Thanks for that!
Just tried it. I will keep you informed tomorrow.
Thanks for the responses, PVS & Mike.
Mike -- Love your 'have an open mind' role! I guess that's why they call you a Moderator!
I would agree with Mike... both answers could be correct.
I am convinced that 90% of our Hermes woes ARE SD Card related.
I feel that because I had these units for 7 straight days, in use almost all day, with not one crash or hang...
..and then on day seven, I did a SD Card copy/paste, to switch cards with my dad's unit, and from that day on, freeze.. freeze.. freeze... Sometimes the unit is great for three days, sometimes, 3 reboots in one hour are required....
...Same thing happened when I reinstalled the firmware....
...that I just 'knew' that the freezes and hangs were DEFINITELY related to my swapping of the cards. Especially since I installed no weird apps.
Dirty contacts; bad connection; bad card controllers; I KNEW that my woes were not 'OS-related', 'sbd Pocket-plus-related', nor firmware related... Especially since I did three reinstalls of the firmware.
PVS - I totally agree with you. Perhaps WM6 has some better error checking, or a better algorythm for handing missing bits over the card bus.
I know a little about how computers and electronics handle this. It's why you can make a scratch in a CD, and it still plays. Check bits / error correcting / over-sampling / etc. etc.
I agree that a more advanced OS, like WM6, can better "handle" missing bits.
..but I am trying to get to the root of the problem.
I just went to the bathroom and took about 30 photos while sitting there . ALL 30 worked! No black photos. No "New SD Card Inserted" message. No freezing. 30 on 30. I am thrilled so far!
After spending three weeks racking my brains out, dealing with the problems, I am starting to truly feel like I may be on the right track.
Let's keep our minds open... Let's remember how many 8525 issues do point to the cards. Let's keep in mind that half the people love their Sandisks, and half the people love their Kingstons.
A new OS may solve people's problems, as could a piece of paper jammed in there to make the contacts tighter.
I spent $720 on two of these units, and let me tell you.. I MISS MY 8125!
I am as eager to solve this as anyone. I use this machine for business. It's not just a hobby for me.
Maybe we are on the right track...!
Let's see what others say...!
I will keep everyone posted.
I do have to laugh at my make-shift solution, though! There is something funny about staring at my unit, with a little piece of envelope visible under the SD card. Talk about a low-tech solution to a high-tech problem!
M
Michael_514, I love your theory. I hope it's that easy a solution for some of us if not all.
It seems from reports that Sandisk cards have this problem more often?
If owners could report their card's thickness using a micrometer, this might help confirm if an electrical contact issue is more likely?
My Corsair 1Gb card is 0.70mm thick, just behind the electrical contacts.
I've had issues with the card not being detected both with WM5 and now WM6. One time was fixed by wiping the contacts clean, but other times ejecting & reinserting the card make no difference. I've ignored the problem and many hours later the card would be visible again.
When I read your post, I straight away folded up some paper and pushed it in above the card, on the same side as the contacts - the memory card was still accessable within the phone, so I'm thinking my issue isn't a physical one.
Next time the card vanishes from explorer, I'll insert some paper to shim it towards the contacts and see if it helps.
Has anyone pulled apart their phone? I'm wondering if perhaps there's some type of pressure applied to the back of the card forcing it to contact electrically? Maybe if this is a mechanical device it is getting stuck?
My old phone's SD card slot broke when I dropped it once and it no longer ejected cards normally, but still worked perfectly.
Cheers! Oggy.
Hi there!
I just wanted to confirm where I put the paper.
I put it UNDER the card, effectively 'pushing the contacts up'.
That is where I stuck my thumbnail when I could not take a successful picture of my car door.
When I said to myself, "Why do all photos of the sky work, but not photos of the ground??", that is when I realized that I wanted to "push it up".
And in terms of the:
This firmware vs. that firmware...
Kingston vs. Sandisk...
WM5 vs. WM6...
Made in Taiwan vs. Japan...
Those are NOT the answers.
Too many people in too many threads have proven that.
I am not saying my method is correct... I will need a week of testing... But I know people DID have problems with WM6. People DID have problems with Kingston. People DID have problems with 512MB.
I started another Kingston vs. Sandisk thread, and reading those responses has shown me that it ain't the answer.
And as Ogier says, "I've had issues with the card not being detected both with WM5 and now WM6."
So, that also isn't the answer.
Let's all keep our fingers crossed, because I HATE rebooting this unit!
But to confirm, I put the paper underneath to 'force up' the contacts....!
@ Michael_514
Just another thought. There is also a difference between photos of the sky and photos pointing down and that is the light level. I know you are testing the idea about the contacts and angle of the phone, but to confirm it's nothing to do with the light level sensor/software you might need to test by taking high light level pics (pointing downward at a lamp say), just to rule out any light level sensor issue. I have noticed that the camera seems to incrementally adjust light level but in general it will be at a different setting pointing up as opposed to down.
As I say just a thought and something to rule out or in.
Mike
I don't know if this is disappointing but I have tested this method during the weekend and it does not work. I have definitely inserted the shim under the card so to push the contacts up. After some time my card is partially lost meaning some programs will not run. This morning I'm in the office and I have replaced the shim to sit just under the contacts and not under the entire card. I will keep you posted although I don't trust it will work.
SD troubles
hi guys,
ive been looking at these SD card related threads in the past and was thankful that my hermes seemed fine...
UNTIL
the speaker connection popped out and i opened the phone to connect it back up. everything when fine and the speaker is working but the sd card refuses too show up. now ive tried putting paper under and above the SD card and ive also changed my ROM to two different WM6 flavours. im sure all the connectors are plugged in but i really need my SD card to be shown.
Anybody experience something similar or have and idea's on how to get it working again. it only stopped working after i removed the back panel, connected the speaker back up and then closed it.
thank you,
Drooch
drooch said:
hi guys,
ive been looking at these SD card related threads in the past and was thankful that my hermes seemed fine...
UNTIL
the speaker connection popped out and i opened the phone to connect it back up. everything when fine and the speaker is working but the sd card refuses too show up. now ive tried putting paper under and above the SD card and ive also changed my ROM to two different WM6 flavours. im sure all the connectors are plugged in but i really need my SD card to be shown.
Anybody experience something similar or have and idea's on how to get it working again. it only stopped working after i removed the back panel, connected the speaker back up and then closed it.
thank you,
Drooch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not much to suggest other than open up again - double check connections and hard reset if it still does not work.
Mike
ive checked the connections and they seem fine, i really cant put my finger on what has changed from me opening it and then closing it. the only difference is that there is no void sticker anymore! is there anyway to see if it still see's the sd card slot or if the OS diesnt even think its there.
Ive tried HR and ROM changes, so its something hardware wise.
Drooch
drooch said:
ive checked the connections and they seem fine, i really cant put my finger on what has changed from me opening it and then closing it. the only difference is that there is no void sticker anymore! is there anyway to see if it still see's the sd card slot or if the OS diesnt even think its there.
Ive tried HR and ROM changes, so its something hardware wise.
Drooch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you said, but does the card work ok on a PC card reader? Just wondering if the card formatting is corrupted?
Mike
Again, after rechecking this method, putting two pieces of paper just under the contacts area of the card I still get the "once every 6 hours" normal card failure. I just remove the card, wait 5 seconds and insert it again. That's it for me.
Hi All!
Two interesting discoveries..!
First of all, so far, so good.
I did not have to reboot my once since Friday. Today is Monday, and not one single freeze. Normally, I like to reboot every few days just to 'clean it up', but I am going to leave it until it freezes.
Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday, this morning...
Not one system hang.
However, I did take a few pictures that came out black. That's the bad news.
I have not looked at other threads yet, but as Mike alluded to, above, there IS something wrong with the light sensor.
Remember how I said I had problems photographing my leaky car door, but then other pics were fine?
Well, yesterday my father said to me that he took a few pictures of items in his showroom, and some items would NOT be able to be photographed!!! He said that he has some gift items with SPARKLES, and he could successfully capture photos of items without sparkles, but when she shot the sparkly items, he saw black.
Then I thought about the pictures I was taking, the pictures WERE of dripping water from my car door.
I think that a unit that hangs, or an SD card that's not recognized, MAY be a totally separate issue than black pictures.
But that still doesn't explain how I was able to take all sorts of photos when my thumbnail pressed on the SD card.
In any case, like I said, I have been extremely successful with 'no black' pictures this weekend, and have not rebooted my device since Friday. This is a miracle for me.
I just removed and inserted a clean shim.
If I could get another three days without a reboot, I will be jumping for joy!
My unit just hung!
I had disconnected the unit from the Activesync USB cable.
Went upstairs.
Came back to find the unit on (Backlight on) and the unit was very hot, with the battery being sucked down 1/2.
I had set an Alarm for 1:00pm, and it's now 2:10pm. It started playing a second or two of the Alarm sound just now. And that was it. Very hot to the touch.
But I am happy that this is my first re-boot since Friday.
These hangs/black photos/hot battery drains may all be different issues, but I am still definitely leaving my shim inside the card. No reboot since Friday is a big improvement for this unit!
Good day
I recently upgraded my TyTn from WM5 to WM6. Since upgrade 1GB and 2GB Apacer micro SD's that worked fine are not recognised by the phone.
Am I missing any setting in WM6? Can someone please help as I need to access info on the cards ASAP.
Thank you
Just got my new PQ1 2G card and replaced my old 2G Sandisk. My first impression is speed - much better with the PQ1. Also the general feeling is that it fails less or not at all. I have to work with it for the next 72 hours to give you my statistics comparing it to the Sandisk.
I'll keep you posted.
NO. This feels the same as my old Sandisk 2G memory. Every 4-5 hours my SD card stops responding. Mind you in the PQ1 case I can still see the card with my Explorer and even see the directory structure and the files. They just can't run. The messege I get is the progrmam is not found.
So now my DVP has learned a new trick. I was driving home and noticed the power was off. Could've sworn it had plenty of battery, so I went to power it on.
Now it just sits there and power cycles...all the time. Tried yanking the battery, replacing it, and charging it plugged into the wall...still sits and power cycles.
Between this and the whole SD debacle, I'm getting pretty pissed off at this phone.
Have you replaced the SD Card? Could the power button be sticking?
Yes - the SD card was replaced. Several times actually, and all replacements worked fine (reset + card swap, then power on) for a week...then this suddenly started occurring.
Someone at the MS store blamed it on that, which I guess is okay, but seriously - if that is the case, then Dell needs to put a legitimate "this will void your warranty" sticker on there rather than some black bar that *supposedly* shows "void" once you peel it off, even though nobody in the store could actually read what the hell it said.
I have had something like that happen with my phone as well. I have not replaced the MicroSD card but maybe 4 or 5 times this last week the phone has seemingly been off or off in space when I try and turn it on from "sleep". All the times this has happened I had to pull the battery. Once it did the same thing again right away but most of the time it goes back to normal.
I thought it was one of the apps that might be causing some issues so I have removed it and will see if this stops.
gshocker said:
I have had something like that happen with my phone as well. I have not replaced the MicroSD card but maybe 4 or 5 times this last week the phone has seemingly been off or off in space when I try and turn it on from "sleep". All the times this has happened I had to pull the battery. Once it did the same thing again right away but most of the time it goes back to normal.
I thought it was one of the apps that might be causing some issues so I have removed it and will see if this stops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What SD cards are you guys using? I have had a Sandisk 32gb Class 2 in since Friday morning and no issues so far (crosses fingers).
I used a Kingston C4 32GB - worked fine aside from the slow Zune sync, same with the Patriot C4 16GB. The one that worked properly was a Wintec 16GB C10 card - until the power cycling occurred. I replaced the stock card and it still did the same thing. I would expect if it was *really* a card issue, it would've booted but displayed an error, as it does if you just replace the card without doing a reset.
After some more testing it seems this happens when I am pretty sure it has to do with some Marketplace app bug. When I search in the marketplace it seems to happen. Phone will go to sleep and then not come back. I end up having to pull the battery to get it back. Hopefully this will get fixed in an update.
My recommendation is to use the phone for a few weeks *before* swapping out cards. In this case, no one knows if it's a hardware issue, software, or something about the MicroSD card.
Keep it stock. See if it's fine that way. If so, then swap out cards. If it starts to act up, then you likely have your culprit.
My $.02
yipcanjo said:
My recommendation is to use the phone for a few weeks *before* swapping out cards. In this case, no one knows if it's a hardware issue, software, or something about the MicroSD card.
Keep it stock. See if it's fine that way. If so, then swap out cards. If it starts to act up, then you likely have your culprit.
My $.02
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed. saves time when using process of elimination.
hi first off thanks to the DFT team for making my dream come true loving WP7.
now to business i,ve been using WP7 constantly for a week, activated and signed in to live. with no problems aside from the known issues ie camera button.
now i cycle between batteries (i have a spare to reduce downtime while charging) and found that after replacing the battery my phone goes through to boot cycle constantly (continuous boot).
the shocking thing is this only happens with the sim card in the phone. (if i remove the sim the phone works properly upon replacing it the problem starts again)
i eventually get tired and leave the phone cycling though numerous boots and after sometime i come back to find it stable.
this has happened three times no... solutions?
i'm trying to hold off on re-flashing as it would be the same bag of beans and do not want to overuse my 25 digit code.
does anyone have to same problem or can any one help
audit.
i think it might be your sd card, not sure. trying using a different one.
audit angel said:
hi first off thanks to the DFT team for making my dream come true loving WP7.
now to business i,ve been using WP7 constantly for a week, activated and signed in to live. with no problems aside from the known issues ie camera button.
now i cycle between batteries (i have a spare to reduce downtime while charging) and found that after replacing the battery my phone goes through to boot cycle constantly (continuous boot).
the shocking thing is this only happens with the sim card in the phone. (if i remove the sim the phone works properly upon replacing it the problem starts again)
i eventually get tired and leave the phone cycling though numerous boots and after sometime i come back to find it stable.
this has happened three times no... solutions?
i'm trying to hold off on re-flashing as it would be the same bag of beans and do not want to overuse my 25 digit code.
does anyone have to same problem or can any one help
audit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
happened to me once, my screen turned green so i removed battery and rebooted to a constant restart and the phone was pretty hot so i left it sit off for 20 minutes and booted and its been fine since.
i think i also disabled the auto boot to wph in magldr
hi guys appreciate the suggeston..
unfortunatly its not the memory card as the phone only reboots if my sim card is in it without the sim card the phone works fine...
i really need some help guys, i will post a video soon...
Sorry if this has been addressed, but I haven't seen it anywhere.
Got my Focus just under two weeks ago. Added an SD card, no issues before nor after the SD "fix."Starting yesterday my phone started randomly turning off. NOT resetting, as no data was lost, and it turned right back on.
I'm fairly certain its due to minor jarring, and is therefore a battery connection issue. I'm going to go ask for a new battery at the ATT store and try that before asking for a whole new phone.
I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. Also, if I got a new Focus, can it reformat my SD card, or is it locked to the specific phone?
Thanks guys.
its your sd card.... even though there is no data lost the turning off and back on is it rebooting ... you need to try a card thats been working.... there is a nice list on here or just buy a samsung one..
you can try a format and try the card again but theres a good chance it will happen again...btw what sd is it?
16 GB Sandisk, class 4. It doesn't turn back on on its own, though. I manually turn it back on. Kind of like if I did a battery pull, it would shut off and I'd have to manually turn it on.
Pull the card, leave it out and format... If the condition continues then its the phone, but I'm betting it will work fine.. Here's to hoping. It is strange but certain sd cards give this phone fits... the format is power off. Press n hold vol down,camera,and then power. Keep all pressed till you see the format screen pop up... Hope this helps...
Well, I put in one of those Samsung cards in from that ebay seller, and next day got a similar turn off, so I'm gonna say it's the phone.
If I switch it out in-store, can another Focus reformat the card, or am I gonna have to borrow one of their Nokias?
Your Focus randomly shuts down or reboot?
Captivate had random shutdown issue, wish it's not on Focus.
amtrakcn said:
Your Focus randomly shuts down or reboot?
Captivate had random shutdown issue, wish it's not on Focus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shuts down, have to manually turn on. No loss of data.
And I've reproduced it by setting it down on a hard surface multiple times, so bumps seem to be jarring something.
when you get your new phone just plug in the sd card and do the format.... it will set the card up in that phone.
kawgirlval69 said:
when you get your new phone just plug in the sd card and do the format.... it will set the card up in that phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL I found this out after I was told ATT doesn't even sell Symbian phones. Good to know.
So did exchanging the phone solve your problem? I have 16gb SD card (sandisk class 2) it was working fine for the first two month, but last month the phone start to randomly reset about once a day. I took out the sdcard and battery reseated them both (not resetting data) and it seems to work fine for about 2 weeks (may be one random reboot once) but last few days the phone would reboot everytime I set it down on hard surface. It doesn't do it all the time but do it enough to be annoying.
I really don't want to exchange the phone unless I have to.
antiquegamer said:
So did exchanging the phone solve your problem? I have 16gb SD card (sandisk class 2) it was working fine for the first two month, but last month the phone start to randomly reset about once a day. I took out the sdcard and battery reseated them both (not resetting data) and it seems to work fine for about 2 weeks (may be one random reboot once) but last few days the phone would reboot everytime I set it down on hard surface. It doesn't do it all the time but do it enough to be annoying.
I really don't want to exchange the phone unless I have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If by reboot you mean it just turns off, then that's what I was experiencing. I changed SD cards and it came back the next day.
I just switched phones today and haven't seen it yet, but I'll get back to ya in a week. Switching phones wasnt too big of a hassle for me, though, so you might just try that now while you're in your 30 days.
If it keeps happening, I don't know what phone I'll switch to. Shouldn't have jumped on that Zune 12 mo pass just yet.
Hey guys, I'm an common forum visitor (usually not logged in) and this is my first post. I will explain the whole story, as it may contain important evidence for the resolution of my problem. Sorry for the big text and thanks for your help in advance
I'm in a pickle here,
I really love the WP7 OS, much more than Android and I want to keep it. But the thing is, my phone wont charge with my SD card on (I just found that). After many months with no problems with WP7, this problem starts being recurring on multiple ROMs.
The thing is, when the SD card is on the slot, the phone keeps booting and rebooting for charge when the batteries are low (But if they have some battery, it simply won't charge). After awhile, appears the "storage is dead screen" (the SD is the phone "internal" storage. I get that). So I remove the SD card and guess what... It starts charging! Awesome, problem solved.
... Not yet. I put the card back and it can't get past the ROM creator/cooker screen (which is before the WP logo appears). I figure: the SD Data is probably damaged and preventing the phone to even display the error message (but that doesn't make sense, since it should go back to the error message anyway. It did without the SD card being plugged in).
I need a safe way to charge the phone without breaking the Data every single time. Most likely, I need to remove the SD card before.
Any ideas you guys can share? Thanks!
PS: Love the forum. Such a life saver from that old, dead WM6.5. Much <3 for the Teams Involved
EDIT: High Capacity Battery is not charging at all. In neither way. Only the normal one. Is it a battery problem?
phone terminals
Have u tried straightening the terminals for better contact with the battery? They may look fine to u, but u can just use ur finger nails or a screw driver to push them into position. The terminals DO cause that kind of problem.