SD card doesn't work just in Win XP?

September 13, 2007 5:20 PM

My 2Gb SD card stopped working under Windows, works with the camera and Ubuntu, what's the problem?

The card that I have for 2 months now today stopped working with Windows XP. It's a PQ1 Hi-Speed 60 2GB SD card. It worked fine until today and still works fine under Ubuntu and with my DMC FZ50 camera.
When I put it in Windows says it has to be formatted but when I press format it says that it can't finish formatting. When I do that the card has to be formatted with the camera so it can be usable again. I tried Ubuntu and it worked fine but I am not good enough to transfer my files from Ubuntu to XP.
I know I have an USB cable for the camera but still I want to use my card reader.
I tried reinstalling the driver for the device but nothing changed.

posted by tseo to computers & internet (15 comments total)

I just tried the USB cable and it's the same there. This changes the problem.
posted by tseo at 5:24 PM on September 13, 2007

Do any other USB peripherals work?
posted by IronLizard at 6:09 PM on September 13, 2007

Everything else is working fine - mouse, webcam, iPod.
posted by tseo at 6:28 PM on September 13, 2007

Perhaps a silly question, but when you say it has stopped working with Windows XP, you mean on a computer it previously worked on with WinXP, right? Because I just found the same problem today (whoa, synchronicity), but it's because my laptop is old enough that the card reader is the problem. Newer laptops also running WinXP see it fine.
posted by solotoro at 6:53 PM on September 13, 2007

It stopped working on the same laptop it worked on previously. It is a Presario V6000. It was working in the morning, not working in the afternoon.
Now it just wants to format it and even can't do that.
posted by tseo at 7:17 PM on September 13, 2007

i've had similar problems with card readers & windows xp. One day mine just stopped recognizing when I put anything other than a CF card in it. The only way windows will recognize that I have a SD card in my cheapie no-name USB multi-format internal card reader, is to have a SD card in it before windows starts. if the card is in at boot, the computer hangs even though I have booting from USB disabled. good thing XP is relatively stable, so I don't have to deal with that very often.

As far as I know, I didn't change any settings to enable this 'feature', and it just started doing this one day last year.

so to recap, what works for me, is to:

1. start the computer
2. wait for the "Windows XP" starting screen
3. insert the card

everything works normally then, until the next time I start the computer, when I have to repeat this.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:35 PM on September 13, 2007

This sounds like an solution but doesn't work for me.
I had this problem on my ex-girlfriend's computer and I did what you did and it helped.
But now it's different cause it recognizes the card but it says the card needs formatting and then fails to format it.
posted by tseo at 9:09 PM on September 13, 2007

iPod has the same problem now:(
That's getting scary, can someone direct me to a place where I can get more help?
posted by tseo at 10:10 PM on September 13, 2007

I can only suggest the yearly re-install ritual, I'm afraid. You can try to root out which drivers it is (maybe roll back some windows updates, too) but it's a long slog through the mud to track it down.
posted by IronLizard at 10:58 PM on September 13, 2007

Possibly related: I used to be able to plug in my Fuji F30 (XD - not supported by my card reader), and Windows would pop up a Transfer Wizard (easily move/rename files off the camera).

It doesn't do that anymore. I suspect a re-install is the only solution if I want to regain that functionality. If I can bother to remember, maybe I'll try and test the camera after any significant OS changes, to see if there's a specific failure point.

Also: maybe something about the formatting of your card is weird? You can probably do some digging into that from ubuntu.
posted by unmake at 11:45 PM on September 13, 2007

... but I am not good enough to transfer my files from Ubuntu to XP.

Is Ubuntu and XP both on the same computer? Like, you have a dual-boot setup? Try Explore2fs for a temporary just-get-it-done program, and Ext2fsd for a permanent I-use-this-all-the-time program. I've used both.

If they aren't on the same computer, then you could use email, ftp, scp, sftp, and lots other stuff. The easiest way might be to just email a picture file to yourself from one, and download it to the other (but that's a kludge). The 'right way' is to set up ssh, and scp/sftp the files between the two computers.
posted by philomathoholic at 12:03 AM on September 14, 2007

Ext2fsd link (via sourceforge)
posted by philomathoholic at 12:04 AM on September 14, 2007

In that vein, I have an ntfs partition that I use from either OS to store data files. This way it's not so much a matter of transferring as it is just using it. Ubuntu has ntfs rw support built in not, you can even just write the files directly to your windows partition. I think it's off by default but fairly easy to turn on.
posted by IronLizard at 2:24 AM on September 14, 2007

Scratch that extraneous 'not'. No idea where that came from, but it's probably sinister.
posted by IronLizard at 2:26 AM on September 14, 2007

I can only suggest the yearly re-install ritual, I'm afraid.

It always comes down to this, doesn't it.

Update:
I tried my 2Gb card, another 4Gb card and the iPod on my computer and my room mate's computer.

His computer(win xp)
- 2gb card,4gb card don't work directly from internal reader, want to format
- 4gb card, 2gb card work with crappy cheap SD reader usb device that came with 4gb card
- iPod nano 2g works fine

My computer(win xp)
- everything wants to format

So apparently I have some difficulties on the other computer too which stops me from just reinstalling Windows for now.
But I can't really think of anything other except from looking at the drivers and I already reinstalled one.

So I am still hunting for ideas.

ps. thanks for the apps, they read perfectly my ext partition, at least I can get to my photos now
posted by tseo at 8:51 AM on September 14, 2007