Database Users

"Waiting for SD card" problem will never end :(

Hello, I'm not glad that i have to post this topic, but i think the whole story about "Waiting for SD card" problem will never end. I have 3 SD's at home, even one not works.
What i tried:
- i read a lot of topics about this problematics
- i tried to format my cards to fat32
- i tried clean cards
- i tried to format with special tools
- i tried customize startup.txt with msmsdcc_1bit msmsdcc_fmax=14000000 msmsdcc_nopwrsave etc.
- i tried 5 versions of android, even one not works...
I will be very glad if someone helps me or gives me an advice what should i try
Thanks a lot!

Is any one of the sd cards you tried a "class 2"? Seems that class 6 sd cards have this problem.

unstable_ said:
Hello, I'm not glad that i have to post this topic, but i think the whole story about "Waiting for SD card" problem will never end. I have 3 SD's at home, even one not works.
What i tried:
- i read a lot of topics about this problematics
- i tried to format my cards to fat32
- i tried clean cards
- i tried to format with special tools
- i tried customize startup.txt with msmsdcc_1bit msmsdcc_fmax=14000000 msmsdcc_nopwrsave etc.
- i tried 5 versions of android, even one not works...
I will be very glad if someone helps me or gives me an advice what should i try
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no need to try more versions on your current SD cards. Go to look for some very old one, better smaller then 2GB.
I got 5 in my home, 2 of them works. Both of them are 2GB, bought 3 yrs ago.
None of new one could be used.

i realised the old versions of sd card works but the newer ones dun.

U shuld change SD card~~

Pretty Disappointing... I'm stuck too. I'm suprised it hasn't been fixed yet can't be that hard compared to everything else they've acheived.
I hope everyone involved keeps up the hard work but it'd be great for someone to revisit this problem.

its a hardware problem of the sd card, not a software problem.
it will never be fixed (its not possible).
its not like an sd card is too expensive ^^ just get another one...
have a look at this thread

N!ghty said:
its a hardware problem of the sd card, not a software problem.
it will never be fixed (its not possible).
its not like an sd card is too expensive ^^ just get another one...
have a look at this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to disagree. SD is a well known standard on the market.
The card that I have works fine for more than a year in Windows Mobile with Touch HD card reader. Without a single problem during that time. So everything: operating system, SD card and HTC HD card reader are fine.
It doesn't work with Android, so there is something wrong. Either with SD card initialization procedure, drivers or operating system (Android).
Unfortunately, I can't effort using 2GB card. I'm using my phone e.g. for books reading, music, photos, games etc. It's not only a phone I hope that all these hard working Android guys can fix this issue.

mlemanczyk said:
I tend to disagree. SD is a well known standard on the market.
The card that I have works fine for more than a year in Windows Mobile with Touch HD card reader. Without a single problem during that time. So both: operating system and HTC HD card reader are fine.
If it doesn't work with Android, it's Android's problem. Either with SD card initialization procedure, drivers or operating system (Android).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we are not looking at the sd card when its detected by the operating system but by the device itself.
the problem might be that the device is simply not capable to use some sdcards without the proper drivers (which the os then provides). what im saying is: before you enter the os the device might not detect some particular sd cards, but once the os is booted, it does.
the issue here is simple: if the device doesnt support the sd card, the os wont boot, this has nothing to do with the os.
if you dont believe me:
try flashing a WM rom from the "problem sd card". u will see: it wont work.
now try booting android from the same sd card. u will see: it wont work.
now get another card u can boot android with.
now try flashing a WM rom from this sd card. u will see: it will work.
conclusion: its a hardware problem.
i must say im not an expert but im not stupid either. i tried what i explained myself and thats just how it is...
if someone has a better explanation please correct me

N!ghty said:
we are not looking at the sd card when its detected by the operating system but by the device itself.
the problem might be that the device is simply not capable to use some sdcards without the proper drivers (which the os then provides). what im saying is: before you enter the os the device might not detect some particular sd cards, but once the os is booted, it does.
the issue here is simple: if the device doesnt support the sd card, the os wont boot, this has nothing to do with the os.
conclusion: its a hardware problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you're saying may be right. I'm not an expert either, so these are only my conclusions.
I think that what may be failing is the HSPL (Bios) that most people here loaded. I'm pretty sure that I was able to flash from SD card on my stock ROM. At some point it stopped working. I'll try to rollback to stock SPL (I'm not sure how to do it, yet) and confirm. So changed HSPL may be the issue.
Another question is, why SD drivers in either case are not loaded with the boot image. I don't know Android internals, so I can't tell if this is possible. But it would help in this case.
In both cases I don't think this is hardware issue that can't be resolved.

N!ghty said:
we are not looking at the sd card when its detected by the operating system but by the device itself.
the problem might be that the device is simply not capable to use some sdcards without the proper drivers (which the os then provides). what im saying is: before you enter the os the device might not detect some particular sd cards, but once the os is booted, it does.
the issue here is simple: if the device doesnt support the sd card, the os wont boot, this has nothing to do with the os.
if you dont believe me:
try flashing a WM rom from the "problem sd card". u will see: it wont work.
now try booting android from the same sd card. u will see: it wont work.
now get another card u can boot android with.
now try flashing a WM rom from this sd card. u will see: it will work.
conclusion: its a hardware problem.
i must say im not an expert but im not stupid either. i tried what i explained myself and thats just how it is...
if someone has a better explanation please correct me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry. You are wrong. I am frequently flash my phone using SD card with HSPL. But the card also face problem with Android. So definitely not the hardware problem.

Hello
I have 2 card's, one 8GB from Transcend and one 4GB from Kingston, and the kingston only works with android!
UPDATE: Transcend Class 6, Kingston Class 4

cereal86 said:
Hello
I have 2 card's, one 8GB from Transcend and one 4GB from Kingston, and the kingston only works with android!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lucky guy

From my personal experience on my Kaiser I can confirm that newer SD cards do indeed seem to cause problems in Android, especially with installing or running from SD.
I have 3 SD cards I normally use for my phones, the newest a 4Gb class 6, which I have never been able to use for Android on Kaiser or Blackstone, I can't even flash with it, it just never works, using it for data storage works fine, just can't run Android from SD or Flash with it, the other 2 are 2Gb class 2's, both work just fine for flashing, and work great when using them for running Android builds from SD on Kais and Blac hardware.
My conclusions? Well I fall into the 'hardware problem' camp, mostly, since I can't flash either Winmo or Android with the class 6, it may be the card, but I wonder sometimes if it's the capacity, since both the class 2's are almost the same age as the class 6, all are sdhc, all 3 are from the same manufacturer , (SanDisk), in fact the only real difference is the capacity.

Waiting for SD Card
I have also tried a Transcend 8 GB SD Card and it doesn't work.
The same files on a Tanscend 1GB SD Card work just fine, so it's definitely a hardware problem caused by the card.
I've tried everything - formatting the card with different tools and different cluster sizes, partitioning the card below 4GB - all without success.
For all you guys out there with the "waiting for SD card" problem: Get a different (small) card !! - It's worth it !

what about this - copy files in the package into device internal memory and boot from there(i don´t know where to change booting directory in cfg...). if it created data.img on the sdcard, it would be fine solution...

kosmodisk said:
what about this - copy files in the package into device internal memory and boot from there(i don´t know where to change booting directory in cfg...). if it created data.img on the sdcard, it would be fine solution...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure it's that simple... once winmo is killed, the internal memory would have to be accessed natively by Android. It could be different for every device (where as SD is a standard, device agnostic format, internal memory isn't)
Whilst most HTC devices will work in an almost identical manner, there is no guarantee of what the internal memory is (it could actually be a HDD in theory).

I had this problem with my Transcend 8GB SD card, nothing solved it so I traded it for a Sandisk 8GB SD card with a colleague.
Works fine now. ^^

kalyster said:
I had this problem with my Transcend 8GB SD card, nothing solved it so I traded it for a Sandisk 8GB SD card with a colleague.
Works fine now. ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a Transcend 8GB card...the one that came with my blackstone with no problems at all. Don't think I did anything special though, formatted to FAT32, installed android from a CAB (in this thread) loaded Android and then I copied my WinMo files back to the SD card as well.
One 2GB sandisk card I had though didn't work at all until I formatted it to FAT32 under linux, then it worked fine in WinMo and Android.
A friend also suggested to me trying to reduce the 'allocation unit size' when formatting the card but I've not tried that approach.

maybe u can try format SD Card to FAT (not FAT32 formatted i think.. maybe it FAT16)! i have 8gb and 2gb SD Cards.. and that all cards not work untill i formatted my 2gb SD Card to FAT!
CMIIW..

Swaping sd cards over

Would it be possible for me to copy the entire contents of my 8gb and paste on folder on pc, then put in new 16bb card and paste the lot back onto the new one, would everything work ok? as i have most if not all my apps instlled on my storage card, has anyone done this b4 and is it possible?
Thanks

I've wondered that myself, as long as the new card is properly formated then in theory it should be fine..... never actually done it though so don't take my word for it.

Maybe someone can clear this up, by format properly what do you mean by this?

I have done that twice without any problems. Just rember to show all files in the explorere on the PC.

I have previously done it twice with no problems but i just swapped my 16gb to a 32gb and it wouldnt have none of it????? I have had to return the card thinking its faulty? But i will do the exact thing once i receive my replacement

antilagman said:
I have previously done it twice with no problems but i just swapped my 16gb to a 32gb and it wouldn't have none of it????? I have had to return the card thinking its faulty? But i will do the exact thing once i receive my replacement
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a Sandisk 16Gb card and though it was faulty as HD2 wouldn't read it. Examining it on PC showed it was formated as 'exFAT'. Reformatted to 'FAT' and copied data across and now all OK.

i've done this on every winmo phone i have had where a sd card upgrade was required. Just make sure you have the phone off while to do it and use a card reader just to be safe

dont have a card reader, know how to format to fat on pc via disc drive mode, will just copying all to pc, and ensuring all files are showing and not hidden then would this be ok?

the 32gb came formatted in fat32? I have been told that my replacement will be here tomorrow

yeah if you format the card to fat your gonna damage the card. stick to fat32 and use a 32KB allocation unit size. you do it be finding the drive in my computer, right clicking and hitting format. Setup your options and go.
Card readers are best for this type of work and you can pick one up less than £10 from amazon.co.uk. Just make sure it says it supports SDHC cards.

CHEAP MicroSD reader....
Click here

[Q] Busted Micro SD?

Hi Chaps
Got probs with my 16gb class 4 micro sd card.
Bought an htc hd2 off ebay last week which came with the above card and winmo 6.5.
I wanted to test out WM7 which I did, didn't enjoy it so tried to get Android working.
Now I came across the 199mb problem which I fixed no probs but now the sd card will just not play ball in CWM. It says it makes the partitions but this is instant and should take a few minutes being a 16GB sd card. When I come to mount the thing it just error's and says cannot mount sd card.
I've tried doing a full erase using the samsung sd tool and that took over 3 hours to complete which is strange. I've also used the tool to create partitions which it does without any problems.
If I put the SD card in my fiancee's HTC Desire and mount and format it it works fine but when I come to mount it on my hd2 it still can't mount it.
I also have a 4GB micro sd card which is class 2 and this works perfectly with CWM both with partitioning and mounting.
I'm on the verge of snapping this card in half and buying a new one so before I do I thought I'd ask on here for any advice.
Many Thanks

Use Panasonic SD Formatter and format using that. Should work then. No even need for a full erase, but if you want you can, but not needed. It should recover the rest of the SD card.

Skellyyy said:
Use Panasonic SD Formatter and format using that. Should work then. No even need for a full erase, but if you want you can, but not needed. It should recover the rest of the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers for that, done a quick format and it finished but now windows won't read it. Just comes up with the message disk is not formatted do you want to format it now.
Is this normal?

No problem. Erm well I've formatted my 8GB class 8 using that and I've never encountered that problem. When your formatted did it come up that it was restored to 14/15GB? You might aswell go ahead and format it.

Skellyyy said:
No problem. Erm well I've formatted my 8GB class 8 using that and I've never encountered that problem. When your formatted did it come up that it was restored to 14/15GB? You might aswell go ahead and format it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Duh me, I had to remove it from the laptop and back in for windows to pick it up.
Just tried mounting the sd as USB storage and I get the following error
"E:Unable to write to ums lunfile (No such file or directory)"
Trying to mount the sd card I get this error:
"E:failed to mount /sdcard (No such file or directory) Error mounting /sdcard!"
As soon as I put my 4bg sd card in and try to mount it it works straight away

That's very odd. I don't know very much about SD cards/memory so I wouldn't know what's wrong with that.
I think you're best off getting a new card as I think that ones maybe worn out.

I recommend you don't use ebay for sd cards, they can easily be poor copies, just buy them from a recognised store, Amazon or Play

Cheers for the help guys. Think I'll just stick it in the digital camera as that seems to work fine and buy a new one from amazon or play.

yeah.. dont ever buy memory cards from ebay...
i tried buying one 32gb microsd before..
my comp doesnt even detect it..

[Q] T-Mobile HD2 having trouble reading it's own MicroSD card

We have a T-Mobile HTC HD2, it came with a 16GB MicroSD card.
Lately, the phone is having trouble reading this SD card, and ONLY this SD card.
Any other MicroSD card I plug into it, from other phones or other devices, it reads them fine, and if I plug it's card into other phones or devices, they read the card perfectly fine as well! I tried it in other phones, in usb microsd readers, and even using a sd adapter in my laptop's built in sd reader, digital cameras, Wii, and PS3. The PS3 was the only other device that could not read the card,
But when I plug the card it came with into it, now it mounts it and works fine for about 30 seconds, then unmounts it and acts as if there is no card inserted.
We have had this phone for a year now with no problems of it reading it's own card before, any idea why this suddenly started happening? The owner said he recently dropped it, but that doesn't explain such strange behavior as refusing to read it's own card while reading every other card just fine, and the card reads on any device I plug it into so it doesn't appear to be damaged either.

Have you thougbt about tryinv to reformat your SD card, maybe it has become currupt? You can use the default windoes format software or the Panosonic software, most prefer the Panosonic software. Just do a google search for it to find it. To use the defualt Windows format software just go to Start>My Computer> and find your SD card listed as a removable drive and rigbt click on it then select format. Make sure to make a back up of your data that is on it if you can before you format it, and do a full wipe not a fast format and use Fat 32.

I tried SD Card Formatter 3.0 but it didn't help, it also refused to do a full format, claiming my card didn't support it.

Cyber Akuma said:
I tried SD Card Formatter 3.0 but it didn't help, it also refused to do a full format, claiming my card didn't support it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmmm that program should have worked, curiouse?
Here is a link to the download for the Panosonic SD card formating software. Give it a try and if it does not work hour SD card may have just played out on you. What for others here to post with more advice tough befor you just toss your card and get a new one as someone eles may know something I Don't. Also go to this post, I know you have not flashed WP7 to your HD2 but this may still help as it will wipe any acidental portition that was made somehow on your SD card. Plus itcjist helps hou cover all your bases.

T-Macgnolia said:
Hmmmmm that program should have worked, curiouse?
Here is a link to the download for the Panosonic SD card formating software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats what I used.
Also, I know about partitioning a drive, the sdcard does not have multiple partitions on it.

Cyber Akuma said:
Thats what I used.
Also, I know about partitioning a drive, the sdcard does not have multiple partitions on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about that I just googled " SD Card Formatter 3.0" and it carried me to another site.
As I said in my last post I just linked the post to make sure you were covering your bases.
If you tried the Panisomic software with no joy then it is very possible your SD card is ready for a funeral.
Bit don't just take my word for it let some more members post with their ideas. Sorry I could not be of any more help.

[FIX] sandisk 64gb micro sd card

Like alot of you, I recently had alot of trouble with my sandisk 64gb micro sd card. this fix is pretty easy but it worked for me! so check it out:
you need two programs: SD formatter( can be found on the sandisk website) and easeus partiton master( you can use any program that lets you format partitions)
you will also need the sd card adapter to put you micro in, and an sd card reader
Step 1: connect your sandisk 64gb microsd card to the computer with the adapter it came with in the box. My laptop has the sd card reader built in
I dont think it will work unless you connect it this way.
Step 2: open sd formatter, it should have recognized your card if not click refresh. after its recognized click Options and set format type to full (overwrite) format the sd card. this will take a long while so you might wanna go watch tv or something?
step 3 : after its done formatting open partition master and right click on the sd card and format it to fat32. your going to have to click apply on the top right hand corner for it to work
you should be set. DONT FORMAT IN THE ANDRIOD SETTINGS. for some reason when ever i fixed the micro and tried formatting it in my phone it would mess up everything thing again.
I keep a 32 gb in my s4 now and use my 64 in my note 10.1 because i need the space there more. Let me know if this works for you!

britoskates said:
Like alot of you, I recently had alot of trouble with my sandisk 64gb micro sd card. this fix is pretty easy but it worked for me! so check it out:
you need two programs: SD formatter( can be found on the sandisk website) and easeus partiton master( you can use any program that lets you format partitions)
you will also need the sd card adapter to put you micro in, and an sd card reader
Step 1: connect your sandisk 64gb microsd card to the computer with the adapter it came with in the box. My laptop has the sd card reader built in
I dont think it will work unless you connect it this way.
Step 2: open sd formatter, it should have recognized your card if not click refresh. after its recognized click Options and set format type to full (overwrite) format the sd card. this will take a long while so you might wanna go watch tv or something?
step 3 : after its done formatting open partition master and right click on the sd card and format it to fat32. your going to have to click apply on the top right hand corner for it to work
you should be set. DONT FORMAT IN THE ANDRIOD SETTINGS. for some reason when ever i fixed the micro and tried formatting it in my phone it would mess up everything thing again.
I keep a 32 gb in my s4 now and use my 64 in my note 10.1 because i need the space there more. Let me know if this works for you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really depends on the troubles you have, most of them are some kind of incompatibility with the S4 firmware and the 64GB SD card and formating this will not help. My issue was each time i'd put music on my SD, my system status would trip to custom, also my music would not always show up at boot. This has been a recurring problem with the sandisk cards no matter how i formated it. And yes, i did use SDFormater 4.0 and still had the issue. My only solution was to get a Samsung 64GB SD and no issues since

Sometimes mine removes itself, but a media rescan or reboot fixes it. Doesn't really bother me.

I use a 64gb PNY class10 and its flawless for me.I think the issue is witg the sandisk bran.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

Figured this is a good thread to post my experience.
I had a MicroSD card I thought was bad. What happened was I was formatting the device to ext4 at the time using a older microSD USB adapter i had. Basically, the microSD card reader died while it was in that process. Using a microSD > SDAdater and a built in SD card slot on my laptop I was unable to format the drive in Windows or MacOS. (I was formatting the device via the USB reader on my Desktop in Ubuntu). Ubuntu does not see my card reader on my laptop so I was unable to use that). I thought I killed it. It was a SanDisk microSDXC 64gb card.
So I ordered a new Samsung microSDXC and a new microSDXC USB card reader. I got them both. New card worked great. I decided to play with the card a bit. Using Ubuntu, gparted specifically, with the new adapter I could no create or modify partitions on the old microSD card. It would fail out every time, different errors for ext4, exFAT and Fat32. So. In Gparted I went to Device > Write new partition table.After I did that I would able to format the drive in Ubuntu to whatever filesystem I wanted, and the card works in the phone, mac, windows, everything.
Just a heads up to help any others with issues. Rewriting the partition table may help if somehow it gets corrupt because of some write fail,

I ve 2 64gb sandisk 10x microsd with Samsung S4 I9005 with Android 4.3. I formatted with android, also Windows 7 64bit with various types of sizes on laptop. However on laptop or on phone after writing some files and disk scanning, it gives many disk errors. I wonder if it is software or microsd hardware problems. There is no problem with 32 gb.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Found the Culprit!
Considering I encountered this write protect error TWICE with the exact same product, and after having read forums that show it's a common problem, I conclude that the problem is with either this specific SanDisk product or a particular batch of this product:
Exact product specs: SanDisk Ultra 64 GB MicroSDXC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card with Adapter (SDSDQU-064G-AFFP-A)
These carry a lifetime warranty. A word of advice: if you go for a replacement, ask for a different 64GB model, or try a different size of the same model (I got 2 x 32GB cards instead). If they insist on giving back the exact same model, I'd suggest you use that card anywhere except a smartphone!