has 39xx problems with SD card ?

[Paolo Masera]

Dear All,
Here a really strange things...

I replaced one month ago my glorius iPAQ 3850 with a new 3970 (big deal at hpstore in Italy less than 300$, psl note new not refurbished)

I had a good 256MB sd card that I used without any problems on my old 3850, on iPAQ 3970 I used it for 12h after I removed from 3970 put again in 3850 (I forget to clear iPAQ File Store) and again on 3970.
OK problem started. My newest 3970 didn't recognize this SD card...I did a lot of tests (multiple soft/hard reset) but nothing changes, I called HP support and they replace it with a new one.

I've received it, used it until today when I'll removed SD card to give a my friend for exchange a very big file...and again my second 3970 doen't recognize my SD card once again.

I've just called HP and they'll replace it again...but I don't like it.

I worked with a lot of palm/ppc without any problems, as you can imagine I remove my SD with a lot of care but that is...

Did someone meet this king of problem ?

Thanks a lot

Paolo

[Paolo Masera]

Dear All,
Here a really strange things...

I replaced one month ago my glorius iPAQ 3850 with a new 3970 (big deal at hpstore in Italy less than 300$, psl note new not refurbished)

I had a good 256MB sd card that I used without any problems on my old 3850, on iPAQ 3970 I used it for 12h after I removed from 3970 put again in 3850 (I forget to clear iPAQ File Store) and again on 3970.
OK problem started. My newest 3970 didn't recognize this SD card...I did a lot of tests (multiple soft/hard reset) but nothing changes, I called HP support and they replace it with a new one.

I've received it, used it until today when I'll removed SD card to give a my friend for exchange a very big file...and again my second 3970 doen't recognize my SD card once again.

I've just called HP and they'll replace it again...but I don't like it.

I worked with a lot of palm/ppc without any problems, as you can imagine I remove my SD with a lot of care but that is...

Did someone meet this king of problem ?

Thanks a lot

Paolo

[Janak Parekh]

Upgrade your 3970's ROM to the latest version from hp.com. I believe there were some issues with earlier firmware.

--janak

[Paolo Masera]

My 3970's ROM is 2.1 I think is the lastest I know there's an update for SD on 3970 with this ROM but is about performance and it's avaible for english ROM not for italian yet.

Thanks

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by Paolo Masera

My 3970's ROM is 2.1 I think is the lastest I know there's an update for SD on 3970 with this ROM but is about performance and it's avaible for english ROM not for italian yet.

Well, I was thinking that they might have slipstreamed some bug fixes along with the performance update -- but I don't have any suggestions about it not being available in Italian.

BTW, what brand SD card is this? Most people have found Sandisk-type cards to be more finicky than others.

--janak

[nice_micael]

maybe you could try something like flashformat to format the card? :?:

[Paolo Masera]

I've tried flashformat and StorageTools but they don't find any card..

My card is a Pro Tecnik, I've 64 and 256 MB without success. :evil:

I was quite happy for my 3970 but this issue (never meet a similar problem with my old 3850 ) and low battery life are changing my opinion...

any other suggestion ?

thanks to all
Paolo

[Janak Parekh]

Do you have a desktop reader, and if so, does it still read fine there?

It's pretty bizarre -- I haven't seen problems like this. I've also never heard of your brand of SD card.

--janak

[bmhome1]

To answer your question about the 39xx series and SD cards, I had a 3835 and now a 3955 (w/2002) and switch out SD cards, CF cards and PCMCIA hard drives a great deal, and haven't found any less performance since the 3955, other than the odd "Storage Card1, or 2, or Slot 22" file explorer displays and the very rare occurrence of the card not being recognized and offering to format (NO!), which is generally resolved by turning off and reinserting and turning back on, or occasionally needing a soft reset too.

I do use 100% Lexar brand cards and always make sure each card has a "My Documents" folder present (even if not used) and a 0k "ignore_my_docs" file also present. Sounds crazy but doing so had greatly stabilized my SD/CF card recognitions to probably 98% now.

Also, I didn't notice any noticeable battery capacity loss moving to 3955, although the display certainly is much brighter than the 3835 was, and may be drawing more power if running at full brightness. But if that was the case it would have been the subject of much discussion at the forums which I don't recall happening. Actually, I'm pretty amazed that I can leave my 3955 off the cradle for a week and still have 40-50% power left.