Problems with SD card and my hp PPC 221*

[Second_Edition]

Hello everyone! *waves*

I have a problem, and I hope there's someone out there who can solve this problem. My hp PPC 221* (all the 221_'s are all the same, right?) has stopped detecting my SD card. It's the SD card that came in the bundle (along with the PPC and all its bits) that I bought. Specifically, its a Compaq 128MB SD Memory Card.

It doesn't display the 'SD Card' folder under 'My Device' when using 'File Explorer'. It likes to pretend it doesn't exist.

Soft resetting it doesn't work. Hard resetting it doesn't work. Taking the SD card out and putting it back in before a reset, (both hard and soft) during a reset and after a reset doesn't work. Blowing/wiping the SD card and its slot doesn't work. Throwing it against the wall and screaming obscenities at it would also probably not work, although I am loath to try. It may be an evil evil machine, but I still love it.

This PPC is only about 1yr 3 months old. I have dropped it, but so has everyone, right?

What do I do to get my SD card and my PPC on friendly terms again?

[Steven Cedrone]

Have you tried any other SD cards or have you been using the same one?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Most likely the FAT on your card is corrupted, which has been known to happen with the 2210 (heck with virtually all PDAs). There's actually an HP ROM update that might resolve the original corruption problem so you might want to check that out. While this won't help your current situation, it'll save a lot of grief in the future.

If the data on the card is not important, my suggestion is to get a card reader and reformat it via Windows (use ONLY FAT or FAT32 - Pocket PCs cannot read NTFS). If for some reason this isn't doable, then Pocket Mechanic or SKTools can do it for you from your PDA. If you really need the data back, google for 'data recovery' - there's a ton of options, and some are even free.

[ironguy]

The 221x series has a history of SD slot failures. Mine failed and was replaced by HP. Try a different card like the others said. I noticed mine when the SD WiFI card didn't connect one day. I tried several other SD cards and none of them were recognized.

Hello? HP...I have a problem.

[johnmcd348]

I am sorry to tell you but it sounds like you have a dreaded Slot failure. I had a 2215 that I loved dearly but the SD slot quite working and even went so far as to corrupt my SD card. I installed a 1gb card on the system and about the only time I could get the card to respond was to lick the contacts of the card prior to inserting it into the slot....I know, kinda Kinky.... but it sort of worked, sometimes. After awhile, I started getting errors on the card and files woud show up on the card with file size descriptions of over 1gb each. I would have multiple files listed on this card with size listings of 1.6gb, 2gb, etc. Luckily, I had a service contract and after alot of arguing and multiple threats, I ended up getting an upgrade to an hx2415. BestBuy made me buy a new PDA from their website since they no longer sold PDAs in the store and then gave me a full refund of the purchase price at the store.
It took awhile but in the end everything worked out. Apparently, with that kind of failure, it's cheaper to buy a new unit than to fix it. You might check with Pocket PC Techs PPCTECHS.COM and see if they can fix it and what they charge.


JTMcD.