Smart Media/camera problem

Tom Dunne

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or over in the computer forums, but I reckon you guys may be more familiar with my problem.

I have a SanDisk Smart Media card that gives me a 'Card Error' on my Fuji FinePix 2.3 Mp digital camera. What seems to have happened is that I inserted the card into my card reader on the laptop, selected all the photos and did a cut in Windows and pasted them to another folder (instead of just deleting them).

I have formatted the card in both FAT and FAT32 on the laptop, which still gave a card error in the camera and have tried another card which works fine in the camera. The thing is, the card works fine on the laptop - I can read, write and erase anything (including pictures) on it.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

TD.

gmt

Did you try to format the card in your camera?

Tom Dunne

Yes, it doesn't work either.

I also tried deleting the current picture, no joy. The camera will of course format another card without problems and will delete pictures from other cards.

gmt

I remeber reading about some software that does a low-level-format on a smart-media card. The utility is called smprep.exe.

Have a look at the following links:

http://www.marshost.com/~rashmun/smprep.htm

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1017&message=1133726

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=963792

Tom Dunne

Excellent! Thanks, gmt. The problem on that forum looks exactly like the problem I am having.

I will give it a go when I get home later.

gmt

Glad to be of help!

pork99

A couple of years ago I bought an Olympus C-2100 UZ which regretably uses so-called SmartMedia. It has caused me problem after problem. I've lost count of the number of photos I've lost. Is this format inherently sh1te?

(Also had big problems with the power supply on the C-2100. It only runs on expensive Lithium batteries - it screws up on rechargables.)

Tom Dunne

You know, this is really the first problem I have had with Smart Media. I agree, they are pretty flimsy, but I have had more problems with the camera itself than the memory card.

BTW - gmt,the programs above didn't work. They are a replacement for a program that you get with a ceratin brand of memory card reader. Doesn't seem to want to work for me. Not to worry.

I also tried the trick of pulling the memory card out of the camera when it is turned on (as suggested in the forum links provided above)- problem is, once I open the latch to take out the card, the camera shuts itself off.

I'll keep at it, I'm off to the zoo today and I badly want to take some pictures.