Q 2nd-hand blade won't read my 4GB and 16GB micro sd cards!

[Guest nir_mk]

I just bought an Orange San Francisco and it will not acknowledge my 4GB and 16GB micro SD cards, known to be good on my other Orange San Francisco phone. Can anyone HELP PLEASE?

(and in a bit more detail:)

I just bought an Orange San Francisco, let's call it "phone A" 2nd-hand on eBay it came with Japanese Jellyfish RLS9 (reporting itself as Android 2.2) also bootable into ClockworkMod v3.0.0.6.

(I also have my existing San Francico "phone B", and 4GB and 16GB micro SDHC cards. Both micro SDHC cards work great in "phone B".)

When I insert either 4GB or 16GB cards into "phone A", it does not seem to recognise the SD card. This manifests itself in the following ways:

Settings > SD card & phone storage

Total Space: Unavailable

Available space: Unavailable

Mount SD card (DISABLED - GRAYED OUT): Insert an SD card for mounting

Format SD card (DISABLED - GRAYED OUT): Format (erase) the SD card

Notifications when I connect USB cable to computer

USB debugging connected (as epected)

however I do not also get the expected "USB connected" notification!

When I hold Volume Down to boot into recovery and select "install zip from sdcard" and then "choose zip from sdcard" I get the error: "E:Can't mount /sdcard" (also the same if I go through the mounts menu)

On the orange website ( http://help.orange.c...personal/506297 ) it suggests phone will take up to 32GB. It is rejecting both my 4GB (class 4) and 16GB (class 10) cards. I contacted the seller who says they cannot remember what size card they used.

Any help appreciated - any ideas how to get it reading my SD cards or what else I can do - thanks.

[Guest Pondlife]

Sounds like it's faulty tbh

[Guest hydo1]

Sounds like it's faulty tbh

I'm inclined to agree.

Does the phone say that there is an SD card in it? If it doesn't I would check the connector pins on the phone to make sure that they are in contact with the card.

Otherwise the seller has sold you faulty goods (I know of no issues with that ROM and SD cards.

[Guest nir_mk]

The mystery deepens... my micro SD card collection now also boasts a Kingston 2GB card

...and this one does read in the phone - so it appears not to be a contacts problem! (other cards still not being 'seen')

What would make a phone accept a 2GB card but not the 4GB and 16GB cards?

Is there any way that I can reformat or repartition the 16GB card (brand new from play.com) that will make "phone A" more likely to see it? 'MiniTool Partition Wizard' is describing it as 14.54GB/FAT32/Primary/Active which I believe is all present and correct (and as before, reads in "phone B" no problem.

[Guest hydo1]

I would flash CyanogenMod 7 or Swedish Springs onto the phone after all Japanese Jellyfish is getting a little old.

Report back here if you have issues still with your SD cards.

[Guest nir_mk]

Thank you for the suggestion

Trying to think about it though... will changing the 'ROM' installed in the /system partition have an affect on how the phone behaves in recovery?

As I have observed in my first post, when booted into recovery (which my understanding is that this does not involve looking into either /boot or /system partitions) it still cannot mount the 4GB or 16GB cards (which one might want to do to, say, install Swedish Spring or CM7 ;-) ). My interpretation is that even if I wiped the system partition clean so it had no ROM in it at all I would still have a recovery that can't mount these SD cards.

Any thoughts? Is this a kernel level issue? (and what kernel is clockworkmod v3.0.0.6 based on)

[Guest nir_mk]

Phone was a Gen1

(so using the working 2GB micro SD)

I upgraded it to Gen2 with "G1-G2 v10a TPT" (this put ClockworkMod v5.0.2.0 on it)

I then put gingerbread ROM on it "Swedish Snow RLS7" (reports itself as 2.3.5)

Result = the 4GB and 16GB cards continue to be unrecognisable on this problematic phone - when Android is running and also when using ClockworkMod v5 to browse for Zip files or just ask it to mount /sdcard

So I think I am out of things to try?

[Guest peetu20]

Format ur card! And try different roms. I have not tried but format card to fat filesystem...

[Guest nir_mk]

Thanks for your input, my reply:

1) about filing systems

when I format it within MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition, the available options are:

FAT32

NTFS

Ext2

Ext3

Ext4

LinuxSwap

both cards are already FAT32

Also, when I "Erase" (format) from within "phone B", the result is a FAT32 partition (or no change in partition type)

(I think that 16-bit FAT is only available on old PCs and not on SD cards)

So to summarise: I am using FAT (FAT32, the only available option) and I have tried formatting both using 'MiniTool' and using the (working) device. Neither made a difference. (and the cards worked in the working device - even before I did this)

2) about ROMs

I think the ROM selection is a red herring because I would like the SD card to work within ClockworkMod recovery.

A phone can have a working recovery on it with a completely empty /system partition ("no ROM").

Putting it another way, if I go into recovery and format the /system partition so there is no ROM, and the ROM does not come into it, I would like the SD card to be readable from there (so I can install another ROM, for example)

I have tried my 4GB and 16GB cards against the ClockworkMod v3.0.0.6 (for Gen1) which was originally there and now against v5.0.2.0 (for Gen2) which was put on by a TPT.

If the recovery cannot read my card (and this is quite a recent one I understand), I don't see how changing ROMs is going to make a difference to whether I can read SD cards (from within recovery)

(note - of my 3 cards, only the 2GB was readable - and it was readable in both recovery versions I tried)

[Guest peetu20]

Blade have problems handling bigger cards than 2gb, i have read about that. I got my cards killed when i used minipartition to format them. After it placed them to some old nokia(2730 classic) and formatted them, and it worked. But try this: place your card to reader. Go to windows Computer and right click the card and format, then format it.

But make the card primary, i wont work if u dont do that...

And google zte blade sd card issues... and compabtible sdcards too. And try to get the card on other android phone and format it there and put back to your san fransisco...

[Guest peetu20]

And there is something wrong with the sd card slot. Because when i connect my blade to pc without sdcard, i can mount it still.( phone says usb mounted(you know the android guy changes to orange)

[Guest nir_mk]

If I connect EITHER phone (a selection of at least 5 different ROMs over time) when there is no SD card in the slot then I get 'USB debugging' notification but never the 'USB connected' notification. Two different phones. So I would disregard that. I know other phones have internal memory (Samsung S2 for example) you can mount that without an SD card.

does the other phone I format it on have to be a non-san-francisco phone for that experiment to work?

I will format using Windows and report results later

[Guest nir_mk]

insert 16GB into 'phone B', (shows 'USB connected') mount USB, Windows 7 FAT32/4096 'quick format' is ticked, dismount USB, works on 'phone B', insert into phone 'A' (SD card cannot be seen)

insert 16GB into 'phone B', (shows 'USB connected') mount USB, Windows 7 FAT32/4096 'quick format' is UNTICKED (takes absolutely ages), dismount USB, works on 'phone B', insert into phone 'A' (SD card cannot be seen, still)

Next week will visit a friend with a Galaxy S2, I guess I could ask him to format it for a non-San-Francisco experiment

my 16GB SD card is a "class 10" card sold by play.com - it is an 'own brand' or generic. As per your suggestion I searched and found some threads where people are recommending top brands (Sandisk, Kingston, Verbatim etc.) - and indeed perhaps the only reason my 2GB card works is that it happens to be a 'Kingston'?

I now wish I paid a bit more money for a branded card (possibly of a lower class). I am reluctant to buy another (branded) SD card just for this experiment - if it doesn't work in phone A but works in the easy-going phone B I can hardly return it as 'non working' can I?. There is no guarantee that it will work in my phone A. (I wonder if a bricks-and-morter shop will lend me an SD card so I can try it in phone A to see if the brand is compatible with my phone)

[Guest peetu20]

Yes. Maybe i remembered wrong the mounting without sd card. If u can sell your card to ur friend, friend with non zte phonte, do it! Then read this. Or: goto local phone shop to buy catd, but if possible, ask if u can try it on your phone.

But you have two san fransisco? This problem will be HW ISSSUE ! Becase both cardswork on fransisco B? Soo. You have to ask your question in service..

[Guest nir_mk]

Thanks for your input much appreciated.

This morning I visited 4 shops and 2 market traders. That 6th person happened to have an open micro SD they were willing to have me try in 'phone A'. It came from a bag labeled 'Trends' (I think) but no brand printed on the actual card. It worked just fine (required Erasing first). So my generic 4GB isn't working but this 8GB (possibly also generic) was working. I may go back to buy it if all else fails (£12 is a bit much for 8GB)

So now I know that this phone is not limited to 2GB, it is a case of shopping around for a brand. I have a bit more confidence now that if I pay enough I should hopefully get something that works. I just got thrown off the scent by my 'phone B' which accepts absolutely everything you throw at it.

(Interestingly in the topic you linked to other people are complaining about MyMeory. I bought my card from play.com and it came in play.com packaging but it was via PlayTrade and my seller is in fact MyMemory)

[Guest hydo1]

I think it is because you are trying to use a Class 10 SD card. I have a Class 2 8 GB (v. old sandisk) card and it works perfectly in the blade but my class 10 32 GB card is not recognised in the same way as yours.

There are quite a few different versions of the ZTE Blade, we have two San Francisco's in the house and there are hardware differences between them (only fairly minor but noticeable) both were purchased at the same time but one of them likes class 4 cards and one doesn't both of them running with exactly the same ROM and TPT.

I think the issue that you are having is caused by hardware inconsistencies in the ZTE Blade.

[Guest nir_mk]

That is interesting about the class 10 issue - but then again my 4GB is class 4 (generic) still not reading either.

Also interesting about the inconsistency between the hardware. Some of this I've already been aware of - OLED vs TFT, Gen1 vs Gen2 etc.

If the supplier of my 16GB will take it back, I would next risk my money on one of these 16GB Class 4 cards

Kingston £7.32 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003WIRFD2

SanDisk £7.82 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002Q5H3JI

[Guest Pondlife]

Have definitely used a class 10 32gb sandisk card in my old sf so that's another red herring

[Guest peetu20]

I have 16 gb class 4 on my blade. So class 4 cards will work

[Guest hydo1]

Have definitely used a class 10 32gb sandisk card in my old sf so that's another red herring

I said that the class 10 works in one of my San Francisco's but not in the other despite both of them being on the same ROM and TPT.

I think this issue is caused by small differences in the hardware of ZTE Blades.

[Guest Stuart_f]

Could it be that some cards are using SLC flash and the others are using MLC?

Either that or some of your cards are actually SDHC rather than SD.

There's no telling if different batches of phones actually use different memory controller which might account for the larger variety of cards working in phone B when phone A (presumably an earlier example) is much more picky.

[Guest nir_mk]

> Either that or some of your cards are actually SDHC rather than SD.

confused - thought that ALL cards >2GB are SDHC

[Guest mikeb90]

hi mates, i got a problem similar to yoursone: i bought a SanDisk class 10 MicroSD_HC , if it's totally formatted in FAT32, it can be read, but when i try to make partitions (1024 Mb in EXT3, 64 Mb of linuxSwap, and the rest in FAT32), it becomes unreadeble. I can manage it only by ubuntu... why the hell!? D:

[Guest Stuart_f]

confused - thought that ALL cards >2GB are SDHC

Yes, you are perfectly correct - this should be true - but it's not :(

You can get SD (non-SDHC) cards in sizes above 2Gb. They don't strictly comply with the SD spec (because the spec only defines sizes up to 2Gb) nor do they strictly comply with the SDHC spec (because they aren't SDHC) but they do exist.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/30952360

[Guest nir_mk]

My update:

Got a refund for the Class 10 generic 16GB.

Instead I bought Class 4 Kingston cards - both 8GB and 16GB. They both work. Result.