# Did Shoptemp Sell me A Bum MicroSD Card?



## portezbie (Jun 12, 2010)

During the pre-orders I purchased a supercard DSTWO and a 4gb Kingston SDHC. Today the memory card has flat out stopped working. Can't even reformat it. It is definitely the memory because I've tried connect other memory to both the flashcart and my computer and both work fine. I have also tried my old flashcart again in my DS and that works fine too. How could this memory have broken so fast? There is no physical damage to the card. Could they have sold me a fake or is this just bad luck? How are they about refunds/replacements?

Thanks


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## Traitor (Jun 12, 2010)

I've been having problems with my kingston 4GB that I got with my DSTWO from shoptemp too. It's been randomly corrupting files. It corrupted my entire ROM folder once, and my NDSGBA folder twice. Sucked, as the backup I had of my DS save files was 3 weeks old :/
I don't know if it's the DSTWO, card reader, or the actual microSD itself that's been causing my problems though.


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## Daidude (Jun 12, 2010)

*Unlucky, I get my Micro SD cards from R4i zone because they sell them cheap with discount codes and are reliable! But I now get my flashcarts from Shoptemp because R4i zone is way expensive compared to them*


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## portezbie (Jun 12, 2010)

So this is super bizarre. I had left the sd card in its adapter plugged into my computer while i was researching this and about 30 minutes later it all of a sudden pops open the window. Strange. So I unplug it and pop it back into my ds and still the same thing white and black screen. Pop it back out and back into my computer and nothing again. I figure I'll try leaving it plugged in for a while and sure enough after a while it starts working again. I figure it is some kind of bizarre corruption that makes it just register really slowly so I back up as much of it as I can(the _dstwo folder was corrupt) and then I format the card. I then replace the dstwo folder and all the other files. Plug it back into the ds and nothing again. Plug it back in to my computer and nothing again.

WTF?

I only did a quick format through windows, maybe I needed to do a full format or use that tool above mentioned? I dunno, this seems bizarre to me.


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## Neko (Jun 12, 2010)

It's probably the card reader (if you use the one included) because the ones included with flashcards are often very bad.


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## DarkWay (Jun 12, 2010)

The card reader that comes with the DSTWO is terrible, it gets really terribly hot when I use it. it's not so bad when I take the casing off it though.

My advice try a different card reader if you have one AND if it connects (or connects after while) format the microSDHC with the *Panasonic SD Formatter* (just google that you'll find it)

Personally I'd say never use the Windows formatter it's really not that great and can quite often cause more problems than good.


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## portezbie (Jun 13, 2010)

thanks for the suggestions but I have already tried with a different reader and tried formatting it with a program called SD Formatter that someone in another thread recommended. Problem persists.


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## janeyuyi (Jun 13, 2010)

You can creat a ticket to shoptemp support,they will help you out..


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## portezbie (Jun 13, 2010)

thank you everyone. I've tried everyones suggestions and I have no contacted shoptemp. I really appreciate the help and I will post back when I hear from them. Btw my scds2 works fine with my old memory card. At least I can keep on gamin' :-)


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## gamefreak94 (Jun 13, 2010)

A lot of bad stuff is going on with shop temp recently?
Like I haven't got my R4 still.
Damn Shoptemp.


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## coolbho3000 (Jun 13, 2010)

Kingston has a lifetime warranty... You can send them the memory and they will send you back a working one.


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## Costello (Jun 13, 2010)

1) you can get a replacement for free, don't hesitate to contact the support about it.
2) Enough is enough. I've told ShopTemp to immediately change suppliers for the MicroSD cards. You aren't the first customer to have a problem with those (not saying all have issues -- out of 100 sold, about 1 or 2 have issues, but considering the amount they sell, that's still an annoying problem).
They will make an announcement on the website as soon as they have found a new supplier for those cards.


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## portezbie (Jun 13, 2010)

Thank you for the info, I will keep an eye on this.


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## flaggerdosh (Jun 13, 2010)

Thank you Shoptemp for listening to those of us who have had problems with our MicroSD cards.

My DSTWO card works like a dream now, and I received my order within the delivery time stipulated.  Definitely recommend ordering from them. Plus I really like the fact that ordering from Shoptemp is helping support GBAtemp!  

You're doing a great job, and I'm definitely keeping my custom with you.


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## Traitor (Jun 14, 2010)

Now I'm pissed. The NDSGBA folder just got corrupted AGAIN. Guess mine's crap too. :/


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## Costello (Jun 14, 2010)

have you considered that it could be a problem with the SCDSTWO itself, or the soft you're using?
microSD card problems are more like games freezing and stuff.
corrupting the file system is likely to be a software problem.
you should maybe try that microsd card with another flashcart for a while (formatting it beforehand) and see if you still have issues?

as for Shoptemp, I told them to change suppliers for microSD cards, they said they'd make a bulk order at a new supplier sometime this week when the national holiday is over.


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## Traitor (Jun 14, 2010)

Costello said:
			
		

> have you considered that it could be a problem with the SCDSTWO itself, or the soft you're using?
> microSD card problems are more like games freezing and stuff.
> corrupting the file system is likely to be a software problem.
> you should maybe try that microsd card with another flashcart for a while (formatting it beforehand) and see if you still have issues?
> ...


I've considered the DSTWO, and it might be it. But since I haven't any other reports of this I'm pretty sure it's the microSD. I'll try it with another flashcart later.


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## Lomaha (Jun 18, 2010)

I have allways had problems with Kingston microcards - takes  a long time loading and often gets currupted. After I've changed to Sandisk I've newer experienced any problems.


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## Mantis41 (Jun 18, 2010)

Costello said:
			
		

> have you considered that it could be a problem with the SCDSTWO itself, or the soft you're using?
> microSD card problems are more like games freezing and stuff.
> corrupting the file system is likely to be a software problem.
> you should maybe try that microsd card with another flashcart for a while (formatting it beforehand) and see if you still have issues?
> ...


I would say the corupted files would be the SD reader. I have had similar problems when using the in-built SD readers in some laptops. They seem to be extremely slow and have a tendancy to corrupt the SD. I think most of my problems were probably related to drivers not being compatible or not available for the OS I was using.

I have not had any corrupted files using USB readers but have had loads of them die on me. They start to get a bit sketchy and then fail to read or be detected. the're only about £1 so no big deal there. Even when they are starting to die and require multiple inserts to detect they still seem to read and write without creating errors.

The SD problems I have experienced in the past include; games stuttering and sometimes locking up completely and the occasional black screen. I had to eventualy throw away one of my 8GB cards due to continual problems. I have had another old 1GB SD fail completly, not detecting, but never corrupted files.

I think it unlikley for the flash cart to corrupt files. I don't know if others have any thoughts on this point.


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## Costello (Jun 19, 2010)

yay, read this!

http://shoptemp.com/news/26/New-Kingston-M...benchmarks.html


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## RupeeClock (Jun 19, 2010)

Costello said:
			
		

> yay, read this!
> 
> http://shoptemp.com/news/26/New-Kingston-M...benchmarks.html


How do the old Kingston's bench, I wonder? The 2gb Kingston I got from Shoptemp works just fine.


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