Hacking MicroSD's & M3i Zero

[StuKeeler]

I've recently upgraded from an R4 to the M3i Zero, and also from a 2GB to an 8GB Micro SD card.

I've had a few problems with the M3i hanging on load (and sometimes diskcheck reporting fatal errors) which I believe I have tracked down to the new Micro SD.

I've formatted these 3 cards with the Panasonic SD Formatter...
1) 1GB Kingston (Japan) Micro SD
2) 2GB Kingston (Japan) Micro SD
3) 8GB Transcend (Taiwan) Micro SDHC Class 6

...and then benchmarked them against each other using the latest 1.40 sakura firmware and a couple of games.

The two Kingston cards work perfectly, even using with RTS, Soft Reset and Cheats.
The new Transcend card is already showing problems!

Problem 1 (most common): hangs with mauve 'NOW LOADING..." screen on bottom and black screen on top.
Problem 2: disk check reports a fatal error and recommends copying files to hard disk.
Problem 3: hangs during soft reset with 'M3DS REAL' logo displayed (with black) only on bottom screen.

Usually by turning off and back on, it works ok after.

So my question is; can anyone tell me why the Transcend card causes problems and what similar card would you recommend?
Is it SDHC cards in general?
8GB cards?
Class 6 SDHC cards?
Something unique to the transcend brand?

I wanted an 8GB card and I thought the Class 6 Transcend would be great!!
Roadkil's Disk Speed (v1.1) reports the big Transcend card as fastest on average out of the three cards.
It might just be me, but the Kingston cards did seem to fit a bit 'better' though in the M3i's Micro SD slot.

 

[iamjust]

Well firstly, I would try I different microSD reader, as I was having similar problems for a while.
Also, you could try using (gasp!) windows formatter. It works for me...
And lastly, I sometimes have a problem after converting savegame files, causing a fatal disk check error. You can right click>properties>check disk in windows to fix that.

Hope you get it working!

 

[StuKeeler]

Well firstly, I would try I different microSD reader, as I was having similar problems for a while.
Also, you could try using (gasp!) windows formatter. It works for me...
And lastly, I sometimes have a problem after converting savegame files, causing a fatal disk check error. You can right click>properties>check disk in windows to fix that.

I used to use my multi-card reader (with direct TF port) but now use the M3i reader as it's faster.
The problem occurred using both readers, plus the Kingston 1GB & 2GB cards work fine so I don't think this is the issue.
I tried windows formatter so I can also rule that out.
I have not converted any savegames, is this necessary... they seem to work fine on the Kingston cards?

Someone else mentioned problems with an 8GB card (Kingston this time) in another thread, can anyone confirm (either way) if it is 8GB SDHC cards that are causing problems on the M3i?

I was going to try returning the Transcend and order a Kingston as had no previous problems with them BUT if it's all 8GB cards then I'll be wasting my time!

 

[iamjust]

Same here, I switched to the M3i reader.For me, that solved one problem. Not using the Panasonic SD formatter solved another where the files were getting randomly corrupted. And no. converting isn't necessary, only if you downloaded save games from online or something. I wouldn't know about an 8GB problem since I only have 2 and 1 GB cards.

 

[Placeholder]

I get this issue occasionally with every combination I try. I just switch the DSi off, take out the MicroSD, rub the contacts on it, then put it back in. It usually works after that. I don't know what rubbing it does, if anything, the SD is clean anyway...

 

[StuKeeler]

Ok an update....

Swapped the Transcend 8GB card for a Kingston Class 4 8GB (JAPAN) and have had no problems!

Something in the architecture of the transcend card or the fact it is class 6 (seems odd to be counter-productive) made it incompatible with the M3i!

 

[Dialga.The.Maste]

I think its because of it being a 8GB card because I use a Transcend 4GB Class 6 card and it works completely fine on my M3i0

 

[StuKeeler]

I think its because of it being a 8GB card because I use a Transcend 4GB Class 6 card and it works completely fine on my M3i0

That makes the situation a bit stranger then!

My Kingston 8GB (Class 4) is working absolutely fine, so it seems we cannot rule out that 'Class 6 cards are problematic' or 'Transcend cards are problematic' but that the specific Transcend 8GB card gave problems.

I guess that it could even have been a hardware fault on my Transcend card and that others have no problems using an 8GB Transcend!

 

[DeltaBurnt]

It could have been possible that your cards were fakes/clones, cheap nock offs of the real kind like if you see a Kingston that says it's made in not Japan/Taiwan but China then it's a fake and it'll probably cause problems.

 

[StuKeeler]

It could have been possible that your cards were fakes/clones, cheap nock offs of the real kind like if you see a Kingston that says it's made in not Japan/Taiwan but China then it's a fake and it'll probably cause problems.

That is a possibility. Although this was from a reputable online store (7dayshop.com) and looked (to my eyes) 100% genuine. I guess you never truly know though!

 

[jayx3m]

I have a generic 8gb and it works fine. Frequent hanging is possibly a contact issue with the cart itself. You may want to add a piece of paper to the back of the contact points to make it thicker making a better contact with the DS Cart slot.

 

[gameguy95]

i have a 16 gb class 2 SDHC should that be fine? made in China by Polaroid.

 

[StuKeeler]

I have a generic 8gb and it works fine. Frequent hanging is possibly a contact issue with the cart itself. You may want to add a piece of paper to the back of the contact points to make it thicker making a better contact with the DS Cart slot.
I suspected contact issues first off, and I tried a piece of card behind the contacts but found no difference. Since I have not had the hanging issues after using the Kingston, I think I can rule out the contact between the DS Cart slot and the M3i. Possibly the contacts between the Transcend microSDHC and the M3i could not have been perfect though... the Kingston does seem to 'click' into place better in the slot?

QUOTE(gameguy95 @ Aug 24 2009, 07:22 PM) i have a 16 gb class 2 SDHC should that be fine? made in China by Polaroid.

Honestly, at this point it is hard to say what will and wont work without getting some sort of database where people are testing their cards and reporting back what does and doesn't work properly. Something like this but updated to include the newer SDHC cards.
According to the M3i's blurb, it supports "micro SDHC (capacity over 4GB, 8GB ,16GB & 32GB …)" so you would think any card is fine but as with previous flash carts, things can be temperamental.
If you look at this thread for example, some say Class 2 cards should be avoided, whereas others might come in and dissagree!

I do remember that formatting the older MicroSD cards to FAT16 rather than FAT32 solved some slowdown issues but of course this cannot be done on cards with capacities over 2GB! You can make a 2GB partition at FAT16 but this is counter-productive as you might as well just buy a 2GB card!

 

[silent sniper]

im using a sandisk class 2 8gb, its.... ok. but compared to my old kingston 2gb, its not nearly as good.

 

[Ralek]

Well for Transcend I can say I used a Transced 4GB SD in my M3 Lite Slot-2 and never had any problems. No Slowdowns with any Castlevania game ever. But for SDHC that can be quite a different matter.

 

[mandrak3]

This might be completely unrelated, but may be worth trying out. I've had corruption issues with the M3 reader for a bit at a friends place, then discovered that on the laptop that I was transferring files from/to, I did not "eject" the M3 USB reader (MS Explorer "right click" on the reader then "Eject"), but instead just pulled it straight out when I figured there was no disk activities. Corruption happens on some occasions but not others. I think it's a combination of SD and whatever OS you are running on the system. From then on, I've always properly ejected the reader and have had no more issues.

So, my suggestion, make sure you properly Eject the card, before pulling it. See if that makes any difference for you. If not, sounds like issues with the card

 

[StuKeeler]

Thanks mandrak3, but I do always eject USB devices and would also strongly advise everyone to do the same if they don't already (especially when dealing with USB drives & memory!

).