Micro SD card just stopped being recognized

harold815

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ScenarioYou get a new Samsung Galaxy S3 (SG3) with Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0.1 (operating system - OS) in late 2012. You then purchase a brand new SanDisk 32gb class 10 chip. The chip is formatted as a FAT32. You insert the chip and over time you might remove it to view it on the computer edit it, then re-insert the chip in your device. after some time (say 3 or 4 months). The chip is working, when suddenly one day it cannot be mounted. You try removing the chip and loading it on the PC (it works). You insert the chip in the SG3 (it will not mount). You shut down the phone remove the battery and the sim card along with the chip. Put them all back in place and turn the SG3 on (this may work on 1 or 2 attempts). It still is not seen by the sg3). You search the web and get a variety of answers and some speculation.

Now you are up to speed with me. what next?

Action taken
I took the chip out and defragmented the chip on a windows pc (just going through the process of elimination). I had a theory that perhaps the OS on my phone is buggy. Based on this theory I applied a volume name on the chip. (that is I selected the chip in windows explorer and in the right click-properties option, I name the chip - with no spaces or special characters in the name). I inserted the chip back in the SG3 and it's seen and it works. Why?

I suspect it is the operating system. It may have somehow been corrupted by an app install. I am going to restore the last backup I made to eliminate this possibility before any further harm is done to the chip.

The word on the web is that some people have seen their chips fried by their device. This seems to indicated that new instructions were introduced and are causing the device to perform in a destructive way. Perhaps the instructions tell the device to remember the volume label of the chip so it will not be recognized and further instructions may have been inserted that will cause the device to fry any future chips that are inserted.

Word on the web is that Samsung (as of the date of this posting) has done little to nothing to address this problem.

It would be great if others posted on this thread (if their scenario matches mine) with actions taken to resolve the issue. This string needs to see other (out of the box approaches or outcomes) that can be noted for other viewers.

In the end we should see closure on this issue for this device.

If this thread is followed by others.

Note: I am not good at following up on these things. so my apologies if your inquiries are not answered (nothing personal).:cool:
Hope this helps
 

dvuk

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I followed your directions and it didn't work for me. What I did is, format sd card through command promt and change a volume name of the card.
Procedure, click on (start, all programs, accessories, command prompt). Under command prompt type: (what ever volume name or letter your sd card is let say "J" for example) format J: and press enter. My card is 32GB, it took about 30 minutes to format the card. At the end of the process you can change the volume letter or name the card up to 11 characters. This procedure totally worked for me.:D
 

Mycopsycho

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Well one thing I have noticed, that most of the cards having the issue seem to be ScanDisk ultra cards...

Not so. Two or three weeks ago my unrooted ATT S3 would unexpectedly unmount the external SD card but I could get it to recognize the card if I restarted my S3. That's when I started watching the forums for this issue, but not real issues and not much luck talking to Samsung. Then two days ago my ext SD card was unmounted and nothing I could do would get the phone to recognize it. This morning I removed my ext SD card and put it into a card reader on my PC and it's not recognized. I have a feeling my Transcend 16gb SD card with all my pictures is toast. Hopefully most of them are online since I backed up my S3 through Kies when I upgraded to Jelly Bean. So this issue seems to be broader than just with the ScanDisk cards. I'll get another SD card today and see what happens.
 

Kelly Kearns

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Not so. Two or three weeks ago my unrooted ATT S3 would unexpectedly unmount the external SD card but I could get it to recognize the card if I restarted my S3. That's when I started watching the forums for this issue, but not real issues and not much luck talking to Samsung. Then two days ago my ext SD card was unmounted and nothing I could do would get the phone to recognize it. This morning I removed my ext SD card and put it into a card reader on my PC and it's not recognized. I have a feeling my Transcend 16gb SD card with all my pictures is toast. Hopefully most of them are online since I backed up my S3 through Kies when I upgraded to Jelly Bean. So this issue seems to be broader than just with the ScanDisk cards. I'll get another SD card today and see what happens.


I said MOST, not all.
 

lhweb

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Same issue here. My card unexpectedly unmounted several times last week.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Android Central Forums
 

kdskinner

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Yes, I had a Sandisk 16gb card in my GS3 and it quit being recognized after about a month of use. Took card out of phone and put in carrier and neither of my computers (OSX and Win 7) will see it. Looks like I have a burned up card here.
 

The Froman

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Hello, my sd card problem started 1 /1/2 years after heavy use. My sd card was still good, so I figure it is the card reader, I am looking for a replacement part, but am having trouble locating one. Anyone have a suggestion. i find all kinds of parts, but no card reader??? Maybe the sd card reader is integrated with another part? Thanks
 

DarkOverDroid

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Honestly, I think it's a problem with the latest version of Android guys. I have a Droid RAZR MAXX HD with the same exact SD card issues and I'm on my second replacement device. The only difference between you guys problems and mine, is that my cards are recognized by my Windows 7 P.C and my wife's Droid RAZR MAXX. I finally gave up on my MAXX HD and made Verizon send me an S3, just to come here and see that it suffers the same damn issue. It has to be Android, no question about it.
 

g8anos

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Same here with my AData 32 gb micro SD card.
First I thought its the card's fault but then I stumbled upon others having the same issues, regardless of brand.

Just for info, I managed to get the fried card to work again on the computer.
If it is not recognized by the S3 nor the PC,
just mount it and un-mount it from your PC several times.
Eventually it will read it and you may backup your files.
After that, perform a format (i used a third party program for formating SD cards)
and it will work again.

Unfortunately, when I use it on the S3 again, it becomes corrupt, and I have to go
to the whole process of un-frying it again on my PC with several mounts and un-mounts.

Stock JB 4.1.2 not rooted.
 

richv77

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That's funny because I was at BestBuy on Sunday and they ran out of the Sandisk micro cards and I didn't want to purchase the PNY cards because the write speed was allegedly slower.
I am planing to purchase the 16GB model. Should I stick with Sandisk or go with PNY? I won't format it.

I currently have a 4GB Sandisk card installed for over 6 months and I only had one minor incident with it not being recognized. After a restart, it worked again.

Thanks for any comments.

-Rich
 

cmersman

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That's funny because I was at BestBuy on Sunday and they ran out of the Sandisk micro cards and I didn't want to purchase the PNY cards because the write speed was allegedly slower.
I am planing to purchase the 16GB model. Should I stick with Sandisk or go with PNY? I won't format it.

I currently have a 4GB Sandisk card installed for over 6 months and I only had one minor incident with it not being recognized. After a restart, it worked again.

Thanks for any comments.

-Rich

I have a 16 GB Lexar that i've had for about 6 months now and literally had 0 issues. Just a thought!
 

bronsonjames

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No that is not the case either I had a brand new verbatim 16gb in my samsung s3 and it died along with the phone. One hour earlier I was viewing those pictures. I have had mutiple Sd cards as we use them all the time with the computers. Verbatim sd cards dont fail.
 

slim5384

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Just been reading this forum and came across your comment that Verbatim cards don't fail. Errrrhhh yes they do my friend I have had a 32Gb micro SD card in my S3 since May and it unmounted itself and fails to work on any device at all. I recorded a talent show my daughter was in at school, got home and played it back. Returned to the phone about 1 hour later and phone stated that the SD card had been un expectedly removed. Haven't dropped or jolted phone. Card has never been removed from the day it was installed. No explanation for it but its Stuffed - so Verbatim can fail as much as the other brands.
 

Joecap1960

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my card was doing the same thing but every time i put it on my laptop it was reconized i could write to it no problem when i put back on phone nothing so i formmated the card after no problem phone could see it and read it, sometimes format does the job
 

sn0wdream

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My 16gb Lexar stopped being recognized in my Galaxy S4. It seemed to be unmounting and remounting itself randomly. Files will appear and then disappear again.
I am not sure if this was caused by me removing the card without unmounting it the first time, maybe that screwed it up.
Now it can't be read in computer or phone.
Sure seems to be an issue with these devices.
 

Haalcyon

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The S4, both in my experience and, here, in the forums, has a habit of killing mSD cards. My theory is that the cards are being over- or under-volted but I'm no EE.

gp8.3
 

Jesse Henry

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It's the same with same with me I bought a new BLU phone with a 4gb a data microsdhc it worked for about six months :) but after that it stopped:(
I took out my battery and sim card and chip and booted up the phone it didn't work:'(. I tried it in a Samsung it said it needs to be formatted I did it but it still didn't work. i tried in a computer but it said it needs to be formatted i did it but window was unable to format it i need help pleaseO:)
 

GSDer

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Welcome to the forums!
i tried in a computer but it said it needs to be formatted i did it but window was unable to format it
Are you sure the SD card you're using is good? If it's the one that got ruined by the phone I would toss it and buy a new one (they're dirt cheap - you practically find them in Cracker Jacks boxes).

Are you sure the SD card adapter that you're using is good? The one in my laptop was a POS - I ended up buying an external one.

You could try https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

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