Samsung Galaxy S4 SD Card Issue

[RG13]

i had this issue as well a couple times but when you get the error i would suggest not to format...just restart your phone
and you will have all your things still in the sd card, atleast that works for me.
I only had this issue twice or so could it be a software glitch?

 

[aznhbob]

Any of these errors, try H2testw which will perform a benchmark grade total test...4+ hours for 64G, which reported my micro class 10 was defective, failed to consistently write/read. I was getting spurious errors, then partial frame photos. Now I know it was a bogus SD card, not formatting, not the S4. New, good card and all is well. Now comes the question about should the card be used for burst photos, because there are reports that the fastest cards for video are often poor for burst photos (longer dwell times between shots). Hmm class 1 vs class 10.

 

[Jcasey35]

I just bought a pair of Galaxy S4s, one for my wife and one for myself. I bought a 32gig Kingston HDSC card for it. It worked right off the bat, installed, formatted, and was recognized. I put about 17gigs of music on there, and my maps for Maps With Me Pro. Later that day the card just disconnected on me, "SD card unexpectedly removed" or something to that sort on my alerts. I did a few searches and found this thread to be the most informative. So I tried just putting a little pressure on above where the card would be below the backplate, and it instantly popped up that it found an SD card. It worked for about 20 minutes, and did the same thing. This time I tried the small piece of paper, once again worked for a while, and stopped working. The next time I got it working the card was blank and I was so irritated I just removed it.

Next I put it in my wife's S4 and it's been working for 2+ days now... To me this definitely looks like a hardware problem, some people might get lucky and the cards work and seat just fine, others... Maybe not so lucky??? I really want an answer on this, I find it extremely unacceptable that a nearly 700 dollar phone is having issues with hardware that's YEARS old and been used on just about every device with removable media for a long long time now.

Really thinking about putting my phone's insurance to work, on purpose, for a new phone.

Any ideas?

 

[Stlouis92]

Yeah, the "tricks" did not work for me either, had the issue yesterday again.

 

[stikemup]

After messing around with mine a little bit, I could squeeze the phone in my hand and the SD card would unmount..

Before I saw this thread I thought it might be the card itself having problems.. but I used my SanDisk 32GB Class 10 card in my GoPro for some time, then put it in my SGS4 and it started having the problems. Then I put it back in my GoPro and everything was fine with it again.

Just tried cutting a business card and put it under the SD Card and so far so good!

Edit: Just to clarify the 'trick', positioning was everything. I had to keep removing and re-inserting the SD Card to shift the business card around and find a 'sweet spot'.

 

[fijiphil]

Agree with JCasey35, this is completely unacceptable in a $700 phone. But who to complain to? T-Mobile, Samsung or Google? I'm pretty sure they'll all just try to shift blame/responsibility elsewhere.

I'm going to try the business card thing but again, in a $700 phone this is unacceptable.

 

[stikemup]

Agree with JCasey35, this is completely unacceptable in a $700 phone. But who to complain to? T-Mobile, Samsung or Google? I'm pretty sure they'll all just try to shift blame/responsibility elsewhere.

I'm going to try the business card thing but again, in a $700 phone this is unacceptable.

I completely agree. I'm just hesitant to take my phone back because in the past doing so got me a different set of problems on the replacement. I guess I just hate dealing with the not-so-intelligent 'professionals' at these stores.

 

[unmistakable]

is there any other trick other than the business card thing? because it doesn't seem to work for mine... my card sits tightly in the slot and there's not much room to shove anything else down into it this is very frustrating! my whole reason for switching to the galaxy s4 from iphone was the extra storage

 

[dmrdsm]

Had my S4 since the end of May and today I got the SD card expectantly removed message for the first time today. Really hadn't been using anything the entire day, just checked messages. Noticed the phone was very warm also. Panic set in. After reading a ton of messages on various sites, sounds like Samsung has had a problem with this message going back to older models. Sad, very sad. The phone did not even show I had a SD card installed, so couldn't try some of the recommendations. I pulled out the SD card and reinserted it. Thankfully my photos were still there. I just have a 8 GB, Class 2 Scandisk, so it looks like I don't even fit the profile of the users with bigger cards. After reading all the threads on the problem, it sure doesn't seem like it's related to a certain card vendor or size of card. I don't play music, don't plan games, the phone is handled gently. Guess time will tell if this is going to be a chronic problem with my phone. Guess my perfect phone, isn't perfect anymore. :-(

 

[Stlouis92]

Still it might be a software issue, even though I don't have the problem with my S2 running the same version. Drivers for the card readers are probably different, hence the different behavior.
Thing is : where is it that we can complain and be listened to ? Does someone know of a support site from Samsung ?

 

[srkmagnus]

Still it might be a software issue, even though I don't have the problem with my S2 running the same version. Drivers for the card readers are probably different, hence the different behavior.
Thing is : where is it that we can complain and be listened to ? Does someone know of a support site from Samsung ?

Samsung

Live chat is available for Mobile. You can start with that or see if that page offers a way to submit an issue for Samsung to look at.

 

[fijiphil]

Transcript of my chat with Samsung today:

Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Velvet'. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK111790344168X

Velvet: Hi, thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. How may I help you today?
Visitor: Hello Velvet. I have a serious issue with my new Samsung Galaxy S4 phone
Velvet: Please go ahead with your issue. I will be glad to assist you.
Visitor: I purchased a 64Gb Samsung SD card to expand the memory of the phone. However, I frequently get a message that the card has been removed or is damaged
Visitor: Sometimes the problem clears itself, other times I have to reboot the phone
Velvet: I am sorry to know that.
Velvet: Did you try with an alternate SD card in your device?
Visitor: other times I have to remove the rear cover, remove and reinsert the card before it works properly again.
Visitor: No I do not have another SD card available
Velvet: Thank you for the information.
Velvet: Since when you are facing the issue?
Visitor: Since I received the SD card... about two weeks
Visitor: Sometimes the card works fine for several days, other times it will not work at all
Visitor: well, it works but gives me the error message every few minutes
Velvet: In that case, please contact the place of purchase to try with an alternate memory card, and check for the issue.
Visitor: I have read on forums that many people are experiencing this problem, with many different brands of SD card.
Velvet: I am sorry. We do not have any official information filed on this issue. However, please check with a different SD card.
Visitor: Ok. Will you file this as a new problem in your system?
Velvet: As we are not yet confirmed what the problem might be, please check with other SD card and check for the result.
Visitor: OK. Well I will do that and if the problem persists I will seek further help. Thanks for your time.
Velvet: You're welcome. Is there anything else I can assist you with?
Visitor: Not today. Thank you.
Velvet: You are welcome.
Velvet: It was a pleasure assisting you. Thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. If you have a minute, please click on the blue ?X close? button to receive a transcript of your chat and fill out a brief survey to help us serve you better. Have a wonderful day!
Chat session has been terminated by the Samsung Agent.

 

[Stlouis92]

We should definitely point them to this topic.

Well, gave it a try, but couldn't find an operator in the list that would allow me to pick up "Galaxy S4" in the list of phones.
Tried the French site (since I'm French), but they don't offer Live chat there. Posted an email instead.

Guys, please complain on your respective support sites, this is clearly the only way to make them move.

 

[Chris Butlin]

I believe the issue is in the way the ScanDisk cards are formatted, cards that are in the 4GB to 32GB capacity are pre formatted to FAT32. You need to reformat the disk to FAT32 to correct this issue but you must de select quick format this will give you a low level format on the card, it will take a while but should resolve the issue everyone is talking about, as far as I am aware this can only be done on a PC.

The steps are:

Formatting your memory device on your PC:
1. Insert memory card into the appropriate card reader:
2. Double-click My Computer, or Computer (for Vista and Win7)
3. Right-click the drive letter associated with your memory device, then select Format
4. Select the File system type FAT32 for 4GB to 32GB capacities (exFAT for 64GB or higher capacities)
5. Make sure Quick Format is not checked
6. Click Start

Formatting of a 32GB card takes time, so allow a good 30 minutes to an hour for this operation to be complete, when done re-insert into your phone and it should work. I have done this a number of times now for different people and it works every time, please let me know if this does not work for you and I will update the post.

Good luck

 

[fijiphil]

Yeah I also couldn't see the S4 option so I just chose "other" for my device.

 

[elay_mavis]

New here, but I wan'na share with you guys the solution I have done regarding the SD Card issue. hope this will help you also as I have experience the same frustrations all of us have been through. Instead of formatting the SD card by removing it from S4, you should not remove that SD card from the unit.

1. Connect your S4 to the computer(through the supplied USB cable).
2. When the Autoplay window pops up, select "Open device to view files".
3. Explorer window opens and shows the contents of your S4. It should contain 2 folders namely, CARD and PHONE.
4. Right click on the CARD and select Format(this format will be fast). Please back-up your files before formatting.
5. On your S4 unit: go to Settings, More(upper right corner), Storage. Do not disconnect S4 from computer while doing this.
6. Select "Format SD Card". There should be a pop-up window saying "MTP application will restart to prepare SD Card. Continue?"
7. Select "OK".

That's all!!! It should work on all types/brands of SD Cards. Hope this method will work also on your S4 units and please confirm if this works for you!!!

elay_mavis
S4

 

[fijiphil]

Nope. I went through all that in day one of my struggles. It is no solution at all, the problem will reoccur, trust me.

 

[Stlouis92]

I has nothing to do with the brand of the SD card since it appeared on many different brands.
And it has nothing to do with the formatting, since I did not have the issue with my S2, on Android 4.1.2, built 31st of Jan.
S4 is on 4.2.2.

 

[Joe_Perone]

Will the Samsung brand microSD card do this as well? My Adata 32 GB card (the second btw, I bought it on the 18th of May and changed it on the 15th of June), just reset again this morning. Going to take it back on Saturday yet again and get a Samsung card instead if that's the case. This is getting to be a little ridiculous now. If it's a 4.2.2 issue, they better get this crap straightened out. The S4 completely fried the card, my computer can't even read it anymore.

 

[fijiphil]

Mine has been working flawlessly now for about 4 or 5 days, since I last took out and reseated the card. Making me think it actually is a physical issue rather than a software problem...