Some important info about Panasonic SD cards

"I have a Panasonic 512MB SD card and it stopped working properly. I can see the files (sometimes) and when I try to reformat, I just get errors. Did all kinds of thing, all kinds of utilities.  Anyway, I called Panasonic and guess what, it’s out of warranty, and it’s only a few months old!

Panasonic classifies SD Cards as Accessories. That means you can pay $300 for an accessory that has a 90-Day Warranty.  I would suggest advising all visitors to your site not to buy Panasonic Branded SD Cards."

I have to admit that I would be annoyed if I paid serious money for a memory card and then find its only got a 3 month warranty.  I'm not sure if this is an US issue or does it affect Panasonic cards anywhere in the world.  Anyone want to comment? 
 

Info from Lexar:

Sorry to say but we can't make the statement that we will only source our SD cards from Japan, there may arise a time where this wouldn't be the case.  All I can say is, if any customer has purchased a Lexar Media SD card for there Dell Axim, and it is not compatible we will do our utmost to exchange it for a compatible model.

Hmm, well its a start.  Lexar do seem to be doing swapping non-Japanese cards for Japanese ones.  I can verify this as they exchanged my Chinese card for a Japanese one...

Dell finally admits the Axim has a problem with Sandisk SD cards!

Click here: http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?DN=1082866

(If you have problems with this page - because you're not registered with Dell US - use this link

instead: http://www.sandisk.com/tech/s_central.asp

----- Original Message -----

From: "Greg"

To: <duff.sdcards@virgin.net>

Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 9:23 PM

Subject: Website Feedback

SanDisk 256MB
I have Owned it nearly 5 months
AR0301LR
Dell Axim Advanced

It worked fine until 3 days ago.  I was able to store movies, music and
files on there.  Then the other day it just stopped working.  Asks me to
format the disk everytime I soft reset.  When I click on "Yes", it says that
it cannot be formatted due to error code 0 (and once it was error code 20).
I have tired CNETX Flash Format (doesn't even register as having a card),
and StorageTools.  It returns an "Unable to Format" error.

Usually, I just transfer data via my wireless setup between my desktop and
my Axim.

Mitchy K sent me this link regarding Ipaq 3800's - interesting, eh?: http://wwss1pro.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewdocument.asp?source=MH020123_CW03.xml&dt=3

Does Sandisk now make a working 256mb SD card?  Three people who have had Sandisk SD card problems now have replacement cards with the code AR0307NS - these are cards made THIS MONTH...

July 20th 2003 again

Here we go again!  News regarding a "Dell SD card fix" has reached me from a number of sources - Larry says:

I called Sandisk and they told me that they were working with dell on the problem and that dell should have an update available sometime next week.

And Gordias says:

Spoke to Dell technical support this morning. Fix now estimated for first week of August.

Thanks for the info, guys!

July 15th 2003

I think either Dell or Sandisk is telling porkies.  Thanks to Koen, I had this email:

I contacted Dell support today and they said that the cards of simpletech NEVER give problems in the dell, they told me that the problem is not the dell but in the firmware of the SD cards, Sandisk has an updated version now and that would work fine, they told me also to contact transcend to change my card with another that has been updated...

However, Sandisk says this:

Unfortunately, I can not substantiate for the response Dell has provided you. The information is absolutely incorrect. We will advise all our customers when a solution this issue becomes available.

Two questions here - Can anyone trust what Dell Support is saying on this issue, and are Sandisk really working on this?

(Oh, and Dell Technical Support, I know you're accessing this website...  I'm not getting paid for this, unlike you..  Fix the bloody problem!)

July 14th 2003

Dane-Elec have admitted something...

Subject: RE: SD card controller question Date: 14 July 2003 12:01 PM

Jon

As per my mail below, all SD cards are in very short supply due to the increased global demand.

In order to meet the demand of our customers we have been obliged to source cards from channels outside our normal supply chain, i.e. Toshiba & Panasonic.

Sorry I cannot be of more assistance.

July 7th 2003 - again...

Whilst searching for SD card problems on various devices, I'm came up with the following links:

July 7th 2003

Nope!  No ROM from Dell yet.  Also I've got details regarding a non-PDA device - thanks Kammy! 

July 3rd 2003

Are Dell going to release a new ROM that sorts out the SD card problems by slowing down the write speed to a SD card? 

July 1st 2003

Sorry to say that I've already had news that Windows Mobile 2003 DOES NOT FIX THE SD CARD PROBLEM WITH THE DELL AXIM X5.  Bummer.

June 25th 2003

Pocket PC 2003 (or Windows Mobile 2003) has been released for a couple of days - wouldn't it be great if that fixed the SD card problem?  I know that

(on the Axim at least) that the SDMMC.DLL driver file size has gone from 14k to 17k...  Anyone who's upgraded and has any news please email!!!

June 22nd 2003

An earlier email from Dane-Elec...  Well done Dane-Elec for being honest!!!

From: "TechSupport" <TechSupport@dane.co.uk>
To: "Jon C" <.....@virgin.net>
Subject: RE: SD card controller question
Date: 06 June 2003 18:40

Jon,

Please excuse the delay in responding but I have been on holiday. 

Our cards are manufactured by Toshiba and Panasonic. We cannot provide you with any details which will help you 

identify the difference between them since they are retail packaged and the part code is on the reverse of the card 

which cannot be seen. The 256MB cards are in very short supply due to the increase in demand seen globally. 

I suggest requesting a Panasonic SD card. There are other manufacturers less well known such as Hagiwara but I am 

unsure what controllers they use in their cards so the safest bet is Panasonic. 

Regards 

Techsupport

June 20th 2003

Email from Sandisk Europe:

From: <EuropeSupport@SanDisk.com> 

To: <.....@virgin.net> 

Subject: RE:FW: FW: SanDisk Technical Support [#245563] 

Date: 20 June 2003 16:06 

Hello, 

Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical Support. 

Actually the issue is random and difficult to track at the moment as some of the mentioned cards do work well with 

the Dell Axim. Customers are randomly experiencing this problem that both Dell and SanDisk are deligently working 

on finding the root cause and correcting the problem as soon as a solution becomes available. 

Dell Axim was released after the existence of the SD card technology that SanDisk and other manufacturers developed 

and so any manufacturer that comes out with a device should and must follow the SD standard technology. Having said 

that I am not intending to insinuate that the problem solely is with the Dell Axim or with our SD cards. Pointing 

figures is not a solution here as both SanDisk and Dell are currently working together in resolving this problem. 

In the meantime I can offer to replace your SD card with a CompactFlash card of the same capacity since this card 

functions well in the pda.

Hmmmm, why can't they just reply with a straight answer?  I'm wondering if Sandisk & Dell support personnel have been trained by politicians!!!!

June 12th 2003

Just stuffed this site live as a test - early days yet.  Feedback doesn't work as my ISP's hosting doesn't support FrontPage extensions.  This is basically an extension of the details found on the Dell forum site - Clicky - but the lack of response from Dell is annoying.  Thanks to the help of Mr C (who's generously supplied some SD cards to test) and others I thought it's time the users struck back.

Any manufacturers who want me to try my tests on their SD cards on my Axim then please let me know!!! (512mb cards would be nice - lol) 

Jon (Happycheesecake) C