Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

The internal card slot on my n800 has spontaneously stopped working. I have tried 3 SD cards and none of them show up at all. All three cards show up when I insert them in the external slot. I have tried reformating the cards, but no dice. I really need both card slots to be functional, as I have been using my n800 to upload photos from my Nikon D80 to my blog. Anyone have any suggestions on troubleshooting before sending it back to Nokia? If I do end up having to send it back, does anyone have any suggestions as to how to "turbo" it through the repair process? I have heard a lot of horror stories and don't like the idea of being without my n800 for months.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

Dunno if it's any help but I have had a similar problem - cards not showing up in the internal slot but working perfectly in the external one.

I have managed to get the slot working again a couple of times by removing and inserting the card several times, making sure it is really seated well, and clicking the sliding metal securing thing back into place very firmly. In any case the card won't show up as working in the internal slot until you put the back on the N800.


It is quite frustrating though, as the the internal slot will then work fine for a week or so, before spontaneously disappearing, and without (configured as virtual memory) the N800 seems to run appreciably slower.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

Thank you very much for your comment, mfresh, particularly the bit about the cover needing to be on. I wondered to myself "ok, so the cover has to be on...how does it know the cover is on?" Turn out, Nokia used a tiny but powerful magnet on the n800, similar to how they sensed the presence of the hard cover on the 770. The magnet must have been attached with some pretty weak adhesive on my unit....because it is no longer there. I confirmed my magnetic sensor theory using a big powerful magnet from dead hard disk. If I waved the magnet over the rear of the circuit board, I instantly got a "Memory Card Detected" message on the screen. The hard disk magnet was obviously much to big for a permanent solution, so I tried a fridge magnet. The fridge magnet was much too weak. I thought to myself "now where am I going to get a small, powerful magnet at 4 in the morning..." I ended up cannibalizing a set of ear buds and pulling a tiny magnetic disk from those. I confirmed it is strong enough to activate the sensor. With a little work from some pliers, I managed to make a shard small enough to fit in the little square pit on the removable case section (where the original one obviously had been). To prevent future magnetic misadventures, I used epoxy to seal it in place.

If anyone else is having problems with the internal memory card not being detected, I would check to make sure your magnet hasn't gone missing. Thanks Nokia for the robust hardware design!

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

;) By Writing this I am surely opening my self up for Flames.
I have a Nokia 770 and a 1 GB Dv RS-MMC Card. Since the day I installed it ( almost a year back) in my IT I never had the need to take it out but once. Most of the time when I need to move pictures to and from my Camera or Nokia IT, I simply use the USB cable or the Bluetooth Mode. Considering the fact that the Hardware of the Nokia N800 is not very robust, I think a little extra care when handling it would save all of us a lot of headache.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

Yeah, I was a little surprised at the mechanism used to detect a closed cover (which is actually what's being checked). IMO detection should have been integrated into the device via the battery cover clip contact.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

It's all becoming clearer now...

The times I have had trouble with my device when I have had to remove the battery to reboot, it is quite possible that I have left the back off while it rebooted. Then it would have rebooted and not detected the internal card, and run slowly.

Giving up on the device and seeing if it worked in the morning DID actually work, because I would then put the rear cover back on, and the next morning it would work....

So it had nothing to do with wiggling the card around in the socket - it was all about the back and the magnet!

But why would it need the cover to be on? Why have a magnet to check?

This N800 is like a totally unsuitable lover. I adore it but it drives me mad with rage sometimes...

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

As with any relationship, it's all about communication - it's been mentioned in this forum many times (usually when someone has a bad SD slot experience) that the battery cover is required before the internal card will mount! ;)

And you also need to close the little door before the external card will mount. :)

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

This is actually good feature. It allows the device to mount filesystem with write caching enabled since there is time and opportunity to display warning when you remove the cover before you remove the card. Also there is powersaving feature - it does not scan for card changes few times per second when the door is closed since you cannot remove the card.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

It might be a good feature, but a poorly implemented one. I have never abused my N800 and yet their magnet obviously got loose and took a holiday never to be seen again. From further searching, I have turned up several other users who appear to be having similar problems. That the magnet can come loose is a manufacturing/design defect, pure and simple.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

It's clearly a manufacturing defect - there's no excuse for not using strong enough glue (assuming that is the cause) or it could just be that your device didn't receive a dollop of glue at all during manufacture. Either way, it's a manufacturing cockup.

When the magnet is present it works faultlessly, as designed - the designers can't be blamed for what happens on the production line.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

The internal slot is very sensitive, take care when inserting and removing your SD cards. Although, I do hate how the cover must be on for the memory card to mount. Sooner or later the mechanism will loosen up....

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

Actually, I can and do blame the designers. Knowing how stuff gets made in the real world is an important part of being a good designer. Using nothing but adhesive to secure the magnet in place is a design decision. Not using enough/poor choice of adhesive is a manufacturing/quality control issue. Either way, this is costing them money in returned/repaired units and is causing frustration for their customer base, in part due to their rather infamous poor turn around time on repairing units. There are more than a few hardware design issues with the n800:

-rear door rattles
-top buttons excruciatingly small
-inner sd card retention mechanism is flimsy
-battery slot is too tight for easy battery swapping
-The felt like slip case is a complete joke

In general, the N800 does not feel as "tight" or "solid" as the 770.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

Yeah, I agree that the retention mechanism for the internal SD card slot is pretty flimsy. I originally thought that was the source of the problem, but it was indeed the magnet going missing that was the cause.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

Eh, as a former consumer product designer I can assure you the buck doesn't stop there. SOMEone approves that design, or even submits guidelines in the first place. Often it's marketing, or product/program management types. Either way, it's the natural tendency of designers to over design critical features-- and then some lugnut higher up with a red pen starts trimming.

Re: Dead Internal SD Card Slot
 

The slider can definitely move out of place, and it is worthwhile to take a look at it any time you have dropped or otherwise jolted your N800. Resulting problems do not always point in an obvious way to the mechanical attachment of the card.

My N800 boots from the internal card, and everything seemed to be working at first when I had dropped it. After a couple of days, I found that the browser and Media Player were not saving new bookmarks, and I could not delete existing ones. It looked like a problem that could be fixed by restoring a backup. The N800 said the backup was unavailable. That was the first indication of anything wrong with the internal card. It turned out that the slider had moved. All problems were fixed by returning it into position.