Hi my name is Jon, and I'm a long time lurker. I know most of you fairly well (I know who to PM [pester magnificently] for Nokia release dates, or just simply to talk... :-) ), don't feel shy to say hi. (I know it's sort of selfish to register just cause I have a problem, but I'm usually the quiet type anyways. So, sorry :P)

My problem:

Whenever I insert the stock SD card in my N800, I am unable to read it as it says "PC Connection active". This issue I believe goes way back, it started when I was trying to do a data transfer via USB for some files, the transfer failed for some unknown reason, and from then on the USB Cable is connected icon has always been there. Consequently, I was unable to connect via USB to any computer afterwards (worked fine before).

I decided to ignore the issue for the time being, reasoning that eventually (2 months later or so lol) a new firmware would come out, I would back stuff up, flash, and the issue would be gone. I never removed my SD card, used it for local music.

Finally upgrade day came (Good timing too! I had bought 2 8GB sdhc cards the week before), loaded as much junk as I could onto the SD card, took it out, and backed up the rest via rsyn on ssh.

Guess what? The problem is still there >_< . I thought it might have been a software issue, cause I really work my N800 out, installing all sorts of software (beta's and alpha's), tinkering in xterm as root.... I figured some random sys file got corrupted..... (though I'm usually careful and know for the most part what I'm doing).

Now I'm leaning towards a hardware issue, which would majorly suck (I've owned my precious N800 for months... would Nokia take it back and replace it if the issue was hardware after all this time? :-( ). Whenever I stick my sd card in the external slot, as soon as I CLOSE the little door thing, it says PC Connection active. If I put it in the internal, it sometimes says PC Connection active, sometimes it .....does nothing.

What's up? I tried searching the forums, couldn't find much, though I thought I remember reading someone with the same issue a long time ago....?


So I basically have a new tablet (essentially with the flash) that can't read my SD card. The SDHC cards haven't arrived yet though do to some issues with shipping. Long story >_>


Help?

Thanks for reading this :-)

--Jon

It's been 12 hours with no replies, and this thing has got me stumped. Just a kind bump :-)

This might work.....

First get the "gconf-editor" from here:

http://maemo.org/downloads/product/gconf-editor/

then click on "system", then "osso", then "af".

There is a check box to indicate if the USB cable is connected to a PC. You might need to clear the check box.

If you don't want to download the gconf-editor, you can
edit the XML file directly.

/var/lib/gconf/system/osso/af/%gconf.xml

you will find a bunch of settings, like if the camera is out,
if the mmc cover is open, if mmc is attached via usb, etc.

Thanks for the reply!

This is odd:

mmc-device-present
mmc-used-over-usb
-usb-cable-attached

are all checked.

I'm leaving only mmc-device present checked...

doesn't seem to do it...

reinserting card (external slot)...

Connected via USB message pops up >_<

Checking Gconf......

only the first two options are checked, usb-cable-attached is NOT checked. Progress

unchecking mmc-used-over-usb and rebooting...

All three checkmarks are back :-/

Interesting note: When I leaved them checked, it tells me that I can't access the card when I click on it, due to usb cable. Once I uncheck just the usb options that I aforementioned, it tells me that there is NO card in, even though mmc-device-present is there... or am i missing something?


What I don't understand is how it could be a configuration issue, as the device was wiped when I flashed the latest firmware.... :-/

I appreciate the help cmideiros. Any more suggestions? :-/

Interesting...

I open the external door, and I find a lot of mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: command timout (CMD8) in dmesg.

mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: cover is now open
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: command timeout (CMD8)
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: card status error (CMD13)
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: command timeout (CMD8)
.... lots of the last one.

stick the card in...

nothing updated in the dmesg. Just lots of EAC mode messages. Are they relevant?

close door...

more command time out paired with card status error:
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: command timeout (CMD8)
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: command timeout (CMD8)
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: card status error (CMD55)

this treo is in there a couple separate times, sometimes sepparated by menalaus: Setting voltage "VDCDC3" to all sorts of different voltages. 0, 2800 mV, 3300 mV ... not sure if relevant

continuing:
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: command timeout (CMD8)
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: command timeout (CMD8)
mmci-omap mmci-omap.1: card status error (CMD55)
mmcblk0: mmc1:e624 SD128 123008KiB
mmcblk0: p1
2 more EAC mode messages.


Not sure if either the EAC or menalaus messages are relevant.

This is all dealing with the external slot of course. I decided to check out the dmesg cause I thought i could try to manually mount the card. of course i got an error (all it said is mounting dev on location failed).

Looks to me as if the card is read (it recognized SD128, with how big the drive is ~120 in MB ) but mmci-omap mmci-omap.1 is misbehaving

Suggestions?

Strange issues.. Regarding the internal card. I believe there is a magnetic switch or something which disables access to the internal card or sets a ready to eject flag while the back cover is off. Don't know if that tidbit helps at all.

I knew there was some sort of switch, didn't think it was magnetic though. Couldn't it damage the card in that case?

An emf field would only do damage if it was strong enough to induce a current disruptive to the existing current and above the capacity of the circuits tolerance to current variance. and only while the magnet is in motion relative to the circuit. But yes, without knowing what the threshold for SDRam is, I have concerns about generating bit errors in the circuit. Apparently it isn't an issue though.

The card doesn't use magnetism for storage, so no, that won't damage the card. But if the cover is not on then it won't mount (the card is automatically mounted when the cover goes on, and dismounted when off. Likewise for that little flap over the external card. This is important, particularly for the unmount because as part of the automatic unmount the system will need to flush non-written data to the card. By ripping out the card too fast you could end up with inconsistencies (just as when you unplug a USB stick from a Windows PC without going through the 'safe to remove USB device' sequence thingy)).

Ok I see. I agree with you both. TA, even though it doesn't use magnetism, a magnet can still do bad things to electricity. Point in fact: Wave a magnet in front of your monitor :P

I don't think that the magnetic field could have screwed up my internet tablet though :P

I need a linux hardware guru :P (I think)

I was hoping there would be more files in /var/log. There's only some font config file though

Anyone know Nokia's stance on replacing units, or perhaps where I can find such info? I'm still hoping this is recoverable without soldering.