Hi guys!

I got a Nokia 800 for about a week and have been playing with its various capabilities.
So far, I've liked it, but I think I may have a defective flash memory card. I'm wondering if I'm missing something, or if there's a way to test the card (before spending $$$ on a replacement card that won't work either).

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Yesterday, I tried using the (supplied) Nokia 128 mb flash memory card (with mini-adaptor to make it full size) in the external flash slot.

I plugged the N800 into a laptop running PC Linux to transfer a file to the external memory card. The laptop recognized the N800 as a 128mb storage device (and mounted it automatically.) I transfered a file to the N800. I did the "safely remove" unmount option.

The laptop desktop icon disappeared, and the device was no longer listed in cd /media/disk.

But the N800 still had the "USB connected" icon in the top right corner, and so I couldn't access the file.

I rebooted the N800 (when it started it it "forgot" that it was connected), but the file wasn't on the N800.

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I tried hooking up the N800 to my Windows XP desktop computer. It recognized the N800 as a "mass storage device", but listed it as 2 separate drives (one for the internal (empty slot) and one for the external (filled) slot?)

I tried drag and dropping a small file into each of the drives but got a "Error: can't access that file" type of message.

Again, safely removing the N800 via WindowsXP (and got the "safe to remove now" message), but the N800 persisted in thinking it was still connected.

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Just using the N800, I transfered a file from the internal memory to the external card. It seemed to work. Until I closed the window, and file managered back to the external card, and the file had disappeared?!?!

I moved the flash card from the external (bottom) slot to the internal (by the battery) slot. I could copy and see the files, until I closed the window and tried to reaccess the file. Even the internal slot had the same disappearing file problem.

With the flash card in the internal slot, I tried again with my laptop PC linux and desktop Windows XP with similiar results as when the flash card was in the external slot.

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I did format the card from within the N800, and PC Linux properties said it was vfat.

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Has anybody else had this problem? My guess is a bad memory card since it would be odd for both the external and internal slots to be similiarly defective?

I was going to buy a pair of 2GB cards, and put them in the external and internal slots, but if my n800 has hardware probs so it can't read flash cards, I'd rather not waste the $$$. (I don't use any other device with flash memory, so can't test the 128MB card in a camera, for example.)

Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to test if the card or N800 is defective?

Thanks for your time!

I guess nobody has had this problem yet.

If someone comes across my post when they search, this is what I've tried:

I had a friend with a camera that saved to flash cards. I put my 128 MB Nokia card, and the camera used it just fine (so not a defective card.) I put my friends 256 into my N800, and PC Linux was able to acess the pictures (as was Windows).

However, the PC linux and Windows were not able to write to the 256MB card. Also, if I just read from the card, I could "safely remove" from the computer, and the N800 would disconnect from the computer. But if I tried to "write" to the card, the computer would safely remove, but the N800 would just hang continue to think it was connected until the reboot.

This symptom happened with both internal and external slots.

So I'm guessing there's a hardware problem- the N800 can't write to the cards, and it goes back for warranty repair.

I hope this helps anyone else who finds a simliar problem.

Many cards have little tabs which write protect; and even if you did not set it, it can accidentally get toggled when you put the card in. Did you check that?

You need to physically disconnect the cable in order for the n800 to remove the USB connection. Just dismounting the drive on your OS is not enough.

I had a similiar problem happen to me a couple of weeks back. I didn't do nearly the amount of troubleshooting darkwinner did though. Either by coincidence or direct result (I'm testing it out now), my battery life started to fall off dramatically. Based on my results so far, I think is a bad SD card (serves me right for buying a $15 2GB SD card).

>Many cards have little tabs which write protect; Did you check that?

Thanks for the suggestion. The 128 MB that comes with it oddly does have a write protect tab, but trying the card in either position didn't fix things. The 256 card did not have a write protect tab. Regardless, the camera was able to write to it, so so should the N800

>You need to physically disconnect the cable in order for the n800 to remove the USB connection. Just dismounting the drive on your OS is not enough.

Yeah, if I just read from the disk, I could unmount it (physically uncabling), but if I tried to write, it still wouldn't unmount (even with the physical cabling)

>my battery life started to fall off dramatically.

For a while I thought my battery couldn't hold a charge overnight, but then I decided I might just be having that "needs to be plugged in for first boot" issue that has been reporting.

When I send it back to Nokia, I'll bring up this issue as well.

Thanks all,

The Darkwinner