A Photography forum. PhotoBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » PhotoBanter.com forum » Digital Photography » Digital Point & Shoot Cameras
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

HP 935 5.1mp digital camera. Error message: "SD card is locked".Need a cure to take pictures again.



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old June 12th 05, 12:20 PM
onederer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default HP 935 5.1mp digital camera. Error message: "SD card is locked".Need a cure to take pictures again.

I have an HP 935, 5.1MP. If no one can answer this question, I will
have to throw this camera in the trash can. HP wants $35 just to say
Hello to me. This is like throwing money down the toilet. The only
thing that they want to talk to me about is selling me a used
(refurbished) camera for just a few bucks less than what I paid for this
one. And yes, they are telling me to throw away this camera. Some
customer service!

The camera will no longer take pictures anymore. It's _neve_r been
dropped, and has been used approx 4 times during a two year period. The
camera now tells me that the SD memory card is locked (which it isn't).
A brand new memory card produces the same results.

Does anyone know how to "unlock" the memory cards? I need a fix for
this camera. I am not talking about the switch on the side of the memory
card. This is a software error, or the sensing switch for the card is
not functioning.

Thanks
  #2  
Old June 12th 05, 06:35 PM
Whiskers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 2005-06-12, onederer wrote:
I have an HP 935, 5.1MP. If no one can answer this question, I will
have to throw this camera in the trash can. HP wants $35 just to say
Hello to me. This is like throwing money down the toilet. The only
thing that they want to talk to me about is selling me a used
(refurbished) camera for just a few bucks less than what I paid for this
one. And yes, they are telling me to throw away this camera. Some
customer service!

The camera will no longer take pictures anymore. It's _neve_r been
dropped, and has been used approx 4 times during a two year period. The
camera now tells me that the SD memory card is locked (which it isn't).
A brand new memory card produces the same results.

Does anyone know how to "unlock" the memory cards? I need a fix for
this camera. I am not talking about the switch on the side of the memory
card. This is a software error, or the sensing switch for the card is
not functioning.

Thanks


The 'write protect switch' seems to be a purely mechanical thing on the
card itself, and peering into the slot on my camera [1] it looks as though
the 'detector' inside the slot is a micro-switch.

I'm guessing, but perhaps there is a little bit of dust or something inside
your camera that has the micro-switch jammed in the 'write-protected'
position? Another guess would be that the electrical part of the switch
inside the camera is faulty.

The SD card slots don't look as though they can be dismantled for
maintenance; whether it makes economic sense to change the card-slot in a
camera, I don't know; HP's attitude suggests that from their point of view,
it isn't. An independent repairer might be able to do it at a price you
could tolerate - but that too is just a guess.

If the alternative is to junk the camera anyway, perhaps it would be worth
trying a puff of compressed air from one of the cans sold for cleaning
computers? That might dislodge whatever is jamming the mechanism. Even
more drastic, a cotton bud moistened with the liquid used for cleaning
tape-deck heads or record-player pickups?

I'm still new to digital cameras, but I have seen 'digital camera care
kits' in the shops. I'd also be inclined to ask the shop for advice, if
you haven't tried that already.

[1] My camera is a Samsung, not an HP, but I expect the SD card slots are
much the same.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
  #3  
Old June 13th 05, 03:09 PM
Steven M. Scharf
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

onederer wrote:
I have an HP 935, 5.1MP. If no one can answer this question, I will
have to throw this camera in the trash can. HP wants $35 just to say
Hello to me. This is like throwing money down the toilet. The only
thing that they want to talk to me about is selling me a used
(refurbished) camera for just a few bucks less than what I paid for this
one. And yes, they are telling me to throw away this camera. Some
customer service!

The camera will no longer take pictures anymore. It's _neve_r been
dropped, and has been used approx 4 times during a two year period. The
camera now tells me that the SD memory card is locked (which it isn't).
A brand new memory card produces the same results.

Does anyone know how to "unlock" the memory cards? I need a fix for
this camera. I am not talking about the switch on the side of the memory
card. This is a software error, or the sensing switch for the card is
not functioning.


Almost certainly it's the switch in the camera. The SD card switch is
purely mechanical, on both ends. Could be that the switch in the camera
has oxidation on the contacts, the contacts could be bent, or their
could be a speck of dirt in it (assuming that it must be closed for
writing, which I am not sure of, and the SD organization doesn't publish
the specification, you have to be a member to get it).

For point and shoot cameras, they are not going to open the camera and
attempt a repair; if it's out of warranty they are going to trash it.

Camera makers love SD because it's small and cheap, but Compact Flash is
much better.

You could try blasting some air in there, as someone else suggested, but
this is a long shot. OTOH, you don't have much to lose!
  #4  
Old June 13th 05, 03:25 PM
David J Taylor
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Steven M. Scharf wrote:
[]
Camera makers love SD because it's small and cheap, but Compact Flash
is much better.

You could try blasting some air in there, as someone else suggested,
but this is a long shot. OTOH, you don't have much to lose!


What makes you say that CF is much better? SD can be made without the
troublesome switch, e.g.:

http://www.kingmaxdigi.com/news/news..._p20040303.htm

and the contact arrangement strikes me as much better than CF. The OP
could try this brand of card in his camera. (We've used them without
problems).

David


  #5  
Old June 13th 05, 08:25 PM
Whiskers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 2005-06-13, Steven M. Scharf wrote:

snip

Almost certainly it's the switch in the camera. The SD card switch is
purely mechanical, on both ends. Could be that the switch in the camera
has oxidation on the contacts, the contacts could be bent, or their
could be a speck of dirt in it (assuming that it must be closed for
writing, which I am not sure of, and the SD organization doesn't publish
the specification, you have to be a member to get it).


There is this http://www.sandisk.com/pdf/oem/SD_SDIO_specsv1.pdf

snip

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
  #6  
Old June 13th 05, 09:23 PM
Steven M. Scharf
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

David J Taylor wrote:

and the contact arrangement strikes me as much better than CF. The OP
could try this brand of card in his camera. (We've used them without
problems).


It isn't the card that's the problem here, it's the switch on the SD
card socket. I don't think that there is any camera maker that does not
implement the WP functionality.
  #7  
Old June 14th 05, 05:18 PM
ASAAR
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 20:23:22 GMT, Steven M. Scharf wrote:

It isn't the card that's the problem here, it's the switch on the SD
card socket. I don't think that there is any camera maker that does not
implement the WP functionality.


The OP could try using an MMC card instead, which should bypass
any switch on the SD socket. It wouldn't be as fast as an SD card,
but it might not be any slower if used in an HP 935.

  #8  
Old June 14th 05, 07:03 PM
Rudy Benner
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"ASAAR" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 20:23:22 GMT, Steven M. Scharf wrote:

It isn't the card that's the problem here, it's the switch on the SD
card socket. I don't think that there is any camera maker that does not
implement the WP functionality.


The OP could try using an MMC card instead, which should bypass
any switch on the SD socket. It wouldn't be as fast as an SD card,
but it might not be any slower if used in an HP 935.


Interesting, how close is the compatibility between SD and MMC?


  #9  
Old June 14th 05, 09:01 PM
Steven M. Scharf
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

ASAAR wrote:
On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 20:23:22 GMT, Steven M. Scharf wrote:


It isn't the card that's the problem here, it's the switch on the SD
card socket. I don't think that there is any camera maker that does not
implement the WP functionality.



The OP could try using an MMC card instead, which should bypass
any switch on the SD socket. It wouldn't be as fast as an SD card,
but it might not be any slower if used in an HP 935.


Good idea. I wonder how smart the camera's firmware is. If the switch on
the socket is stuck in "WP" mode for SD, is the firmware smart enough to
ignore this when an a MMC card is inserted, because MMC doesn't support
WP? I wouldn't count on this.
  #10  
Old June 15th 05, 02:20 AM
ASAAR
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 14:03:57 -0400, Rudy Benner wrote:

Interesting, how close is the compatibility between SD and MMC?


The only difference I'm aware of is that of speed, and I believe
that that is due to SD cards having a wider data path. I know that
in PDAs, MMC cards work, but are much slower moving files and
loading programs. Some ancient device that was designed to work
with MMC cards *might* not be compatible with SD cards, but any
device designed to accept SD cards should work with MMC also, but
with limitations. One example would be in cameras claiming to allow
unlimited length videos to be made. If the card isn't fast enough,
usually that video length is very limited, such as to a length of 20
seconds. I've been told that some cameras don't stop recording, but
simply drop images when the card can't keep up. In such a camera,
MMC cards would be guaranteed to produce horrendous videos. Still
images wouldn't suffer, other than shot to shot delays might be
longer than if SD cards are used.

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
digital camera storage conundrum - Answered! [email protected] Digital Photography 0 January 12th 05 03:51 AM
Digital zoom camera & lots of selection questions Lou Digital Photography 5 November 12th 04 01:43 AM
FA: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1 Digital camera with Leica 12X optical zoom lens Marvin Culpepper Digital Photo Equipment For Sale 0 October 15th 04 01:05 AM
What was wrong with film? George Medium Format Photography Equipment 192 March 4th 04 03:44 PM
Which is better? digital cameras or older crappy cameras thatuse film? Michael Weinstein, M.D. In The Darkroom 13 January 24th 04 10:51 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:20 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 PhotoBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.