I have done the following actions: (1) connected a 6-in-1 card reader to a PC with Windows XP via USB2.0 connection (2) put in a 64MB Smart Media card into the card reader (3) CUT and pasted all the photo files from Smart Media to PC hard disk

After that I found my Smart Media could not be used by the camera (a FUJI MX-1500) again - with message 'card error'. The error persisted even if I formatted it again in the camera.

Strangely enough, the smart media card can still be read by the PC thru the card reader. Of course there are no more files there (for there were all 'cut'), but I can copy back all PC photo files onto the smart media without problem. Though it still cannot be used by the camera.

Still more strange, I tried the same for another smart media card (4 MB), but there is no such problem.

Why is there problems for the first smart media card? Any way to fix it for use by camera again? Is it not a good way to erase files in a Smart Media card by a card reader ?

-- dragon (thedragon@dbzmail.com), February 01, 2003

Answers

I'm sorry to say that I have no answer but have the same problem. I'm using an Olympus 3000 camera, an Apple Powerbook and a pcmcia card reader. Just experienced exactly the same problem as above. The reader can see the pictures on the card and successfully transfer them to the hard drive. The problem is that after that the camera cannot see the card. "Card Error" I've had this problem before with two other Olympus cameras and sent them back to Olympus for repair. They have repaired the problem but never given an explanation as to why this happens. I've only bought Olympus cameras, but now I'm thinking about switching. As an alternative thought, I've decided to buy only 16 MB cards since they are cheaper and I won't suffer so much when I lose a 64MB or 128MB card. Wish somebody had a real answer for this problem or knew of a software fix that could reformat a card so that the camera could see it again.

-- Chod Lang (azores@blast.net), February 01, 2003.

I have had a very similar problem with a 64MB SM card and an Olympus E20. I had an old computer running Windows ME with a USB card reader. I could read and write to the card in the comoputer with no problem I could also format it and the camera would recognise the format. I changed my computer to a Pentium 4 machine running XP, with a 6 in 1 card reader built in. I shot some pictures, transferred them to the computer, them used the computer to delete them from the card. The camera will now not read or write to the card. Formatting it fails, giving a "card error" message. Formating in the new computer also fails, giving an "I O error" message. I can now still format read and write with it on my old ME machine with the external reader, but not on my new computer or my camera. I'm sure the problem is the same as the one mentioned above.

-- Bill McKelvie (bill.mckelvie@blueyonder.co.uk), February 03, 2003.

Bill McKelvie >

Have you tried your old external card reader in your new Windows XP computer ? Just to try to narrow down the problem to whether the cause is Win XP or the new card reader.

-- dragon (thedragon@dbzmail.com), February 03, 2003.

Try this programm, It's free. http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/cw.zip This programm writes with yr reader all zero's to yr card, after this it will probebly work in yr camera again. Never format or delete with yr reader, it damages the factoryformat of the camera and therefor its unable to recognize the card.

-- Rick Brons (eschakel@xs4all.nl), February 07, 2003.

Check this thing This might Help

Best Wishes from Ukraine and article from Russia http://www.digit-life.com/articles/smcrestore/

-- Dima (zerotarget@hotmail.com), February 10, 2003.

Hi

I am very diappointed with the current standard of smartmedia card system. I was having a holiday in Japan. The camera used is Fujifilm Finepix1400 zoom, with a Japanese made card from Solid Audio 128Mb memory. There were 200 holidays picture taken and reviewed to save memory. During the last 2 days of the 7 days tour, I found a Fijicolor outlet in Japan to transfer the pictures into a CD-rom. But as I when back to the shop after half an hour, the shop attendant insisted that only one picture can be review, the rest were mark with 'x'. There all over 120 mb of information which could not be retrieved. The Girt insisted also that my card is faulty.I try it back to the camera and i was so so shocked that even the camera cannot read the pictures, just displayed 'card not initialised. I wonder if there is a way to safe the situation.

-- Bruce SIm (brucesim@hyflux.com), February 10, 2003.

For my case, I have tried the download from http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/cw.zip. But so bad that the camera still gives 'card error' after I 'wiped' the smartmedia by the downloaded software. My PC can still read/write to the card after doing a formatting in Win XP.

-- dragon (thedragon@dbzmail.com), February 11, 2003.

I tried the CW.exe, bit it does not find the Card-Drive. It is a USB-SmartMedia CardReader/Writer. From the Explorer i can read/ write the card, but in the CW Software I can only chose one of my harddisks :(

If anyone else can help me. Where is the Error? Is it at the card or at the Camera? I have no othe card to test it :(

-- nosi (nosi@uni.de), February 16, 2003.

I am one for SIMPLE PROBLEMS - SIMPLE SOLUTIONS. I have the same error whenever I use XP Pro to cut and copy the photos off the card in PC storage. When this happens only for the 128 card (not the 64 or 8 meg cards I have) I get the same ! Card Error. Well to fix it just bring up you window explorer and point the the card disk next right click and select properties. Remove the check in the Read Only box and then click apply and select all sub folders. You are now back in business...... At least I am Fuji Finepix

-- Jim (digitalphoto@ccsol.com), February 18, 2003.

but there's no checkbox named "read only" for a DISK, only folders and files have this attribute.

-- JnJn (jnjn@e165.com), February 22, 2003.

ok, i've fixed it. by buying a usb card reader which cost me a little less than $20 (RMB150) and using the modified smprep, i've fixed the problem. but i still have no idea about how it is happening. and had not found nothing on any one of the manualfactures' web sites or something talking about the problem. after all. i believe that was a problem with the CIS block of the smartmedia card. and it is also related to certain card readers using certain chips and/or certain (version of) drivers. it is noticeable that many persons had get this problem with windows xp. here are what i'm using and i advice any one of u who had met with the same problem to have a look at them.

an NCP SM card reader: http://www.hexon.com.sg/hexon_media/ note, it is also known that SanDisc, MicroTech(not microtek) and Zio SM card readers can using the smprep.exe program too. u can refer to the address below for more information...

modified programs and information from here: http://home.attbi.com/~slobo66/ note: the page was for olympus users who wanna use the olympus funtion on an non-olympus card. but the same modified smprep.exe s can fix the card error problem on any card any camera. :-)

wish all ur guys good luck. happy chinese new year...

-- JnJn (jnjn@e165.com), February 25, 2003.

I just recently had the same problem with a fuji fine pix 2400 zoom digital camera. The card reader I was using was your general 3 in 1 reader, I installed the device via usb and winxp automatically installed the driver. when I tried to retrieve my existing pics via card reader, I received an formatting error "card isn't formatted" well I formatted it. Not a good thing to do, because I erased the entire card thats the first problem the second is that the camera will not read the card "card error" third the camera will not let you format the card. I then gave the card to a co-worker of mine so he can try and re-format it using his olypus digital camera, success:) I then tried retrieving the pics he took with his camera from the card and was able to view, copy and move the pics to the PC. I then tried viewing the same pics via digital camera it worked fine. I re- formatted the card by digital camera took some shots and was able to view them through my pc via card reader. Its certainly a quick fix if you know some one with another digital camera but still unsure what the problem was. Jorge

-- Jorge Carreon (JLCarreon1@msn.com), February 25, 2003.

Jim (digitalvideo) was on the right track and helped me out. Thanks. I have an olympus D-460 w/64mb smart media card and a Zio SM Reader running WinXP Pro. I experienced loss off available pics - though the camera never showed a read error - i found what Jim was talking about and took the check off read only in the 100olymp directory - you cannot use the SMPREP UTIL without doing this and i checked after doing a full format on the chip, checking the dir again it placed the readonly check back on. Hope this helps

-- seth (sturner1965@hotmail.com), March 02, 2003.

Thanks to reading this thread, when a 128MB Snartmedia card would not format in my Olympus 2020Z camera, after some mysterious action in Windows XP, I reformatted the card in a PCMCIA adapter in a laptop running Windows 98. The card now seems ok. It did not require reformatting in the camera.

-- Gerard M Foley (gfoley@columbus.rr.com), March 06, 2003.

in french j'ai formatéune carte smartmedia avec un lecteur de carte 6 in 1 et un pc avec win me,mais ce lecteur de carte a modifié le formatage de la smartmedia 8 Mo et une autre de 4 Mo que j'utilisait depuis des années avec un lecteur de carte pcmcia,sans problème. la smartmedia n'est plus reconnue par l'appareil photo Agfa e1280. acec afdisk.exe,j'ai vu que le nombre de cylindre a été modifié.

-- turc (gilbertturc@wanadoo.fr), March 14, 2003.

Well, seems like that everybody get the same problem... Me too, I got SmartMedia 64 and 32 Mb; And I did success to recover the pictures on a 6 in 1 card reader using a BadCopy program....

But as many peoples said, after the card is read by the reader then the camera will say ERROR..... With my olympus C-860L camera, I can't format again and works normally on camera. But, with the 32 Mb card, I did the same way but the camera couldn't format it...so I format with Smartmediafy, a utility that available for RIO PMP 300 that a friend sent me..and...it's ok...it works very well !! And now I have been searching for a Software to format the media with the 6 - 1 card reader...anybody knows ???

-- Made (eclunk@hotmail.com), March 19, 2003.

Well, seems like that everybody get the same problem... Me too, I got SmartMedia 64 and 32 Mb; And I did success to recover the pictures on a 6 in 1 card reader using a BadCopy program....

But as many peoples said, after the card is read by the reader then the camera will say ERROR..... With my olympus C-860L camera, I can format again and works normally on camera. But, with the 32 Mb card, I did the same way but the camera couldn't format it...so I format with Smartmediafy, a utility that available for RIO PMP 300 that a friend sent me..and...it's ok...it works very well !! And now I have been searching for a Software to format the media with the 6 - 1 card reader...anybody knows ???

-- Made (eclunk@hotmail.com), March 19, 2003.

I had the same problem with a smartmedia card (supplied with Olympus amera) after using explorer in Windows XP to delete the pictures rather than the camera.

The camera always said CARD FULL and Windows XP would copy files back and forth using a card reader, but if you right clicked on the removable drive in Windows to try to change anything either explorer would crash or even Windows XP crash and automatically reboot the computer (that's a rare thing).

Solved by using cw.exe program in the cw.zip download to wipe the card clean and then my camera let me format it to suit the Olympus.

Think it might be something to do with how Olympus stores information about what files are on the card versus a different way Windows XP does - but who knows!!

-- Mark Shingler (mark@shingler.worldonline.co.uk), March 20, 2003.

The problem lies with the CIS Card Information System. An area on the card that lies outside the physical and logical format of the card. Olympus 'hides' infomation in this area. For more information read http://www.datarescue.com/laboratory/ Unfortunately, not all reader/writers are able to access this area of the card. A brand new SM card was 'damaged' by my SOHOWare 6 in 1 reader and the manufacturer is strangely silent to my request for fixing my card. They should have at least posted a warning somewhere.

-- Ian Yates (Ihor@lafn.org), April 02, 2003.

I took an entire photo shoot at a remote location and came back to find only a "card error" on my Olympus D-460 camera with a 8MB Smartmedia card. To fix the problem i selected to view all hidden files on the card where I found a bunch of .chk files> I just renamed the .chk files to .jpg and viola! they turned into my images again.

-- Photo Guy (jason@jasonandshelly.com), April 09, 2003.

I got the error message with my 128MB smartmedia card on my FUJI FINEPIX 4800 several days ago after I used my laptop to delete some filed directly through my card. I have now fixed it simplily by using another fuji ( it is not necessary to be the same type, but at least it uses the same smart media card) to format it, and now it works again perfectly. Hope it may be of some help.

-- holly (holly_goodluck@yahoo.co.uk), April 16, 2003.

Well, here is the simple solution...

Format the card through the camera itself, rather than through Windows. There should be a format option, for example, the FUJIFILM FinePix 4800Zoom has a format option through 'menu', and under the 'erase' menu, choose 'format'.

This eliminated all card reading problems for me, hope it helps.

-- R, Rimbot (rimbot@hotmail.com), April 16, 2003.

This is not an answer, but another question...I'm having the same problem as everyone else and I'm happy to see that there are some possible solutions. My problem is a little different though. I have an Olympus Camedia C3000 and a 128MB Smartmedia card. I was visiting someone and they took the card out to load the pictures onto their PC (which does run Windows XP). Then when I came home I had the card error. I cannot reformat the card with my camera and I do not have access to the 6-in-1 reader anymore as it wasn't mine. what solutions are available to me without the card reader?

-- Heather Hyttinen (hhyttinen@yahoo.com), April 19, 2003.

I have presently the "Card error" problem with my Camera, An Olympus c-2040, my Smartmedia card (64MB) and WinXP. Maybe I'll use the Camedia msert software in the future rather than Windows explorer...

-- LB (lbii_@hotmail.com), April 22, 2003.

I have a Finepix 40i and a Sandisk Imagemate connected to a Windows XP computer. One 64Mb Smartmedia card works fine, the other cannot be read by the reader. They both work in the camera, have both been formatted in the camera and both allow me to transfer files directly from the camera to the computer (using the cable) but one card simply refuses to work in the Imagemate. Have tried many of the solutions in this thread but had no luck so far. Any ideas appreciated.

-- daryl.walcroft (daryl.walcroft@btinternet.com), April 25, 2003.

Easy to fix check out this site http://www.marshost.com/~rashmun/

-- Rob Ashmun (rjashmun@attbi.com), April 25, 2003.

Not sure how that helps as it's all for an Olympus, I have a Fujifilm. Tried the programmes but don't get any messages. My reader doesn't even think the card is in the drive (although Explorer does flash when the card is inserted)

-- daryl.walcroft (daryl.walcroft@btinternet.com), April 25, 2003.

Well,My friend Jim fixed my error card a month ago,he told me about card reader and formatting the card.Now the problem came back,I have fuji fine pix 6800 and the 128 card was a gift.It said the problem with the drive E,which is the camera.But it also said the data had been lost,I have been sad since I am not a smart one to fix my problem,and Jim didn't return my call for help yet.Anyone could help.If this will happen again,I rather quit using the digital camera,the loss is pain.Regular camera is less trouble,somehow not easy either.

-- xiaoxue (xiaoxue11370@yahoo.com), April 26, 2003.

I have an Olympus C-3030 and after using the card reader built into my HP P-1000 Photosmart printer, I too was getting the card error message. I came here looking for an answer, but instead I discovered one of my own that works after playing with it.

Load your card into your reader. Go to your Windows desktop and open up the "My Computer" icon. Left click on your reader. You should then get a window that shows an icon. This icon is NOT a file folder...double left click this icon and you will get the first file folder icon in a window (mine is labeled "DCIM"). Right click on this file folder and select "properties". When it comes up, select the read only box (put a check in it). Click on "apply" (your file folder icon should change to some kind of Windows file icon). Re- open everything again and then uncheck the read only, apply again. File folder icon will remain the same Windows icon, but the card can now be formatted in your camera.

I've managed to salvage my three "damaged" cards with this. All is working great.

Unfortuantely, if you have photos on your card, I think you will lose them as the card has to be re-formatted in the camera before it can be read by the camera or the reader, but either way, NO MORE CARD ERRORS!

-- Dane Lance (edlance@texas.net), May 11, 2003.

I have a Fuji F-40i, and I had "card error" and "read error" with both 16mb and 128mb cards. Originally I thought I had a problem with the camera. Took it to a local Fuji authorized repair shop, they estimate $139 to take apart and clean and repair the PC board. While they were waiting for my autorization on repair, I found this site and found that it could be the SmartMedia cards that were in fault. So I took back the camera back from the shop. And here is what I do...

Connect my camera to my laptop running with Windows 98 2nd edition via USB calbe, and just format the card as I would with other drivers. It works. The camera recognizes both cards and functions normally.

Didn't try with other Windows operating system, so I wouldn't know if they work. I am happy that my camera is working, and I have saved $139.

Hope this help.

-- Johnny Chang (jversace@hotmail.com), May 14, 2003.

This may be a bit redundant to at least one previous post, but it seems pertinent enough... I fixed my 128Mb SanDisk card through the following actions:

1. remove card and wipe with soft cloth 2. replace card and access relevant drive 3. check properties on any folders/sub-folders and Un-Check "Read- Only" if applicable 4. Format Drive (e.g. "Removable Disk E:") 5. access Menu in camera directly (i.e. disconnect camera/card from PC) 6. Format card via camera Menu option

-- nate (n8brown@hotmail.com), May 15, 2003.

I had the same problem. With one of my card-readers I got a special formatting program. I put the card in the reader, right klick on the drive, format, program starts, klick on format, program said: the CIS tabel is defekt, I will rebuild it. After that, everythig was great, the card works in the Olympus Camera !!! ( excuse my english, I'm german )

-- News Reader (newsreader@x-mail.net), May 16, 2003.

I've had this happen twice now. Here's the fix... at least for my Olympus 2020. I took my camera and THREE non-working smart media (32-64-128) cards to Best Buy. Put the cards in a new camera and formatted them. My camera wouldn't do this... kept wanting me to, but would give the Card Error message. The cards still wouldn't work in my camera. So I took one of their cards... just a demo... and put it in my camera and shot a couple of frames. Voila! Now all three of my cards work. Amazing. I have no idea why this works..but it does for me. Don't trash your old cards. Try this.

-- Rick (rick@imagimedia.com), May 21, 2003.

i got kinda the same problem but with a SecureDigital 16 MB card in my Kyocera Finecam S3X

many of the answers here were good but didn't help me, since i don't have a card reader(yet).

i can also use the card with windows as removeable media after i have it FAT formatted but unfortunately my cam won't format the card any more. i haven't found any respective tools, either, not even cw helped by wiping everything to zero. after all my cam tries to format the camera, although it sais card error when trying it, the card would have to be FAT reformatted so i could use it with windows again.

P.S.: it happened with windows XP after deleting some files and unplugging the cam without the windows secure remove thingy...

-- Crr (crr@gmx.de), May 23, 2003.

I had the card error messages after formatting my SM crad with Win XP. So I went and plugged the reader into a PC running Win 98, installed the software for the reader and then formatted the card, and now it works fine. I have also formatted the card on the camera for good measure.

-- Alex Wroe (wroealex@yahoo.com), May 25, 2003.

I've a related problem to which I can guess the fix. I've just bought a Scan XDRIVE 6 in 1 Card Reader to replace a laptop. The laptop formatted compact flash cards via PCMCIA and my desktop via a ZIO! USB card reader. Both ran windows 98. On upgrading the desktop to Windows 2000, I couldn't format compact flash cards. A memory exception occurs when I right clicked the disk, and yes I've tried upgrading the driver. My Casio QV3500EX camera still formats the cards, removing readonly files and works fine with them. The XDRIVE will not read a 128MB card though it will read the two smaller ones. I believe Windows 98 would still format the cards and I think the problem seems to be with larger disks. Paul Gill UK

-- paul gill (jrpg123@ntlworld.com), June 14, 2003.

A story of success here. I've got an old FujiFilm DX-8 with a USB CARDport Swift SM and I've had the 'Card Error' problem several times. I am am running Windows 98SE and so the 'Photo Rescue' fix doen't work. I've just followed the instructions for the Olympus SmartMedia fix at: http://www.marshost.com/~rashmun/olympus_smartmedia_fix.htm and they do work (like magic, after all the upset). The instructions may look complicated but once you have downloaded the 'Axe' Hex editor there are only about six steps to follow. If you're having card error problems caused by your PC writing to your SmartMedia card I strongly recommend this fix option. It worked for me :-)

-- Paul Quoo (paulq_4q@hotmail.com), June 15, 2003.

@Rick Brons

BIG THANKS m8y, using the Cw.exe, my C-860L formatted my faulty 64mb SMC itself and all is well again!!!

Remove "-nospam-" to email me...

-- Dan W (daniel.w-nospam-@bigfoot.com), June 23, 2003.

I have experienced this problem with a C-3000 Zoom and I simply right clicked on the drive that had the SmartMedia card and wend to "Properties". Then I clicked on "Tools" and did an "Error-check" to automatically fix any problems. Then I formatted the card in the C- 3000 Zoom and it worked beautifully!!

-- Jason Shea (SKAterArmy@aol.com), July 14, 2003.

It seems that many of us have several common denominator. 1. Insert card in reader. 2. cut images from card instead of copy (also using delete from reader). 3. removing card without stopping drive first. So maybe we can try to not do these things but theses: 1. Insert card in reader. 2. Copy DO NOT CUT to your PC. 3. Prior to removing SMC stop drive by clicking on the "safefly Remove Device icon" from your systray. This will bring up a window prompting you which drive to stop. Select the reader drive. It seems that by removing the card without indicating it to stop reading is what is causing the errors. Kind of like if you are writting to a floppy disk (u no those 3.5 disks way back when) and remvoing it while still writing. You will not be able to use that disk currectly anymore. Just a thought and maybe a way to prevent future erros from happening.

-- Possible tech guru? (luric1@hotmail.com), August 13, 2003.

I had a problem this am after inserting my CF 64mb card into an Olympus C2500L that we use here. Camera came up with "CF Error". Tried re-inserting several times and charging the batteries - no change. Would not format on camera, but would allow files to be copied using its usual host, a pcmcia card in aa Dell XP laptop. Eventually tried a net search and found this thread. Formatted CF card on Dell, FAT32 option. Inserted in camera, "Error" message had changed to "F". Formatted on camera, all back to normal. Only change in setup recently (yesterday!) was loading SP1A into XP together with latest critical patch. Seems its down to XP!

-- Paul Richardson (paul.richardson@kingsch.nhs.uk), August 20, 2003.

SMART MEDIA CARD ERROR....DON'T WASTE WASTE YOUR MONEY

The easiest way to fix Smart Media card error........................

Steps------------

-right click on the usb card reader drive, and format the card using any version of windows.

-now load the pictures in the card to its ull capasity but remember these are the pictures stored in your PC or coputer andtaken by the same camera

-place the card in yourcamera and turn on........if any problem still exist just click the OK button twice.

-your error problem is fixed at least in Olympus digital camera.

-do it at your risk might damage the card

-we were lucky to experiment ang fix our card after wasting a lot of time

-- shammu (vs_wish@indiatimes.com), September 09, 2003.

I have had the same problems when I used a 6 in 1 reader, I thought I'd wasted 3 cards. The solution I had was I bought a belkin single card reader from Argos, the sofware bundled with it can re-format the card. Now all the cards are back to normal Hope this helps Regards I Jones

-- Ian Jones (sylvia72@btopenworld.com), September 27, 2003.

I am desperately trying to recover about 400 pictures from my 128MB SmartCard. It's all photo's of a very special holiday in Florida.

I have sent the card to 3 data recovery companies, but none of them could help. The last company I sent it to confirmed that the card was cracked and that the crack travels through the actual memory section of the media. Please can anyone advise whether data recovery will stil be possible? I know most companies won't be able to do it, but surely somewhere out there someone has the same problem as me and had to find a way to recover their pictures?

I am using a Fujifilm Finepix 2800 Zoom Ditgital Camera.

-- Minette (mcapper@btopenworld.com), October 09, 2003.

I am using a Fujifilm 40i, my SmartMedia card is giving me a card error message after my friend borrow it to try on his 6 in 1 card reader.

I try to fix the problem, unfortunatly my USB card reader does not contain smprep.exe file, so i can't format my card to functory format. I also tried the CW.exe file, and also didn't work. removing "read only" didn't work. format card in FAT didn't work. nothing currently works for Fujifilm. I will keep trying to fix the problem and give an update if i found anything new for fujifilm.

Conclusion.... be safe, link USB to ur camera. Don't use a card reader if u are not certain.

best wishes.

-- tim (abc@hotmail.com), October 11, 2003.

I have a similar problem...with a twist. I take pictures with the olympus d-460z, put card into reader on computer. I COPY them to a folder, then right click the drive, eject, and then take the card out. I've also tried to stop the drive using the safely remove icon.

no matter what I do, the card cannot be read in the camera any longer. It doesn't work in the pc any longer either. I can READ the card...but when I try to write to it or format it, it reports that the card is write protected. There are no write protect tabs on it at all.

Any suggestions??? I've read all the previous suggestions and none have resolved this problem.

-James (jamesweber@prodigy.net)

-- James Weber (jamesweber@prodigy.net), October 14, 2003.

Like everyone here, I've had the same kinds of problems when using my SM cards with a ZiO! Reader. Never had the problem until I "moved" files on/off the card via my Win2K computer and the ZiO! reader. Started have files appear/disappear all the time. Then found the info at this URL to be *extremely* enlightening:

http://www.d-store.com/d-store/product/etchells_ssfdc.htm

The problem is apparently caused by the 12-bit file allocation system used by SM cards (vs. the DOS/Win 16/32 bit file allocation system). The simple fix is -- NEVER copy/move/delete files on the card using your computer and a reader. All usage on the PC should be READ- ONLY. To format/reformat/delete etc. use your card in the camera. And reformat the card in the camera every 3-4 uses; that seems to be key. I've been following this approach since reading the referenced article and have had zero problems since then.

-- Michael Magers (michael@magers.org), October 21, 2003.

First of all, let me thank all those who have contributed. I had the same XP problem as most of you. One of the main culprits was my PNY card reader. According to Olympus PNY, GE, and PQI readers are known to cause trouble. I was able to reformat the cards using smprep1 and smprep2 with a SANDISK reader and Windows 98. I tried the reader and smprep programs on XP but it would not run as it could not find the SANDISK reader drivers.

I haven't had time to try all combinations to see if it was the PNY card reader alone but did have time to hit it with a hammer.

Best of luck to all you with the same problem. No wonder Olympus switched to a different media.

-- John C

-- John (carson@gwu.edu), October 22, 2003.

I would like to update you all on my case since I first posted the question in Feb 2003. I am surprised that so many people share the same problem, and this makes me think there are inherent problems in the design of Smartmedia in general.

To fix the problem, I had brought back the card to a shop which sells memory cards and also card readers. The shop is an outlet of a vendor called MUSE which is a manufacturer of cards and card readers and has its own brandname. The card readers it sells seems to be able to do low level format on the card and they helped me to fix the card's error on the spot by formatting it with their card reader.

I had then bought a new card reader from them and there is no problem so far. But I had also bought a new digital camera from CANON in March which uses Compact Flash Card and so I seldom use the Smartmedia cards now.

-- Dragon (thedragon@dbzmail.com), October 24, 2003.

To all,

Since my last post, I have not been trying much, sort of give up on the card. My next decision is to take down to a camera service and repair shop, see if they can help me. If not, I guess I will be buying a new card. It is still expensive, I think it is $69 AUS.

Good luck everyone~~

Regards,

Tim

-- tim (tim@home.com), October 29, 2003.

hi, I have the same problem with the smart card. I have a Photosmart 7260 printer and Windows XP. After I download the pictures on my computer, when I try to take a photo in my FujiFilm camara, the message "!Card error" appear.

I need your help!!!!!

Tanks.

Jorge Mario

-- Jorge Mario (jramirce@hotmail.com), December 15, 2003.

I know it sounds obvious but has anyone asked Fujifilm or Olympus to contribute a solution?? It seems bizarre to me that they are so quiet. If and when I buy my next camera I will not choose one that uses smartmedia or the new XD format (from Fujifil/Olympus); I will seek out SD cameras instead

-- Alex Kurucz (alexander.kurucz@nestle.com), December 20, 2003.

Wow, just fixed my smartmedia card! Sandisk USB Card reader could read it, but kept getting "Card Error" message from camera (Olympus C2040z). Camera couldn't format the card. I tried lots of the above suggestions. The only one that worked is copied below (sorry for the duplication, but if it helps just one more person fix their card...)

Thanks shammu!!!!!

---

SMART MEDIA CARD ERROR....DON'T WASTE WASTE YOUR MONEY The easiest way to fix Smart Media card error........................

Steps------------

-right click on the usb card reader drive, and format the card using any version of windows.

-now load the pictures in the card to its ull capasity but remember these are the pictures stored in your PC or coputer andtaken by the same camera

-place the card in yourcamera and turn on........if any problem still exist just click the OK button twice.

-your error problem is fixed at least in Olympus digital camera.

-do it at your risk might damage the card

-we were lucky to experiment ang fix our card after wasting a lot of time

-- shammu (vs_wish@indiatimes.com), September 09, 2003.

-- Beemer (stnwagon@hotmail.com), January 06, 2004.

I had the same problem. I remembered a hexedit program i used to have which could edit drives. It was very powerul, could edit up to 5 Gigs i think. I am downloading it now and will attempt to fix

-- Anon (techboy@fsmail.net), January 18, 2004.

I have a smart media card of 64MB, Neither my PC nor My camera can read it, it gives me always the same error: no card or card error, I downloaded from http://www.marshost.com/~rashmun/smprep.htm the corresponding "Smprep" ( Ihave a Sandisk Reader SDDR 09 ) and gave me the error: in formatting the disk, I downloaded the Axe and edited the Smprep to Smprep1 and Smprep2 run both and still did not work. I bought another card of 128MB and it works perfectly, My reader is fine. Is there any other way to fix my card?

-- Patrick Rezniotopoulos (rezniotopoulos@yahoo.com), January 28, 2004.

I have a similar problem with my Smartmedia Card from Olympus. Is there some site I can download Smartmediafy utility? Thanks.

-- Vedd Sampang (vedtech@yahoo.com), February 09, 2004.

I have had, and have repaired a similar problem with an Olympus D-460 Zoom. One day suddenly my camera did not recognize the SmartMedia card. I could not take pictures, however I could use the card in a card reader perfectly fine. On the computer the card worked on the camera the card did not work.

The solution:

This works if you have a card reader

In Windows 2000, go to: Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management -> Select the drive -> Right Click -> Delete Partition

when done insert card into camera and allow the camera to format the card, and that should be all.

And thats it.

If using Windows 98 you might be able to use the Fdisk utility no guarantee

-- Ever Point Data Communications (epdc@everpointdatacom.com), February 13, 2004.

Jim (digitalphoto@ccsol.com) hit the nail on the head! Unselected the "Read Only" attribute of the DCIM folder, and all is well! Thanks Jim!!

-- Hamal (raser_x@hotmail.com), February 15, 2004.

The Dazzle USB2.0 Hi-Speed SmartMedia reader/writer I bought from CompUSA ruined 2 of my 128MB cards which I use on Olympus c3000 digicam. Tried to follow some of the links here and other sources but could not get anything to work on my WinXP system as well as my Win98.

Bought a new SanDisk 8-in-1 reader from CostCo. Figure why not as it is the same brand as the cards themselves. Tried the smformat utility found on http://www.marshost.com/~rashmun/. When I ran the program I saw only 2 buttons - Format or Cancel. I was a little concerned about it as it didn't have any documentation. Anyhow, I went ahead and clicked on format while one of the bad cards was in the 8-in-1 reader/writer. I got concerned when it went right into format without asking me for the drive letter. YIKES! When it finished, I checked all my drives and WHEW! All was OK and the reformatting worked ont the SM card.

Somehow I remembered trying this with the Dazzle but it didn't work. Thus, I tried again with it - the smformat didn't recognize the card!

Hope this is helpful to anyone else out there...

-- Steve (capilitans@excite.com), February 25, 2004.

My 128mb SmartMedia card stopped working when my battery failed as I took a picture using a FinePix 4700zoom! I do not have a card reader and download pictures to the computer direct from the camera. My PC thinks there is no disc so will do nothing to the card.

I think this medium is just not robust enough!

Mike

-- Mike (forum@mikesenior.co.uk), February 29, 2004.

This worked for me.

PROBLEM - Using Fuji FinePix 4700zoom and 128mb SmartMedia; battery ran out whilst taking a picture. Result was a camera unable to see the card. I usually download direct from the camera but this did not work as camera could not see the card so neither could the PC.

TO RETRIEVE PICTURES - Borrowed Jenreader 4 in 1 and connected to XP PC via USB. Downloaded PhotoRescue 2 from http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/download.htm (Tried free demo first which showed thumbnails of my "lost" pictures) - then paid $30. (and will have program for next time!) Got back 24 of 25 "lost" pictures and about 3/4 of the last one. (Very easy to use).

TO FORMAT THE CARD - With SmartMedia still in Jenreader which was connected to the PC (and pictures safely retrieved) I formated the drive using XP. I then put the card in the camera which could now see the card but not read it or store pictures to it. I formated the card again, this time using the camera format function (on the erase menu). I could then use the card as normal - but it was empty of course.

Good luck to you all whatever you try.

-- Mike (forum@mikesenior.co.uk), March 02, 2004.

For the linux folks:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/{usb device name} count=1b

will write 512 zeroes to the beginning of the device. change the 'count' parameter to something bigger if you want a full wipe e.g count=262144k for a 256MB media card.

-- Floyd E (floyd@earthling.net), April 01, 2004.

Thank you Jim (digitalphoto@ccsol.com) for your answer to the problem I have been dealing with over the past few years with my Olympus C-3000. I deselected the "Read Only" attribute of the DCIM folder, deleted all pictures on the card, reinstalled in camera and suprisingly I don't get the card failure and cannot format card messages on my camera when using 32MB & 128MB cards. I thought it was a problem with just my camera and was thinking of junking it due to all the frustration of plugging the camera to an electrical outlet (using adapter of course) & keep turning the camera on & off until the camera would somehow recognize the SmartMedia. Thank you Jim for all your help, probably wouldn't have thought of your solution. By the way, I am running Windows XP Home.

-- Michael (TheCollegeDropIn@aol.com), October 17, 2004.

I did this and now the card appears to be totally trashed, can't even format it on the computer!!!!! Thanks buddy >:( ___________________________________________________________________

I have had, and have repaired a similar problem with an Olympus D-460 Zoom. One day suddenly my camera did not recognize the SmartMedia card. I could not take pictures, however I could use the card in a card reader perfectly fine. On the computer the card worked on the camera the card did not work. The solution:

This works if you have a card reader

In Windows 2000, go to: Administrative Tools -> Computer Management - > Disk Management -> Select the drive -> Right Click -> Delete Partition

when done insert card into camera and allow the camera to format the card, and that should be all.

And thats it.

If using Windows 98 you might be able to use the Fdisk utility no guarantee

-- Ever Point Data Communications (epdc@everpointdatacom.com), February 13, 2004.

-- Kyle (kyle_stanley@hotmail.com), December 22, 2004.

by the way.....the computer will not only NOT format the card but will not even recognize that it is in the reader. DO NOT DELETE THE PARTITION AS THE GUY ABOVE SUGGESTS!!!!!

-- kyle (kyle_stanley@hotmail.com), December 22, 2004.

Hi!

I have a FUJI FinePix 4700zoom and after formatting the card in the camera (I was done with the pictures) you could not get a single one to be recognised.

I have a PCMCIA SmartMedia Adapter in my laptop and could see the cards and work with them with no problems but not with the camera, where I could not format them again (Card Error again).

Tried several formating options (in Windows, in Linux, etc) but the only solution in the end was to make `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hde bs=512 count=4` (hde is the device where my cards).

After that fdisk would show that no partition existed (exist without save) and the camera would say "CARD NOT INITIALIZED" and allowed me to format it again. So now the cards are back working.

-- Gerardo Lisboa (gvlx@technologist.com), December 26, 2004.

I have a Mac with the same problem ... Olympus D460, Dazzle reader. Insert card in reader, deleted pix, then get Card Error msg on camera.

How do I fix this in a Mac (G4 or G5)? I can't right click. I'd love an email idea!

-- David Fayram (dfayram@comcast.net), January 29, 2005.