SD CARD FAIL

[delldimension2345]

Enjoyed building the Altairduino,

Everthing works bar the Micro SD card reader,

Have tried 2 16GB cards & one brand new 1GB card,

Noticed on the build instructions that there is a ribbon cable going to the board,

Connected to the SD card reader, I must be missing something here ?,

Cards have been fully formatted FAT 32,

DSK images saved primary with no added folders,

Voltage at pin 1 3.3v which does not seem right either,

Any help here appreciated,

When card inserted, You either get no response from Aux 2 or with another micro SD card,

Causes lock up of the whole system.

[delldimension2345]

Checked all connections between Due & SD reader these are the results.

[delldimension2345]

Does that mean the board is connected wrongly as i found this picture,

Which would mean Pin 2 to Pin 5 would have to be disconnected,

Then Pin 6 Connected to Pin 5 DUE>PC Board.

[Pete Rittwage]

I can report that I have a kit with a 1.4 board that I built a few weeks ago and my SD card works, so I wouldn't think a layout change broke this.

[Chris Davis]

When you lower AUX2, what are the positions of the address toggles?  12 up?  12 and 13 up?  Nothing up?

[delldimension2345]

Just had 5 mins so looked at the pinouts of the due,

I am looking down at the soldered side,

So the two columbs are inverted,

So looks like everything is connected correctly,

As pete said,

Hi,Chris thanks for the quick response,

I have tried different combinations of the toggle switches,

Program number 6 was the one i was trying,

But I have tried different program numbers aswell,

Prog 6 should be Battle according to instructions,

Have re formatted card again,

This time as FAT16 using the prog you recommended,

Tends to cause unit to lock up sometimes and not at others ??

I originaly formatted it as FAT32,

Anyhow either way it wont Work.

[delldimension2345]

Just ordered another Micro SD card, So this will be the fourth card,

I have made sure it is an older card 512MB.

[Colin Little]

Just to give some re-assurance. I have used SanDisk & Samsung Micro SD cards of varying Gb sizes, FAT32 and they all work OK. - so if your new card is no different maybe need to look elsewhere at the problem. I recently had a strange problem which was only resolved by a complete fresh .INO install on the Arduino.

[delldimension2345]

Yes just tried the 512MB card FAT 16 & FAT32 Not working,

When you first switch on the HLDA LED Pulses & flashes for around a second,

Then it goes through its normal boot up,

However the card always locks up the computer,

So it wont allow you to boot via Aux 1 down,

Will have to look down the route of a fresh software install as you say,

Thank`s for the input colin.

[Chris Davis]

I've tried dozens of different cards from different manufacturers, and I've only found one that absolutely did not work.  You have something else going on.  In my experience, virtually all problems are from bad solder connections.  Check your connections, and if it still doesn't work, I'd be glad to take a look at it if you want to send it to me.

[delldimension2345]

Thanks for your very generous offer Chris,

Reprogrammed the Due with Altair8800.ini,

Via Arduino IDE,

Put the Fat 16 Micro SD in And it is now loading from SD,

Very Very Pleased,

So if anyone has the same problem with the card not working,

Or locking up the Altair-Duino, Just reflash the Arduino Due.

Just a quick plug now,

I am no stranger to vintage computers,

If anyone is interested please have a look at my shop,

www.premier-car-audio.co.uk

And a big thank you to anyone who has helped me complete,

My AltairDuino project.