The Dead Memory Card Problem

The PSP while a great console with clearly a low battery life and a screen thats a bit too easily scratched has it seems a far greater problem and that problem is the Dead memory Card Problem, it doesnt matter if you are usin Homebrew/Emulators or just Games and putting Photos/Movies/MP3s on the Card it seems that a simple pressing of the power off button or indeed anything can fry the Memory Card, My card a Sandisk 1gb which cost me over £100 (yes im crying as i write this) died when the emulator i tried crashed and i did a restart by taking the battery out and now the PSP nor Card reader will recognise the Card so im stuck all ways.

At a £100/$100 a throw this is a major worry for all PSP owners, none of us can throw away that type of money, is it a dodgy batch of Sandisk memory cards in my case or is there some miracle cure to get the card working again.

(if there is let us all know)

Whatever the problem we and thats a big we need that fix sooner rather than later.

For those interested my card isnt recognised by my PC or PSP but when in the PSP the orange light is flickering nonstop.

UPDATE

Ok ive fixed it, it seems.

Firstly you need to get a PC Reader for the Mem Card this doesnt work on PSP at all or via the USB Lead.

Once you have your PC Reader installed then insert your 1gb card (in my case)

When i clicked on the drive it was slow to enter and it said there was nothing there.

Right Click the drive the card is in

Click format (dont quick format)

If your Lucky it will format and you will have a working card again.

This has just worked for me and the PC Card Reader cost me £8 so its a worthwhile investment., remember before you format and you click on the drive it wil say theres nothing there but if you right click and then format you may if your lucky be able to format and save your card.

Fingers crossed for you all, my card seems to be working fine now :)

that sucks big time i had a problem like that with my ngage mmc but if i used my camera to reformat it and it worked again. i dont know if this will help you or not but its worth looking into.

i got it working see above :)

this seems to happen with sandisk memory sticks for psp. every thread with a broken MS is a sandisk. ive never heard of a sony MS breaking like this. did you use the memory stick swaploit? maybe that was a catalyst, or it could be that sandisk doesnt make good quality/compatibility MS for psp. i bought a sony MS (i bought a sony for fear of something like this happening. but it is very good news to hear that they arent completly broken when something like this happens. :)

I would agree that nobody i know has that kinda $$$ to just throw away. Ive had emu's crash on me on PSP and freeze.. i also had to pull my battery pack out to re-boot the machine and lucky for me that doing so didnt affect my memory stick ( Sandisk 1gb ) But im happy to hear that you figured out a way to get it working again... Did you try reformating the memory stick with your PSP?? If so im guessing it didnt work.... BTW Omoikane I like your Velevet Acid Christ PSP .. :)

That makes me feel some what safter with my own 1 gig now :p
I honestly thought they where just dieing on ppl :D

still im wondering if its just the sandisk MS's or all brands. i mean it is a problem that this keeps hapening so if it is all mem stick brands sony needs to fix this problem

I could've told you how to fix it, i've seen many many people who had this problem. Just backup your saves folder every once and a while when you connect and you won't have to worry about anything. As for the battery life, it works fine for me for the quality it is. This might be due to the fact that I'm used to my laptop running on battery for a max of one hour and now suddenly I can play emulators all night long at 333mhz. :D

Also back onto topic, I'm pretty sure if you accidentally hit the reset button when ANYTHING is saving on ANY card it becomes corrupted. I've done many risky things with my card (the swaploit for example when it first came out....that was a pain in the ass), but I can say that I've never had the problem with my sandisk.

I wouldn't assume its just a Sandisk problem. From what I understand most people get sandisk because its cheaper and actually faster than Sony branded MS.

sandisks might be faster and cheaper but i havent read anything about a sony MS giving up the ghost, just 1gig sandisks (mostly) and other sandisk sizes. it could be that the people who had sony a ms didnt do the swaploit or it may not even be the swaploit but from all the posts that ive read so far its only sandisk memory sticks that are becoming so easily corrupted. and if im wrong prove me wrong.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Omoikane

sandisks might be faster and cheaper but i havent read anything about a sony MS giving up the ghost, just 1gig sandisks (mostly) and other sandisk sizes. it could be that the people who had sony a ms didnt do the swaploit or it may not even be the swaploit but from all the posts that ive read so far its only sandisk memory sticks that are becoming so easily corrupted. and if im wrong prove me wrong.

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To prove you wrong would require way more information than anyone currently has. Honestly, I don't really see how a Sony stick would magically survive a power-loss during a flash when a Sandisk one wouldn't. I think Sony may have us fooled by referencing Pros and MagicGates in their product names, but I have yet to see verifiable evidence that their products are of any better quality than Sandisk (who, if I'm not mistaken, is co-owner of the technology anyway).

But if you take some white out and scribe the sony logo on a sandisk card youve got the same thing. :rolleyes:

People are just paying more for the name brand:eek:

I would (from my location New Jersey,USA) 1) Call Sony, just to let them know of the issue. (Of course be smart about it and dont say emulation), 2) Call Sandisk, Explain the issue, if they FAIL to help or not want to offer any type of help.... 3) CALL BBB, (Better Buisness Bureau) Tell them what actions you have taken and what Sandisk failed to do.

They should start an investigation, and should "Hopefuly" force some type of fair solution. Thats why they exist. Imagine if you have purchased a 2GB Memory card (approx $299-$399 USD).... and it fries up XD.... I would defenetley complain to the BBB. Every State has a BBB, not sure about countries, I would google search BBB of ________.

This is a question that I cannot seem to find the answer for.

Is time a factor?

The reason I ask is because while I was at pspupdates.com ( I know how some people feel about that site) in the applications section I found a link titled "Corrupted Memory Stick Fixer." It was a program called PhotoRecue, that was originally created to retrieve photos lost by digital camera errors. The person who created the link even boasted that the program could retrieve the lost data (including homebrew, music, videos, gamesaves) by the use of a USB cord and a PSP.

Of course many people replied to the link, however one post disturbed me.

The poster wrote the following:

"Too late for me, my memory stick corrupted a week ago."

This prompted me to ask the question about whether or not it matters how long a memory stick is corrupted. At the time that I had read the post above, my stick had already been corrupted for a week.

After failed attempts with the PhotoRescue program and stumbling upon the information about the PC Reader, I am urgent to find an answer to my question.

Now my stick has been corrupted for over a month and, yes, it is from Sandisk. (sorry to those hoping it would be from Sony)

In case there was just too much to read or you got confused, my question is whether or not it matters how long a Memory Stick is corrupted.

An answer would be appreciated.

No I dont think how long the card has been corupted would factor into this in any way:)

thanks shadowprophet.

wow...another sandisk was broken...what breaking news..any sony MSs that are broken? im not trying to flame or start an argument but lets take shadowprophet's view on how sandisk and sony are the same. lets use cereal as the example here. 'apple jacks' name brand (sony) and 'apple zaps' off brand (sandisk). Kellogg's has been making apple jacks for as long as i can remember, but Quaker says "hey theres a market for cheaper cereal than the name brand, lets make some cheap cereal." ive had bag cereal..it sucks. although sandisk specializes in flash memory, it may not be as compatible as sony's. all im trying to say is that sandisk IS NOT THE SAME as sony. it may be QUICKER, it may be CHEAPER (i understand this) but reliability is IMO a question. they are not the same. and i think it shows by the volume of people on these forums asking about their broken sandisk MS. now the ratio of working sandisks to broken ones is like 10/1. im sure that WAY MORE people have had positive things to say about their sandisk MS than those that unfortunatly have them corrupted. have no idea as to the ratio of sony's because ive never read anything about a broken sony MS. there, ive dropped my stinky bomb. :o

you know... ive had my PSP freeze about 8 billion times and never once had to pull the battery out to stop it. i just hold the power button for x amount of time (sometimes even 15 seconds or so) and eventually it always shuts off.

my card was corrupted for 2 weeks so time isnt a problem

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Omoikane

all im trying to say is that sandisk IS NOT THE SAME as sony. it may be QUICKER, it may be CHEAPER (i understand this) but reliability is IMO a question. they are not the same. and i think it shows by the volume of people on these forums asking about their broken sandisk MS. now the ratio of working sandisks to broken ones is like 10/1. im sure that WAY MORE people have had positive things to say about their sandisk MS than those that unfortunatly have them corrupted. have no idea as to the ratio of sony's because ive never read anything about a broken sony MS. there, ive dropped my stinky bomb. :o

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AFAIK, Sandisk actually make Sony's MS Duo cards too (I've read this in a few places around the web) - regardless of whether this is true, Sandisk are one of (if not the) largest flash memory manufacturers in the world.

I don't think you have considered that because they are cheaper than the Sony cards, more people buy them and thus why more people talk about them.

Another thing - the article suggests that if a card is corrupted, you've wasted your money and have to throw it away. I seriously doubt that Sandisk (or even Sony for that matter) would refuse to fix a corrupted card under the warranty..... did anyone actually ask them before complaining that their money has gone down the drain?

I wonder why you dont hear much of MS going bad on other technology...?

I have experienced his problem with the stock 32mb ms. Just today i went to let my brother use it after i had put it away for a month or so because i had got 1gb sandisk. Well anyways i put it in the psp and went to access it from from computer but it said no disk in the drive which confused me because i had just put the memory stick in the psp. As Wraggster said the orange light was blinking nonstop and the MS was unformattable from the psp.

Thats what happens when you turn off the system while in a game :mad: . you have to escape from the game to the rom list, :) hit the home button at the rom list and when the home screen returns feel free to shut off the system. ;) This avoids memory frying for apps and saves, its called a safe disconnect. :confused:

1.0 :D
1gb sandisk :D
a brain :eek:

well blow me down, im proven wrong. sony isnt invincible. :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samui_samu

This is a question that I cannot seem to find the answer for.

Is time a factor?

The reason I ask is because while I was at pspupdates.com ( I know how some people feel about that site) in the applications section I found a link titled "Corrupted Memory Stick Fixer." It was a program called PhotoRecue, that was originally created to retrieve photos lost by digital camera errors. The person who created the link even boasted that the program could retrieve the lost data (including homebrew, music, videos, gamesaves) by the use of a USB cord and a PSP.

Of course many people replied to the link, however one post disturbed me.

The poster wrote the following:

"Too late for me, my memory stick corrupted a week ago."

This prompted me to ask the question about whether or not it matters how long a memory stick is corrupted. At the time that I had read the post above, my stick had already been corrupted for a week.

After failed attempts with the PhotoRescue program and stumbling upon the information about the PC Reader, I am urgent to find an answer to my question.

Now my stick has been corrupted for over a month and, yes, it is from Sandisk. (sorry to those hoping it would be from Sony)

In case there was just too much to read or you got confused, my question is whether or not it matters how long a Memory Stick is corrupted.

An answer would be appreciated.

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Nah, don't worry. I read that original post, what they meant is that they had already formatted and deleted their save files. With that program they could have extracted most of the data out of the stick.

guys im telling you, youre frying your cards by disconnecting the power source. try just holding the power for 10 to 20 seconds when your game freezes. you do not have to take the battery out ever

the blue 1gb PRO Duo has 5 year warranty, so I'm good.

Good to hear you were lucky enough to get yours working again wraggster.
There was no way I could format mine after it corrupted.
The Windows GUI (ie. explorer.exe) fell over and died everytime I inserted mine in my card reader.

The failure rate really is a bit of a worry given how much we pay for these things (and the irreplaceable nature of some of the contents (our precious gamesaves!).

Sandisk makes sony memory sticks.... hahahahahahaha... Well if they do and the Sandisk sticks are faster I think someone has a lawsuit on their hands.

Think about it everyone. It is pretty common in the console scene for third party memory cards to be problematic. How would the PSP be any different? Moving on.

Just to give a rundown of my experiences. I currently have a practice of removing the memory stick ALWAYS before quitting anything, or rebooting after a lock-up.

I had my sansdisk memory stick die on me twice. The first time I was able to recover, the 2nd time not so. Both times it happened while using the MAME emulator. I've had a memory card die on my GP32 while using a MAME emulator.

Please note I am only listing my experiences. I am not inferring ANYTHING. Come to whatever conclusions you want.

Since then I have two Sony sticks and have not had either die one me. Since then I have not used MAME. Since then I always remove my memory stick before quitting, or exiting out of a crashed emu. FWIW holding the power off button down for 10-15 secs should get out of most crashes. Pressing the home button also seems to work in cases of lock-up.

Take it for what it is worth. I'm to precautious to experiment with my memory sticks. All I know is it has not happened since.

And no I NEVER took out my batter. So no power loss issues here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shannon

...
Think about it everyone. It is pretty common in the console scene for third party memory cards to be problematic. How would the PSP be any different?
...

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Because this is pretty much an official co-developed technology by a major flash card manufacturer.
Here's a link with an official press-release about the Sony-Sandisk partnership:
click it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RabidPuppi

guys im telling you, youre frying your cards by disconnecting the power source. try just holding the power for 10 to 20 seconds when your game freezes. you do not have to take the battery out ever

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For the first time ever rabbidpuppi a statement made in which every word in that post I completely agree with :p Never once since I put my battery in has it ever been taken out, And yeah hes right somtimes to have to hold that button down for extended peroids of time. But it will finely turn off:p

hey my sandisk (blue) 256mb is dead as well...
It shows up on my computer using a converter but it says write protected and takes a long time to read.
It will not work on PSP and makes the PSP act funny when I put it in one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rock_light

hey my sandisk (blue) 256mb is dead as well...
It shows up on my computer using a converter but it says write protected and takes a long time to read.
It will not work on PSP and makes the PSP act funny when I put it in one.

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Some memsticks have a little switch on the back to write protect them.
Turn that crap off and try again :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jambox

Because this is pretty much an official co-developed technology by a major flash card manufacturer.
Here's a link with an official press-release about the Sony-Sandisk partnership:
click it

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Interesting... I wonder then why sandisk mem sticks are supposedly faster and cheaper on top of that.

Wouldn't that be a disadvantage for Sony?

thank you shadow prophet. your stock has risen since you actually freakin listened to me unlike everyone else... go ahead and murder your stoopid mem cards guys, great job! 8O)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shannon

I've had a memory card die on my GP32 while using a MAME emulator.

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Kind of the opposite of this, I was playing the smashGP PSP port and while quitting the PSP froze. Then none of my other emulators (all of which worked fine before) would even load. It gave me some common error code. It was odd because even older saves (I save a working backup every time I change/add a program) off of my psp 1 GB SanDisk would not play certain emulators correctly. Eventually I got into the habit of resetting my psp after I formatted the disk, then place an older backup on the disk.

I just never thought the pro duo's would be so wishy-washy. I suppose I have just not had enough experience with flash memory lol.

edit: actually what seems more likely to me, after reading some of this, is that my nes emu crashed/froze and after I hard resetted (holding power button up for a LONG time) it, it corrupted the eboot somehow. Then I backed it up before placing SmashGPSP on my memory stick.