Cannot get SD card to work

Hi folks,

I had wired up an SD card socket from Sparkfun:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/SparkFun-Electronics/DEV-13743/?qs=WyAARYrbSna7AKzdOk0X8g%3D%3D&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsqLSBRCmARIsAL4Pa9TQXhYrFu8L0QQcDVMAQE91NwG4RAm4irzcp8LHGGQq_icz7bBiY6saAuxPEALw_wcB

But I keep getting the message, even with multiple different SD cards, all formatted to Fat32.

"Uncaught Error: Unable to mount media : NOT_READY
    at line 6 col 41
     console.log(require("fs").readdirSync());"

I triple-checked all the connections, and then used a meter to check connectivity, power, shorts, etc. They were all correct.

So I figured it must be the socket. I removed it and soldered this one on in it's place, figuring that perhaps the added voltage regulation circuit might help:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/254?gclid=Cj0KCQiAsqLSBRCmARIsAL4Pa9SFqtMV7P6ijT3YC_O2wkmDjScGyUWDSlxgrcYFvsitDs03yyHVn2oaApQ7EALw_wcB

But I still get the exact same error message. Am I missing something obvious here? Again, I checked all the connections and they're fine. I have a DS18B20 connected to different pins and it works great, so the Espruino appears to be fine. Test program for SD card looks like this:

function onInit() {
  console.log("Connected!");
  // Wire up up MOSI, MISO, SCK and CS pins (along with 3.3v and GND)
  SPI1.setup({mosi:B5, miso:B4, sck:B3});
  E.connectSDCard(SPI1, B6 /*CS*/);
  // see what's on the device
  console.log(require("fs").readdirSync());  
  for (var i in files)
    console.log("Found file "+files[i]);

  var f = E.openFile("log.txt", "w");
  f.write("Testing 123");
  f.close();
  
  f = E.openFile("log.txt", "r");
  f.pipe(console.log);
  f.close();
}

That all looks fine to me - SD cards should be 3.3v, as is the Espruino - so you shouldn't need level conversion circuitry.

However you are doing this in onInit - what if you just paste the commands into the left-hand side one by one to test?

I have found that sometimes the SD cards take a few seconds to start working after they're powered on - I'm not sure if that could be an issue here...

I actually did exactly as you suggest, cutting and pasting from the code above. I'm really at a loss as to how to debug, as I've had no issues getting these adapters to work with Arduinos, Rasp PIs, etc.

Have you tried different SD cards, and cards that you're sure are FAT32 formatted?

I actually just tried this with a Pico and it works fine - however I have a 2GB card that it doesn't appear to work with, but I'm also having trouble with the Espruino WiFi.

I'll try and track this down a bit more as it should really be more resilient, but it might be a few weeks as I'm waiting for a micro SD card breakout.

Yes, tried with a number of cards and both sockets. Cards were formatted Fat32 on a Linux machine with parted. They could be read by a Windows machine as well.

Wondering if anyone has had a chance to follow up on this?

Thanks

I haven't got the breakout yet, so I'm struggling to debug exactly why it's working on a Pico but not the Wifi.

You could maybe try adding a timeout after setting up the SD card - that's about the only thing I can think would really be different. You're using hardware SPI so it'd not like it'll be going too fast or anything.

function onInit() {
 console.log("Connected!");
 // Wire up up MOSI, MISO, SCK and CS pins (along with 3.3v and GND)
 SPI1.setup({mosi:B5, miso:B4, sck:B3});
 E.connectSDCard(SPI1, B6 /*CS*/);
 setTimeout(function(){
  // see what's on the device
  console.log(require("fs").readdirSync())­;  
  for (var i in files)
    console.log("Found file "+files[i]);
  var f = E.openFile("log.txt", "w");
  f.write("Testing 123");
  f.close();
  
  f = E.openFile("log.txt", "r");
  f.pipe(console.log);
  f.close();
 },2000);
}

Ok, I've done quite a lot of checking and fiddling now with a signal analyser, and:

• Some cards seemed to work reliably as-is
  
• Some cards worked reliably if you tried to initialise them a second time after the first time had failed
  
• Some cards wouldn't work at all *unless you added a pullup resistor to the CS/CD pin)
  
  

So I have modified the firmware now so that it automatically retries the initialisation a few times, which fixes a lot of problems... And I'll modify the documentation to suggest adding a pullup resistor to CS (which is good practice anyway as it'll stop noise from inadvertantly writing rubbish to the card, even if it's amazingly unlikely).

From the Raspberry Pi site here is am SD card formatting program that might help.

SD Memory Card Formatter

I have successfull connected a microsd with fat32. Sometime i have wifi or sd errors.
Fixed that by waiting a few seconds after Oninit with setTimeout(....);

Best regards

Sacha

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Great! That's a really tidy place to put the SD card!

Are you using cutting edge firmwares? the SD card handling should have improved a lot since 1v95

Hi Gordon
Yep, using 1v95. Works perfect for me.
Regards
Sacha

Until the rumored EspruinoWifi SD edition comes out :-)

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Nice - how did you manage that? There aren't even any pins at that end of the board :)

This way

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Hey, . . . a flip up tonneau cover for an Espruino WiFi !!

Tight and compact, . . . and with it's own storage compartment!

Nicely done @Sacha

Nice - thanks! Good use of ethernet cable there ;)