Check Card - yet again!

P

PaulWM

Active member
Almost finished a great weekend of shooting today when I got the Check Card error message. Transcend Red Stripe 16GB again.

Same thing as last time, I had been recording on a newly formatted card. Tested it, downloaded the footage no problem. Deleted all clips ready for use Shot all day today with it today, played back the footage from time to time with the actors to monitor and then we stopped for lunch. Carried on afterwards (with plenty of space still showing) when a brief 'system error' message flashed up immediately followed by CHECK CARD.

Here is the thing, this card was a replacement because of another failed Tanscend 16GB card. When it arrived recently there was a little note inside written in Chinese so I did not have a clue what it said. However, the plastic card cover had been opened (so I presumed it was the lab checking to make sure that this one worked properly before sending it to me).

We were near the end of the day's shoot so I sent everyone home a little early. This time (I read somewhere that this was what I was supposed to do), I left the card inside the HMC. I brought it home and left it in the shade in case it needed to cool down. The reason I mention this is because I was shooting exteriors in about 22-24 degrees and I wondered if the cam or card had overheated. That said, in between setting up different shots/scenes, I put it in the shade.

I connected the Cam to the PC but it is not recognised. Do I now take the card out like I did with the last failed card and try it in a SDHC reader or do I download software to try and read the card in the cam?

I had filled up my Sandisk Extreme 8GB cards (flawless) and I thought that I would give Transcend one more chance.
 
Take it out and see if a PC or mac will recognize it. If it is recognised then try clip restorer and if that don't work try data restoration software.

If it is NOT recognizable then it is likely a failed micro-controller and you will need to send the card in to have the data retrieved.
 
Hi PaulWM,

Did you see my post titled:

Problem not with cards but with cameras internal card reader

I'm new to the list and had assumed that my type of post and yours more properly belongs in the technical section since we seem to be having technical issues.

Be that as it may, nobody has responded, notwithstanding the fact that a number of people are having card issues and it seems to me that a few of those are not making it clear on if they are certain it is not their cameras.

In my case, I feel certain that it is the cameras. I have 2 and it's happening to both. I briefly inserted a brand new Sandisk Extreme and it was OK although I didn't record anything and removed it. As my post states, I auto-assumed that that meant it was an issue with my 32GB Transcend cards. But a few minutes later I reinserted the Sandisk card and it immediately gave a "CHECK CARD" warning. This indicates the cameras internal card reader, to me.

Panasonic now has the cameras for diagnostics.

As my post states I know all about the need to format the card in-camera.

As my post also states: removing and reinserting the cards a random number of times (a few or several times) will make the warning go away.

Stay tuned for Panasonic's diagnostic analysis.

I'd like to hear from any users who have inserted a brand new card and then reinserted it again (or even again) without recording and got the CHECK CARD warning.
 
Look forward to hearing the results from Panasonic. Maybe it is the camera after all. I will watch out for your posting - thankyou and good luck. Maybe if it is an internal cam problem (and the company admit it), you will find the solution for all of us.

Denwa, I will take my card out a little later this evening (plucking up the courage as the last time I lost a Transcend it cost me hundreds of pounds).

I cannot believe that if we were able to playback our takes yesterday that the data is not recoverable. That said Transcend only recovered three very short clips last time.
 
They charged you for the retrieval?? Most chip companies iwll attempt it free of charge and replace the card with a new one.

Took me 3 months though. I had an Adata fail on me.

I now use ATP Promax cards. They are pretty much industrial class.
 
Denwa they did not charge me for the retrieval only for the overseas registered postage.

Costs involved are due to me having to reshoot because accommodation/actors/ travelling expenses have to be covered. Now the same thing because the replacement card also failed.

On the one hand I'm thinking how can lightning strike twice? Surely damaged micro controllers on two Transcends could not happen. I wasn't working in extreme heat or cold either. Then I'm thinking IS it the camera? If so, then how can that be? In between the two failed shoots I have been using the smaller Transcend green striped cards and Sandisk Extreme III's without any problems.

My confidence is now badly shaken.
 
Depends. If the cards are from the same batch and that batch has MC issues, then yes it could be the cards, but I hear what you are saying.
 
my promised report

my promised report

I now have both cams back from Panasonic, each with a new card reader installed.

No explanation given. I haven't used the cameras yet but surely my problems are over...
 
Hope that your problems are over but they should have given you an explanation..

I had a thought whilst out shooting all day on Saturday (no probems again with Transcend green stripe or the Sandisk Extreme III's). At one stage, a spare battery (genuine Panasonic) showed 23 minutes of power remaining. I turned it off whilst setting up the camera for another shot and switched it on again shortly afterwards. It came up with a warning that it now only had three minutes of power left so that was strange.

I will have to keep an eye on that next time as running out of power whilst the card is recording can't be healthy! With my two failed Transcend red stripe 16GB cards I now recall that I was into the last 20+ minutes of power on my new High Capacity Panasonic battery. Wonder if this was an issue?

I'm now downsizing my cards and just using 4GB and 8Gb wherever possible.
 
PaulWM said:
Same thing as last time, I had been recording on a newly formatted card. Tested it, downloaded the footage no problem. Deleted all clips ready for use Shot all day today with it today
Click to expand...

hi there...

so what u have done is formatting the card in the camere? then recording several footage, downloaded the footage to pc and then deleted? tell me more?

how did u downloaded the footage? while using the camerea? or an external card reader? and how did u deleted all the clips after that downloadiong?

i guess u should format zje card again after deleting clips using the pc or something... maybe its not the problem or maybe u dit it that way...
 
Hi

Yes I formatted the card in the camera. Then I recorded until the card was full. Then I downloaded to PC via card reader. Then I put the card back in to the camera. Then I deleted all of the footage.

From what I understand it is better to format in the camera rather than on the PC.
 
It is definitely better to format cards on the camera, rather than just using your computer's OS's formatting program!

If you want to format on the computer, you can do it but you have to download a specific SD Formatter program from either Panasonic or the SD Card Association.
 
yep i would only format inside of the camera to be sure to have the "right" datasystem used by the camera.

this is my workflow on all flash based memory systems like compact flash on my dslr, xd-card on my compact camera or sdhc in my gopro hd camera... never had a problem.

hopefully there will be no problem on my hmc151 which i am going to buy soon...
 
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