SD CARD STUCK (CANON T3i) PLEASE HELP

[Dan4]

I accidentally put my SD card into my T3i UPSIDE DOWN, and now it is stuck. How can I fix this? A decently sized part of the SD card is sticking out of the slot.

[wq9nsc · Accepted solution]

SD connectors are pretty tough (especially compared to the CF interface) but you need to be gentle. If there is a little bit of it sticking up, use a thin pair of tweezers and gently coax it out.  But before you go any further, remove the battery to avoid damage from contacts forced together.

Rodger

[Dan4]

Do you know if by any chance, my SD card being stuck also has correlation to my camera not turning on even with a fully charged battery?

[kvbarkley]

Certainly could. Hopefully nothing is shorted inside.

[Dan4]

Ok, I'll try using tweezers to take it out, hope it works, and thanks for the help

[wq9nsc]

It is certainly possible but if so it is likely some of the connector contact arms are bent in such a way that they aren't going to return to their normal position.

Leave the battery out and then try to gently remove the card, once it is out use a strong light to look into the socket to see the connecting arms to determine if one or more is severely bent.  They are spring metal designed to mate and provide tension with the card contact points but if one or more is severely bent, especially perpendicular to the normal tension path, then you will need to have the SD card connector replaced because they will never work reliably again even if bent back into place.  If that is the case you will need to decide whether if is cost effective to repair or whether this is a good time for an upgrade and I believe Canon has some sort of program to assist with the price when repair of older camera bodies isn't economically feasible so you might research if that program is available in this case.

Rodger

[Dan4]

The thing is I JUST got this camera.. How much would it cost to get the SD card connector replaced?

[wq9nsc]

I would involve Canon if you need to get it repaired.  The wildcard is whether the main board was damaged if the connector was shorted. Have you been able to remove the card?  If the camera won't power up with the card out and any connector contacts moved away from a shorting position then it is likely to be quite expensive but only Canon will be able to give you a cost estimate for that type of repair.

Don't panic until the card is out and you check the camera.  It is possible that the reverse inserted card moved one of the contacts just far enough in the opposite direction that it shorted to a grounded mounting point and the camera may well be fine once the card is out.

And on edit:  Is this one of the Canon models that use a microswitch in the card door to prevent the camera from powering up when the door isn't fully shut?  It is quite possible that a card sticking up won't let a cover shut and the safety switch is preventing the camera from powering on.

Rodger

[Dan4]

Thank you guys so much for the help, I was worried out of my mind I had broken my camera on the first day of getting it, but now it's ok.

[wq9nsc]

Dan,

Congratulations and I am happy it turned out well for you! 

A friend and I both bought new Corvette Z06 cars in 2016 which come with a data recorder system that records HD video along with a complete set of vehicle data laid down with the video and it uses a SD card for storage.  The first time he was getting ready to take it to the track he put the SD card in the wrong way and it got stuck.  I removed it with a pair of tweezers, he was in a panic thinking that he had partially broken his new $80,000 car.  Fortunately that also turned out well!

Enjoy your camera and don't have nightmares about putting the card in the wrong way because I bet that never happens to you again 🙂

Rodger