BLUF: The tape fix works. I am simply elaborating a little on the technique, FYI.
Today I received a used SD1200 IS that I bought off ebay as a #2 / backup camera. It seemed to operate OK; it came without a memory card, so I slipped one in. Got the “Card Locked” message. I fooled around with the sliding tab, even though it was set to “unlock” correctly. I tried another card – locked, again. I slipped in a third card – OK! All three cards were recognized correctly in my #1 camera, but only one of the three in this used #2 camera. With a “bad” card in the camera, the options to reformat the card and reset default settings are disabled. I slipped in a good card to reset to default; resetting did not help. Before searching and finding this web site and thread, I visually compared cards, but could not really see any difference. After listening and watching the video posted by 100nz843z it occurred to me to check the height of the good card with the bad card. I used a small metal ruler, laying the edge across the edge to observe if the tab was at the same height. Both card tabs had a gap, but the gap of the good card was very small and the gap of the tab on the bad card, while small, was noticeably greater.
On the bad card, I positioned the tab at unlocked, and covered the entire tab cutout with tape. You have to be aware that you could accidentally cover the metal connections on the card, which I did at first. (I decided to use Scotch Magic tape; I thought it would become less goo-ie over time, esp. in my car were I always keep a camera.) I slipped the card into the camera and the camera started up just fine, no problem. I think a more permanent fix would be to get some Superglue Gel and with a toothpick add a layer or two across the top of the tab to increase its height, allowing the tab to properly engage the small “switch” inside the camera. That switch must be slightly worn or bent.
Here are a couple of photos. The first shows the tab gaps. The good card (cheap, unbranded) is the blue one on the left as you look at it. The bad card (Sandisc Extreme) is the black one on the right. If you look carefully and compare the space between each tab you will see that the card tab on the left is noticeably closer to the ruler edge than the one on the right. As you can tell, it doesn’t take much of a difference/increase in gap to create an error, or to fix it.
The tape negates the need for any tab, as you now know. I don’t know how long the tape would hold up long term, especially in high heat, hence my plan to replace that with some carefully placed buildup of Superglue gel on the tab edge. I wanted to present my observations for the curious. There are a couple of other threads addressing this problem, and unfortunately recommendations on those have the camera owners chasing firmware solutions, sending the camera in for repair, etc. – all expensive, time-consuming and, as we can see, a needless waste of money and headache. I really appreciate the video and information posted by 100nz843z.
@tuna wrote:BLUF: The tape fix works. I am simply elaborating a little on the technique, FYI.
Today I received a used SD1200 IS that I bought off ebay as a #2 / backup camera. It seemed to operate OK; it came without a memory card, so I slipped one in. Got the “Card Locked” message. I fooled around with the sliding tab, even though it was set to “unlock” correctly. I tried another card – locked, again. I slipped in a third card – OK! All three cards were recognized correctly in my #1 camera, but only one of the three in this used #2 camera. With a “bad” card in the camera, the options to reformat the card and reset default settings are disabled. I slipped in a good card to reset to default; resetting did not help. Before searching and finding this web site and thread, I visually compared cards, but could not really see any difference. After listening and watching the video posted by 100nz843z it occurred to me to check the height of the good card with the bad card. I used a small metal ruler, laying the edge across the edge to observe if the tab was at the same height. Both card tabs had a gap, but the gap of the good card was very small and the gap of the tab on the bad card, while small, was noticeably greater.
On the bad card, I positioned the tab at unlocked, and covered the entire tab cutout with tape. You have to be aware that you could accidentally cover the metal connections on the card, which I did at first. (I decided to use Scotch Magic tape; I thought it would become less goo-ie over time, esp. in my car were I always keep a camera.) I slipped the card into the camera and the camera started up just fine, no problem. I think a more permanent fix would be to get some Superglue Gel and with a toothpick add a layer or two across the top of the tab to increase its height, allowing the tab to properly engage the small “switch” inside the camera. That switch must be slightly worn or bent.
Here are a couple of photos. The first shows the tab gaps. The good card (cheap, unbranded) is the blue one on the left as you look at it. The bad card (Sandisc Extreme) is the black one on the right. If you look carefully and compare the space between each tab you will see that the card tab on the left is noticeably closer to the ruler edge than the one on the right. As you can tell, it doesn’t take much of a difference/increase in gap to create an error, or to fix it.
The tape negates the need for any tab, as you now know. I don’t know how long the tape would hold up long term, especially in high heat, hence my plan to replace that with some carefully placed buildup of Superglue gel on the tab edge. I wanted to present my observations for the curious. There are a couple of other threads addressing this problem, and unfortunately recommendations on those have the camera owners chasing firmware solutions, sending the camera in for repair, etc. – all expensive, time-consuming and, as we can see, a needless waste of money and headache. I really appreciate the video and information posted by 100nz843z.
I would never put tape or super glue inside of my camera. A new card is far cheaper than a new camera.
