SDS 200 Won't Power up

[JoeBearcat]

My first thought was a display issue, but if it's showing the card error without a card, it is probably not that.

I would suspect either a bad card or a card that is not properly formatted. I assume you are clearing the card data with a card reader. Make sure it is FAT/FAT32 formatted.

 

[Larry1275]

Hello,My brother sds 200 scanner did the same think he had to send scanner back to uniden to fix it...

 

[RadioComm]

My first thought was a display issue, but if it's showing the card error without a card, it is probably not that.

I would suspect either a bad card or a card that is not properly formatted. I assume you are clearing the card data with a card reader. Make sure it is FAT/FAT32 formatted.

Yes, I'm using SD Card Formatter to clear the card data. It is FAT32 Formatted.

 

[crippledchicken]

How long of periods, has the card sat in the scanner without being removed? Do you program with the scanner hooked to computer or, just program the card in a card reader on your computer?

 

[RadioComm]

How long of periods, has the card sat in the scanner without being removed? Do you program with the scanner hooked to computer or, just program the card in a card reader on your computer?

The SD card has never been removed from the scanner to be programmed. I use a computer and the USB cable for all programming.

 

[mc48]

Try connecting the scanner to a 12 volt external power supply (battery) using the supplied cables to eliminate a power supply problem.

 

[RadioComm]

Try connecting the scanner to a 12 volt external power supply (battery) using the supplied cables to eliminate a power supply problem.

I tried the power supply for the SDS on my BCT15 and that scanner powered up fine. I don't think it's a power supply issue. I'm going to purchase another brand new SD card today and give that a try.

 

[crippledchicken]

The SD card has never been removed from the scanner to be programmed. I use a computer and the USB cable for all programming.

I've had the contacts oxidize a little once and had to use a very, light film of Caig Deoxit contact cleaner on the sd card and install and remove several times to clean the sd slot contacts in order to get it going again. I had same symptoms might, be worth a try but, just a slight film of the cleaner don't want too much!

 

[RadioComm]

I tried a third (brand new) SD card and the scanner still will not power up. I'm going to call Uniden tomorrow and see about sending it back for repair. I'm not sure what else to do at this point.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

[MStep]

My own "SD Card Access Error":

The SDS200 was running fine. I rarely shut it off. It had been running fine all day. In the evening, I noticed things had gotten very quite. I took a look at the screen, thinking the radio has stopped on a "quite birdie", but alas, to my sorrow, I saw the "SD Card Access Error". Now what?

I turned that radio on and off a few times, but still kept getting the error. A few more manipulations, including removing the card and putting it back in the slot, but same error. Slow panic starts to set in. Gotta keep my head. I read this thread--- mixed solutions.

Opened one of my electronic parts drawers and sure enough, found two brand new Sandisk 32 cards. My laptop is having issues with the Internet (when it rains, it pours), so could not find the appropriate FAT/FAT32 formatting tool.

What the hay (as they say). Just stuck in the new Sandisk32 and the SDS200 booted up. But a new message--- told me to use Sentinel to Clear User Data. Took the new card out of the SDS and into the SD card slot of the laptop, used Sentinel to "locate it" on my laptop (make sure you check the option to Search All Drives in Sentinel). Sentinel found the card, and I clicked on the Clear User Data option in Sentinel.

When the process appeared to have completed, I removed the new card from the computer and back into the radio. Turned the radio on and surprise.... the SDS200 booted up correctly and brought up it's normal screen. Of course the message with "Nothing To Scan" appeared, as expected, since I had not written my files to the card. So I connected the cable to the radio from the laptop and "read" all the files (Main DB and Favs) from Sentinel on the computer to the SDS200 the card.

I was fortunate to have some extra new SD cards on hand. Apparently, they were already formatted correctly. But it was quite a scary experience. I've turned the radio on and off a few times to make sure everything is cycling correctly and updated the database.

The card that apparently went bad was the original card that came with the radio and to the best of my knowledge, had never been removed from the slot. Which is way I popped it in and out a few times, first hoping that the contacts were not "contacting".

So a tip for some who have not made those provisions---- always have an extra SD card on hand and ready to go.

 

[MStep]

Followup Report To "SD Card Access Error"

Everything was running fine for the past few days until I walked over to my SDS200 today and saw that it had again stopped scanning and now displayed a message regarding "SD Card Write Error". (It had a couple of code numbers following it--- something like Code 1, 2, but not sure). I turned the radio off and then on again, and it booted normally. I did the turnoff/turn on a couple of times and all was normal.

Next time, I will be sure to photograph the screen before attempting to correct the issue. During this failure, and the failure that I mentioned in my previous post, the radio had been turned on and running normally. Nothing in the operating environment has changed. The room temperature is normal.

The only other thing that comes to mind is that perhaps the power transformer is operating improperly, causing the radio to suddenly lose power for a second or two and then coming back up with the errant message.

I will keep the group posted on any other errors the radio may produce. I have several SDS200's, but they are running at different locations. I'll try a swap and see what happens.

 

[Larry1275]

ok thanks

 

[MStep]

Here we go again. SD card Access Error. Card fails. Plug card in once or twice and its fine for a few mins and thing bang, out it goes again. Following my own method above, tried several other cards with no success. Some 8 MHb, sine 16, some 32. When this thing acts up, it really does act up. Tried gently blowing dust out of port, gently cleaning contact on cards, etc. Old card goes back in and works for 1 minute and then more issues.

I've never checked "Create an MS DOS startup disk". Has anyone experimented.

In my message # 30 above, am I missing anything? What a pain in the tucus. WIll try the FAT 32 format on a different computer.

Doing the long format, not the quick format. May switch that up later as well.

This witched me back in June, and then stared working again. Suggestions? Most reliable cards?

Thanks all in advance.

 

[MStep]

Here we go again. SD card Access Error. Card fails. Plug card in once or twice and its fine for a few mins and thing bang, out it goes again. Following my own method above, tried several other cards with no success. Some 8 MHb, sine 16, some 32. When this thing acts up, it really does act up. Tried gently blowing dust out of port, gently cleaning contact on cards, etc. Old card goes back in and works for 1 minute and then more issues.

I've never checked "Create an MS DOS startup disk". Has anyone experimented.

In my message # 30 above, am I missing anything? What a pain in the tucus. WIll try the FAT 32 format on a different computer.

Doing the long format, not the quick format. May switch that up later as well.

This witched me back in June, and then stared working again. Suggestions? Most reliable cards?

Thanks all in advance.

Up and running again, albeit with strange anomonly that I will investigate further later today. A light and gentle spanking on top of the radio seems to be it back into some order. But let's now see if it actually runs for more than 10 minutes or 10 hours. More coming later.

 

[MStep]

Been running now for about 8 hours. So once again, as I have pointed out in previous threads, perseverance is key should you suddenly encounter this issue. I wonder how many folks gave up after an hour or two and decided just to send their radios back to Uniden.

Have three or four cards handy. Use the proper formatting program, although the issue has resolved in the past with new cards "out of the box" that I did not first format. Try formatting on different computers, if you have access to more than one. I also tried formatting the card "stand-alone" and in a micro-adapter.

I kid you not when I said that I "spanked" the radio (gave it a couple of gentle knocks on the top) --- who knows, perhaps this is a CSJ or other issue with the port on my SDS200. This particular unit is not subjected to being moved around a lot--- it's pretty much stationary, but perhaps just coincidentally, this resolved the issue this time.

"Walk away" from the problem for an hour or two--- have a meal, watch some TV, and then re-attack the issue. For an old geezer like me, I have additional issues with vision and getting the proper lighting so that I can align the card properly in the SDS200 slot. You may need a second pair of hands to help out.

Enough said at this point--- just wanted to offer this as encouragement to others who may face this SD Card Access Error. Give yourself a day or two of "work" to resolve the issue before shipping anything out for repair.

 

[maus92]

Possibly a bad card reader, or the flex cable that connects the reader to the mainboard (possible that the flex cable might need re-seating.)

 

[fxdscon]

I have additional issues with vision and getting the proper lighting so that I can align the card properly in the SDS200 slot.

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The card slot in the SDS200 can be hard to deal with at times with the issues that you mention, as well as my fat fingers... this extension made it much easier for me with it's more open card slot:

More favorites list weirdness . . . SDS200

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