BCD436HP/BCD536HP: WTH is up with the SD card? Why does this radio suck?

[plaws]

When I first got the radio, I almost sent it back since, you know, there didn't seem to be a way to program it with the Sentinel software. Formatted the SD card a couple times. Finally realized that you can't switch between XP and 7 even if you try to get fancy and store the DB in Dropbox (each says the SD card is corrupt if you tried to do anything to the SD card on the other OS plus the path to the DB seems to be included in a config file, which is another problem).

Fine. I stick to XP on the old (very hot) laptop and finally, FINALLY get the damn thing programmed. Yay!

I get busy in and out of work and don't have a chance to play any more until today.

Hook it up to the ol' XP laptop ... and Sentinel hangs when I try to connect. In fact, XP won't see the SD (as D: ). If I start over sometimes XP will see the card but only to tempt me in Windows Explorer - which hangs if I try to open it. Remember, I gave up trying to do anything with it on W7 because of the corruption thing.

I can see the radio in the USB device tree, but the disk is AWOL.

Except in the scanner. The scanner see it and reads from it just fine.

I put the SD card into a card reader and ... corrupted. Big surprise. Formatted it again and did a Clear User Data as the radio instructed me to.

First thing I try to do is update the firmware (I don't even know if there is new firmware, but if there isn't, it will tell me). It appears there is and, after timing out the first time, it finishes. I go to unmount (eject) the radio as I am instructed and ... XP says "An error was encountered". OK, so ... Push and hold power without disconnecting the cable? After a few beeps it just sits at USB Storage. I try to write to the radio, it finishes ... and there is nothing there. Try again and now my profile and FLs are there.

What a pain.



Ignoring Electras, I've had BC200XLT, BC3000XLT, BC780XLT, BC250D, BCD396T, BCD396XT, BCD996XT (2) -- so not a newbie -- and this is easily and by far the most disappointing Uniden scanner I've ever had.

 

[SCPD]

xp and 7

FYI : I have had sentinel on both XP and 7 and it works fine.
oddly I use it without that crappy Microsoft .NET framework,I install the sentinel software then remove .net after the software is on.
The factory sd card is garbage! I use aftermarket sd cards.(currently 32GB)
The card will always load slow,thats normal.


Install a nice FULL VERSION of your favorite operating system,I think your computer is ill.
I am using a 2004 Sony VAIO,but I always do a fresh copy of XP or 7 before I do anything .

 

[bravo14]

I have both x36's and don't have any problems as of yet. I don't use the USB cords. I use the card reader reads faster and I can remove safely if I use the USB I can't remove safely for some reason. I'm using Win7.

 

[VE3RADIO]

There are a ton of problems with the x36 line but the USB port is not one of them.

 

[phillydjdan]

Makes ya wish for the days before you needed a computer to program a scanner, doesn't it? Good job, Uniden...

 

[mikepdx]

Why does this radio suck?

It doesn't.

Nothing in your stated symptoms appear to have
a thing to do with the scanner.

 

[kc2kth]

The card that shipped with the scanner does seem to be problem prone. Since I started using the card reader slot on my computer and replaced the card with a high quality one from Sandisk I haven't had a corruption issue.

 

[seagullplayer]

How often are you guys needing to reprogram the scanner?

 

[SCPD]

once

Once so far ,since the 32 GB installed,I dont have to . You do know when you update the database your favorites lists are not updated though.:lol:
It works fine,the radio,it does scan slow,but I beat that out with DND priority on my main town.(best feature ever)

 

[mikewazowski]

Using a Dropbox account for Sentinel works fine when using Windows7 and XP. I do it all the time without any issues and I've never had any problems with the sd card on my 436 or 536.

 

[kc2kth]

How often are you guys needing to reprogram the scanner?

I've actually programmed twice - and I need to again, only because I'm learning how Sentinel works and trying to lay things out in a way that allows me to quickly silence noisy areas without having 100 favorite lists.

 

[brucewarming]

Pilot error........ I'm not saying everyone is doing wrong, but when I first got the scanner and software I went to update and it LOOKED LIKE it got hung up.(It's slow when you do a full update) I pulled the USB and it ended up corrupted. I went back in and cleared all user data and started over, I waited till it finished this time and have NEVER had further problems. I did program a 32GB card for full time use and keep the 4GB as a backup. I update that one every so often. Pay attention to the check boxes, reread the instructions and be patient. Then may be there should be another thread for Apple/Mac users, it's not the windows users fault that you can't make it work.

 

[ki6asp]

I use Sentinel on one XP laptop and 7 on a different laptop. Both laptops have never had a problem reading or writing to the original card installed in either version of my x36 scanners.

I bet I just jinxed myself.

 

[xrorx]

Sentinal and my 8 gig SD card have worked many times with my 436 without a hitch. I keep a spare image on my original 4 gig SD card.

 

[garys]

I have a 436 and a 536. When I first got the 436, I wrote my Favorites Lists to the scanner over a dozen times as I fine tuned the information. Not a glitch and no problems with the card or the scanner since then. I got the 536 on Monday. It was slightly used so I don't know it's complete history, but I couldn't write to the SD card at all. There's another thread for those that are interested. I put in a card I had handy and the problem was solved. I've written to the card a number of times since Monday as I fine tuned that information and had no problem.

I've used a fair number of SanDisk products and always found them reliable, but it seems that some of the ones that Uniden bought are not very reliable.

That being said, I've had far fewer problems with the SD card than I did when I was using a PSR800. I had to reformat and rewrite several times because the card just stopped working.

As others have said, it's a good idea to have a spare card. 8GB cards are dirt cheap right now and more than sufficient for my needs.

 

[XTS3000]

I've gotten the corrupt card message at least 6 times so far, each time it happened all I did was change batteries. Made sure the 436 was finished writing to card before removing the batteries. To fix problem, I just removed the card and reinserted it. The SD card holder must be junk, because I've had cell phones with the same setup and never had a problem with them.

 

[desert-cheetah]

I've had no problem programming my 436 with Sentinel using a laptop running XP. No corrupt cards. No issues whatsoever with the scanner. Many issues have been user error. I've probably re-programmed my 436 4 times, if not more, since first buying it and that's only because I forgot to add something or I decided to put in San Diego in preparation for an upcoming trip.

 

[XTS3000]

Last 3 battery swaps, I get a corrupt card message on screen. Have to remove and reseat the SD card. I'm being super general removing and replacing the batteries, so it's nothing wrong I'm doing.

I just assume when I swap batteries, the SD card will permanently fail sooner, hopefully later.

 

[kb8rvp]

BCD436HP WTH is up with the SD card? Why does this radio suck?

Last 3 battery swaps, I get a corrupt card message on screen. Have to remove and reseat the SD card. I'm being super general removing and replacing the batteries, so it's nothing wrong I'm doing.

I just assume when I swap batteries, the SD card will permanently fail sooner, hopefully later.

Are you turning off the scanner when you swap the batteries? I only charge the batteries in an external charger so I swap the batteries in my PSR-800 and my BCD436HP all the time and always have the power unplugged and the scanner turned off when I swap the batteries and have never had an issue.

Mike

 

[JamesO]

It happened me once when changing the batteries is my 436HP. Yes it was turned off. I just swapped the SD card from my 536HP and I have never gotten around to determining why/what happened. This was the with the original SD card and I had never removed it before the error when changing the batteries.

Had not happened again, but I have a different SD card in the unit than what was originally shipped with the radio.