[uyibaz]

my n900 cant recognize or see memory card. is this part of the big failure or peculiar to mine.

worst still, i cant  use check my credit balance using the code *556#, load credit.    it doesnt with pc suite, nor with the ovi suite, map updater, map loader! is this a fraud or what?

[cpitchford]

What type of SD card are you using? Size / Manufacturer..

 The N900 has a magnetic sensor that it uses to detect if the back cover is attached or not.. If the N900 senses that the back cover is not present, it disables access to the MicroSD card.. It does this because it assumes you might be about to remove it.

Some people have reported that their N900 is unable to detect if the back cover is present or not.. and this means their device will not allow them to use their MicroSD card..

Open an x terminal and enter this command

dmesg | grep mmc0

The | character can be entered by pressing the blue arrow button, then the ctrl button then selecting | from the on screen keyboard

Post the back results back here (you can use the white arrow on the tool bar inside x terminal to select text.. use the stylus to select the result text, then press the top of the screen and select copy)

If you'd prefer to use a PC.. run this command

dmesg | grep mmc0 > MyDocs/dmesg.txt

Use the same method for | to enter > 

Then you can copy fht dmesg.txt off your phone using pc suite or USB mass storage..

[uyibaz]

thanks. let me try the suggestions

[uyibaz · Accepted solution]

hi this is the result of procedure

$ dmesg | grep mmc0

[81208.118713] mmc0: cover is open, card is now inaccessible 

[81398.064392] mmc0: cover is closed, card is now accessible 

[81398.576141] mmc0: cover is open, card is now inaccessible 

[81398.776275] mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card 

[81399.313476] mmc0: cover is closed, card is now accessible 

[81400.010894] mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card 

[81403.253021] mmc0: cover is open, card is now inaccessible 

[81403.989227] mmc0: cover is closed, card is now accessible 

[81404.706176] mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card

[cpitchford]

Spot on!

That means its not a fault with the back cover and unfortunately that's the easiest to solve.. This could be a contact problem

with the card or a problem with the socket on your phone..

It sounds poor, but have you tried removing the card, checking the contacts and putting it back in?

Also, is there a chance you could try a different card with your phone.. In my experience it is rarely the fault of the card..the card slot on the N900 is particularly fragile compared to other Nokias.. 

What make card is it? San Disk?

[uyibaz]

yes san disk, 128mb

[cpitchford]

Ok, It seems other people have had this problem.

Some have reported this is a bug in Maemo.. and it has been raised and is being looked into.. Others reported that the card worked after formatting it on a Windows machine (or possibly in another phone)

Are you able to access and format the card on your PC? (making a backup of the contents first, of course) This might kick it into working

[uyibaz]

the card has been working fine in other phones nokia to be precise and accessible by my pc. i had it formatted and reinserted the first time i inserted it and noticed i could not access it

[cafeine]

so easy....i kept checking for my memory card with the cover taken off....

almost freaked out......

thx

NOKIA FOR EVER!

[ghavocc]

were you able to solve the problem, if so could you tell me what you did?

[mixedman]

I have tried everything to get my memory card back....When i run dmesg|grep mmc0 in xteminal i get "cover is open, card is now inaccessible". No matter if the back cover is on or off...Any ideas?

[cpitchford]

Does your kick stand stay shut?

If you open your kick stand on the back of your phone, you should see a little dip. There should be a little rectangular magnet in that dip for keeping the kick stand shut..

This magnet actually has another function.. It triggers a sensor in the phone to say the back cover is attached.. If your magnet is missing, the phone can't detect if the back cover is present or not

[mixedman]

Yes its still there and i have tried different magnets no luck.....its just a strange bug in maemo i guess

[cpitchford]

that's not a bug.. that sounds like a hardware failure.. has it always done this (or rather, has it ever worked / when did it stop working?)

[tallguy]

I have the same problem (doesn't recognize the cover any more). You probably also have the problem that if you open up the camera shutter, the camera application doesn't automatically stop.

Both are related and linked to a magnetic sensor that sees whether the back cover is on or not. When it's not, mmc cards are disabled, and the camera shutter no longer triggers the camera app.

Mine used to work, but stopped for some reason. I need to have it repaired, but really don't want to miss my N900 for two weeks...

Bas Vermeulen

[mixedman]

Same here did work but just stopped...and i sent mine off to nokia and they did nothing...just sent it back with the same problem.....it has to do something with that shutter cause i can start my camera with the shutter closed which doesn't suppose to happen.

[tallguy]

---

mixedman wrote:

Same here did work but just stopped...and i sent mine off to nokia and they did nothing...just sent it back with the same problem.....it has to do something with that shutter cause i can start my camera with the shutter closed which doesn't suppose to happen.

---

It has nothing to do with the shutter. I'm fairly sure your shutter still works, but you can check with dmesg on an xterm.

The problem is the magnetic switch that check whether the back cover is still on. If that no longer works, it constantly sees the back cover as off, meaning you can make a photo at any time (which would be correct if it were true). I can trigger the camera app by pushing the camera button (even when the shutter is closed).

Opening the shutter gets me an always on backlight, and an unlocked screen.

Bas Vermeulen

[cpitchford]

The camera slider is actually a light sensor, rather than a magnetic one.

If you look inside the back cover you'll see a white and black bar (half white and half black) that moves over a light sensor that determines if it is black or white and reports that the shutter is open or closed accordingly.

When the back cover is removed, however, the phone ignores this light sensor.. since it can't be trusted with the cover removed..

It assumes the shutter is open, but won't launch the camera..

[mixedman]

Yea thats whats going on.....I just want to know why nokia is giving me the cold shoulder about it.

[flylife2k]

Experiencing the exact same problem, following message returned in xterm window....

"mmc0: cover is open, card is now inaccessible"

There seems to be a fair few people experiencing this, we need to know if this is a simple fix that we can do ourselves or if the phone needs to be sent off for repair