Attention: SD Card is Locked

[michaelr100]

Hi
my recently new m8 , after shooting a couple of thousand images and transferring them to a mac book while traveling in belize, is now posting the message
Attention: SD Card is locked.
So, I put a new sd card in the camera and get the same message.
So, I put the offending card in a relatively new Nikon P3 and it works fine.
It seems like my new M8 is broken. ugh, any suggestions, and since I am new to Leica
how does one get it repaired. I purchased it from Amazon.com.
thanks
michael

[atufte]

Originally Posted by michaelr100

Hi
my recently new m8 , after shooting a couple of thousand images and transferring them to a mac book while traveling in belize, is now posting the message
Attention: SD Card is locked.
So, I put a new sd card in the camera and get the same message.
So, I put the offending card in a relatively new Nikon P3 and it works fine.
It seems like my new M8 is broken. ugh, any suggestions, and since I am new to Leica
how does one get it repaired. I purchased it from Amazon.com.
thanks
michael

Try sliding the "lock key" on the SD card to the unlocked position, some cameras can still shoot pictures with the card locked, but the Leica M8 can not....(you probably already tried this, but you never know...)

[sagarwal]

My M8 gives me the "SD card is locked" error very often, whenever I take out the card to transfer images from it and then put the card back into the M8. The card is NOT locked at this point, even then the M8 complains.

So I usually take out the card, slide the lock to 'lock' position and then back to 'unlock' position and put it back into the M8 and everything is fine. The card I use is a SanDisk SD Ultra II USB Plus card (the one with a built-in USB connector), so I have been attributing the intermittent 'lock detection failure' to the fact the SD card might itself be a bit at fault. I'll try this out with another SD card that's lying around and see what happens.

[michaelr100]

Thanks for both the above ideas, however, neither is doing the trick.
michael

[robsteve]

Have you tried different cards? Do the locks on the SD cards have a positive detent to keep them from moving when inserting the card. I had it happen a couple times on my DMR, where inserting the card would bump the lock switch on the card just slightly but enough to have the DMR bring up the Card locked message.

Also, have you tried fomatting the cards? I wonder if you are working off the cards via the card reader and tagging files. Tagged files will show as locked, but I don't think as a "SD car Locked"

If not the cards, is there a chance there is a bit of dirt in the SD slot causing a problem. Try using a blower to see if there is anything in the card slot.

[krimple]

I have had this same problem. Do not remove the plate and replace the card with the camera turned on. If you get this problem, turn the camera off, remove the SD card, put the new once in place, then turn on the camera.

I've only had trouble when I didn't turn it off. Now it's second nature. I'm thinking there is some bug with the sensor checking code that happens when the camera monitors the SD card presence while you eject it. I'm going to make a note of that when I send mine back for the banding fix this month, but otherwise I have a workaround here.

Ken

[michaelr100]

thanks all for the suggestions.
the problem does appear to be the switch on the sans disk ustra II card. I replaced the card
applying slight pressure to avoid locking the card and the card works fine.

next cards will have a positive switch to avoid having the problem somewhere off the beaten path.
michael

[wattsy]

I have had the same issue with one of my Lexar 133x SD cards. Flicking the lock/unlock switch didn't make any difference. However, formatting the SD card on my Mac (I used the zero all data option to cover all bases) did the trick. I was able to use it again in the M8 (I reformatted the card in-camera once the M8 recognised it wasn't locked). I suspect this is another M8 bug rather than an SD card issue.

[robsteve]

Originally Posted by michaelr100

thanks all for the suggestions.
the problem does appear to be the switch on the sans disk ustra II card. I replaced the card
applying slight pressure to avoid locking the card and the card works fine.

next cards will have a positive switch to avoid having the problem somewhere off the beaten path.
michael

Michael:

My card that had a problem with the lock switch not having a good detent was a Sandisk Ultra II as well. I just brought it back to the dealer (Costco) and got it replaced. They have a life time warranty.

[michaelr100]

well, I am back again. The sd card is locked is back and I can not get the camera to accept a card. I have 3 sans disk ultra 1 and 2 gb cards and they all cause the same problem.
Since they work with my nikon p3, I am assuming that there is a mechanical or electrical problem with the m8. Its strange, because it worked fine and than it didn't.
still open to ideas before I send it in for repair.
michael

[larry]

Michael,

I'm wondering if reloading the firmware might not solve the problem. However, before you do that, wait and see if someone else with a little more experience in these matters comes forward.

Good luck,

Larry

[Ross Stockwell]

There appear to be many people reporting this issue all of the sudden.

Various solutions appear to include deleting all the images off the card (via computer) then reformating the card in the camera.

Others have noted that this issue comes up when the battery indicator is on its last segment (recharge battery).

In my case, none of these solutions worked (though they did for others) I found cleaning the SD card contacts with alcohol and inserting them back in to the camera a couple of times may have cleaned the reader head. ( I have had not problems with this issue since). In my case it seems the reader was having trouble reading the card but reported a "locked"SD card..

I do not believe this issue has anything to do with the the card - just a finicky interface between it and the camera.