SD card locked message

[hanexp]

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Hello,

I have a very nice Leica M9 that had a 2020 sensor replacement. It functions well in all respects except one. I often get a “SD card locked” message after removing and then replacing the SD when the SD card is in fact not locked. The error message always clears after removing the card again and re- placing it in the camera. Occasionally I have to do this (remove and replace the cSD cards) twice to clear the error. It always does clear after one or two attempts. My question is if this can be repaired or of it indicates a problem which Leica can no longer fix due to no replacement parts. Leica NJ service is the obvious place  to ask but communication with Leica NJ has been a little slow in my experience. Actually I have already tried to call without reply. I’m hoping to learn that this can be fixed. If not, I intend to shoot the camera until I can no longer clear the error message. I would appreciate knowing the experience of others who may have had the same error message. I will continue to follow up with Leica soon after the holiday.

Thank you

Blair

[ianman]

I’ve never heard of this problem. Do you have multiple cards and ones this happen on all of them? Have you tried re-initialising the card? What brand, capacity, speed cards are you using?

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[hanexp]

Thanks for your reply.

Two cards: San Disk 8gb and San Disk Extreme 16GB

Both produce the error message

[ianman]

The cards should be ok. Did you initialise them in camera? The only thing I can think of is some sort of weird file structure due to initialisation which the camera doesn't understand.

Sorry I can't be much help, like I wrote above, I've not heard of this error message before. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chip in.

[hanexp]

Ian,

Both SD cards have been formatted in the Leica M9 I use them in. 

Thanks for your thoughts on this. With over 7000 posts and this phenomena new to you, I am thinking I will have pursue this with Leica NJ. I value your input. The SD error message never occurred until sensor was replaced. If anyone else has any ideas please let me know.

[Wayben]

Kind of grasping at straws, but is the battery fully charged and have you tried a different battery?

Wayne

[pgk]

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The 'lock' on an SD card is physical. It sounds like the camera is not reading that the 'lock' is in the unlocked position. It should be an easy fix.

[ianman]

Blair,

I did a quick search and found this.... the news is not good but I hope the message you are seeing is not caused by the same as this one:

 

[mujk]

2 hours ago, pgk said:

The 'lock' on an SD card is physical. It sounds like the camera is not reading that the 'lock' is in the unlocked position. It should be an easy fix.

Yes, it's a sort of slider that covers a notch in the edge of the card when it should be considered locked. Looking into the card slot of the M9 it seems that this notch is detected by a mechanical switch, a curved piece of metal protruding from the side of the slot. If this becomes stuck in the depressed position, the camera will not detect that the card is unlocked. When you put in the card or remove it, this switch is pushed and then released, which is probably the reason why it may work after you have done this. 

The actual reason for the problem could be that the switch just gets stuck mechanically, but it can also be that the spring that pushes the piece of metal outwards has become weak or an electrical contact problem in the switch itself. In the first case, maybe engaging the switch a number of times would help?

 

[hanexp]

4 hours ago, ianman said:

Blair,

I did a quick search and found this.... the news is not good but I hope the message you are seeing is not caused by the same as this one:

Yers. I saw this post and have been concerned this problem cannot be fixed in an M9.. However, the problem has been “stable”, that is I have always been able to clear it, but I would like to resolve it. 

 

[hanexp]

 mujk and pjs

I just did several inserts and removals of one of the cards and it has repeatedly NOT shown the error message. My fingers are crossed. I’lll give it more tries again later and hope the problem is resolved. I am hopeful but also skeptical. If the problem continues I’ll send it to Leica NJ for repair. I’d much prefer to have the beautiful M9 with the new sensor to their trade in value towards an alternative.

 

Thank you all mujk, pjs and Ian man for your thoughts. You are a great resource

[hanexp]

On 9/8/2021 at 12:06 PM, mujk said:

Yes, it's a sort of slider that covers a notch in the edge of the card when it should be considered locked. Looking into the card slot of the M9 it seems that this notch is detected by a mechanical switch, a curved piece of metal protruding from the side of the slot. If this becomes stuck in the depressed position, the camera will not detect that the card is unlocked. When you put in the card or remove it, this switch is pushed and then released, which is probably the reason why it may work after you have done this. 

The actual reason for the problem could be that the switch just gets stuck mechanically, but it can also be that the spring that pushes the piece of metal outwards has become weak or an electrical contact problem in the switch itself. In the first case, maybe engaging the switch a number of times would help?

 

Yesterday I inserted and removed one of the SD cards several times. After the repeated insert/removals the problem seems to have gone away. It still seems to be working perfectly now. I dont know if the spring is weakened but it seems like the insert/remove/insert repetitions seems to have worked for now. I’ll continue to watch for the problem and will send it to Leica if the problem returns. Many many thanks for the suggestions.

[ianman]

On 9/9/2021 at 10:11 PM, hanexp said:

It still seems to be working perfectly now

That is excellent news. Your feedback may be valuable to others in the future.

[hanexp]

The problem seems to be resolved. If it re-arises, I will check back and report here.

Many thanks again for the good ideas

[hanexp]

After a period of no error messages, the dreaded “Attention SD card locked” message returned. Although I can always (at least so far) quickly correct the message by removing and re-inserting an SD card, I have returned the camera to Leica. I will report how it goes. I am appreciative of the many good ideas from the forum

[hanexp]

Hello

I sent my M9 body to Leica NJ who received it 11/8/2021. They estimated and charged $410 for Necessary Labors for electronic faulty, adjust rangefinder, sensor clean, new leather and return shipping. So far I’ve inserted and removed cards that I previously had temporary problems with prior to service successfully. No SD card error messages so far. I am cautiously hopeful the problem is solved. I hope this info helps anyone who encounters similar SD card error messages.

 

[CarlosMV87]

Hello hanexp, have had an M8 for 10 years or more and never had any problems, also have an M 240, and working perfectly as well, just got last Friday an M9 because I wanted the Full Frame Kodak sensor (love the one from my M8 but wanted more MP and sensor size) and its a beauty but I have the exact same problem, do you know exactly what it is?? my seller is responding so I am ok with that, but still just to know if the only thing left is to send it to Leica MX, 

[dpitt]

This may sound stupid, but I have a card that showed the same issues when inserted in my TL2. This had nothing to do with the camera. I noticed that the lock slider on the SD card moved very easily. So easy that the slightest contact with the side of the slot would cause it to slide halfway into the locked position, resulting in a "card locked" message. Sometimes it even appeared to be unlocked when I pulled it out because the slider just made contact again and slid back in to the unlocked position...

I solved this issue by using glue stick (something usually used to glue paper). Just a tiny bit on the lock slider makes it stick into position. Now it does not malfunction anymore.
Of course, if you have multiple cards, even brand new, that trigger the issue, your case maybe different.

Edited February 6 by dpitt

[CarlosMV87]

30 minutes ago, dpitt said:

This may sound stupid, but I have a card that showed the same issues when inserted in my TL2. This had nothing to do with the camera. I noticed that the lock slider on the SD card moved very easily. So easy that the slightest contact with the side of the slot would cause it to slide halfway into the locked position, resulting in a "card locked" message. Sometimes it even appeared to be unlocked when I pulled it out because the slider just made contact again and slid back in to the unlocked position...

I solved this issue by using glue stick (something usually used to glue paper). Just a tiny bit on the lock slider makes it stick into position. Now it does not malfunction anymore.
Of course, if you have multiple cards, even brand new, that trigger the issue, your case maybe different.

What I did yesterday actually was totally removed that locked with my nails...still got the message so I´ll try gluing it with cyanocrylate

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Hallo,

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[dpitt]

5 hours ago, CarlosMV87 said:

What I did yesterday actually was totally removed that locked with my nails...still got the message so I´ll try gluing it with cyanocrylate

That will make it stick. Which is why I used a very soft glue because I do not like to kill functionality. Make sure the glue does not eat up part of the plastic. And really make sure none of that cyanocrylate comes near your camera when it is wet. Hope this helps.