MicroSD will NOT mount!!

[cvsangel]

Forgive me if the answer is obvious or if this is posted in the wrong place ....

My Acer A500 is new. i bought a 16GB card and it will not mount. ive formated it using singleFAT and nothing. this has been done several times. i cant use markets "mount all" apps because those required root access which i dont have since i cant root without an SD card present . Ive done the "noob" troubleshoot i.e. reboot, poke the reset button, turn off and on with the card in and so on ... nothing. Ive cleaned the card and air dusted the sd card holder for any possible obstructions too. AND.... ive used a secondary MicroSD card to ensure the 16GB wasnt faulty and same result ... nothing . The acer does recognize the card under settings>storage>externalSDCard however theres no icon present and no mount/unmount option nor does it show when using ES File Explorer ... so the acer picking it up eliminates the socket not working

WTF am i missing??!! genuine answers please im not a tech idiot who post about changing my wallpaper issues. i know what im doing i just needhelp on this one. thanks.

 

[Douvie]

what version of Honeycombe have you got on your A500?

 

[cvsangel]

3.1

would updating it to that 3.2 fix it? i doubt it, but has there been cases where it has worked?

 

[Douvie]

3.1

would updating it to that 3.2 fix it? i doubt it, but has there been cases where it has worked?

Yes. Also improves mounting/unmounting USB sticks.
Why hasn't your tablet updated? You should have had an OTA (over-the-air) update to version 3.2.

Hve you rooted your tsblet?

 

[cvsangel]

Wow I'm going to feel very silly if that really does solve the problem.

Like I said, it's new out of the box and just haven't bothered updating it although I'm beginning the 3.2 download as we speak.

It just didn't make sense that an update would solve it because in a way wouldn't that entale that SD cards prior to this update didn't work and would therefore defeat the purpose of a MicroSD card for ext storage??

Idk maybe I'm over thinking it.

I'll post results of update ASAP.

And no, it's not rooted yet. I plan to use gingerbreak once I get my SD card running

 

[Douvie]

Wow I'm going to feel very silly if that really does solve the problem.

Like I said, it's new out of the box and just haven't bothered updating it although I'm beginning the 3.2 download as we speak.

It just didn't make sense that an update would solve it because in a way wouldn't that entale that SD cards prior to this update didn't work and would therefore defeat the purpose of a MicroSD card for ext storage??

Idk maybe I'm over thinking it.

I'll post results of update ASAP.

And no, it's not rooted yet. I plan to use gingerbreak once I get my SD card running

Icebike had mentioned something about this in one of the other threads concerning tne SD CARD. With version 3.01 some worked some didn't. The USB mount/unmount feature did not exist and some of us downloaded a mount/umount utility to use at that time. There was some improvement in 3.1 and some issues with the SD card slot. With 3.2 it seems to work fine.

One other thing, if you're plugging your tab into a PC you download and install the driver for the PC otherwise Windows will not know what to do with the A500.

 

[Douvie]

Why install a lesser system like GINGERBREAD that is a phone OS? Not designed for the 10.1 inch tablet!

 

[kmarchi]

Wait. SingleFAT? Try FAT 32.

 

[kmarchi]

And ixnay on the Gingerbread. Trust me. The whole useage experience is so overwhelmingly better with 3.2 that even a gingeraddict like me has moved on. Even with no root.

 

[Douvie]

And ixnay on the Gingerbread. Trust me. The whole useage experience is so overwhelmingly better with 3.2 that even a gingeraddict like me has moved on. Even with no root.

I also haven't rooted my A500. I don't see the need nor am I prepared to put up with the hassle and instability. No system is totally locked and I can get past it if I really want to - without having to root.

 

[cvsangel]

ok update----

i got the problem fixed thanks to you all. this is what i did:

updated to v3.2..
formatted SD to FAT32 with all default settings
replaced ES File Manager with ASTRO FILE MANAGER
power cycled with SD in and BINGO

THANKS A BUNCH FOR ALL THE INOUT.

I ALSO DONT REALLY SEE THE NEED TO ROOT NOW EXCEPT FOR MAYBE TO REMOVE ALL ANNOYING PREINSTALLED SOFTWARE AND MOVE APPS FROM INTERNAL SD TO EXTERNAL SD

 

[Douvie]

I'm wrapped! Your problem is solved!

 

[johnhoward]

What does "mount" and "unmount" do please?

 

[jseah]

When you plug in a SD card, the operating system has to "mount" it before it can read from it or pick it up as a drive, similar to what happens with Windows when you plug in an external hard drive to your computer's USB port. Windows has to "mount" the drive and run the appropriate USB driver before you will be able to access the files on that external hard drive. "Unmounting" the SD card essentially disconnects the SD card from the OS so you can remove it. With Honeycomb tablets, the SD card is hot-swappable (you can plug it in or remove it while the tablet is on) so the SD card should "mount" and "unmount" automatically. With OS'es that support running apps off of the SD card, unplugging the SD card without "unmounting" it (this can be done from the settings) can be bad since you may be running an app off of that card and without the card, this will cause the app to crash.

 

[johnhoward]

Thanks jseah