Faulty CF Card or faulty CF card readers?
Faulty CF Card or faulty CF card readers?
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Threeracers

Original Poster:

713 posts

271 months

Wednesday 28th September 2005
quotequote all
Yesterday I returned a USB card reader for replacement due to the CF pins appearing to be loose. A couple of pins were standing proud as if they had been pulled out a bit with the card when it was removed.

I then looked at my Vosonic X Drive and it appears to have a similar problem as four or five pins appear to be standing proud. One seems to be a bit lower than the rest too as if it’s been pushed in.

The CF bay in my Minolta Dynax 7D is further in so I cannot quite see the pins to check. If they were dodgy too I would suspect the CF cards.

My CF cards are both Sandisk so it’s not as if it’s a cheapo manufacturer.

Anyone else had this?


>> Edited by Threeracers on Wednesday 28th September 11:03

joust

14,622 posts

281 months

Wednesday 28th September 2005
quotequote all
If it's what I think it is they are designed like that.

The proud pins are the power supply to the card. Some manufacturers use this to ensure that the chip has time to power up before the signal connections are attached, and hence removes some cases of the host device being confused by "random" signals being applied to the signal pins as the card powers up.

Other approaches are to detect the card being inserted and just 'wait' - that way you don't need the "proud" pins.

However, there have also been reports of 'cheap' cards damaging the pins. Without a picture though I can't be 100% sure that's what you are seeing.

J

beano500

20,854 posts

297 months

Wednesday 28th September 2005
quotequote all
Wow - learn something new on here every day! Thanks for that

Threeracers

Original Poster:

713 posts

271 months

Wednesday 28th September 2005
quotequote all
Well done sir! I 'phoned Vosonic before posting mine off for repair and although at first the chap assured me they should be all level I asked hime to get one and check.

And when he came back to the 'phone "oh, I have never noticed that before ...... "

So, its supposed to be like that!

>> Edited by Threeracers on Wednesday 28th September 12:59