SD card starting to bend

[Narf03]

Hi all.

Just want to report that those pins on SD card slot on the pi maybe applying too much force on the SD card, recently i swap pi and using the same SD but failed to boot, after applying some force pushing the card towards pi, it can boot properly, i then analyze both pi and SD card, the SD card seems like bend towards the other side, and resulting some pins on the pi may not touching SD card.



larger picture
http://s7.postimg.org/i0wwu21az/20130408_165547.jpg

[MaxK1]

Is the card heating up at all? The ones I have seem fairly rigid (and some are horribly brittle!) Only thing I can think of is to put a piece of plastic or metal under the slot to force the card in straight so the pins make contact. But it seems like it would take some heat to soften the plastic enough to bend like that.

[PS1981]

To mechanically bend something so far that is stays deformed usually involves going beyond the elastic limit (though plastics can behave oddly too and I#m certainly no expert). I'd also guess there is some sort of temperature influence here. It may be enough to leave the thing on a window ledge and have the sun warming it up every now and then.

[Narf03]

the pi was not inside any case or other heat source, beside the pi processor. So i guess heat shouldnt be an issue.

[PS1981]

Quite interesting really. What make and type of card is it?

Anyone else experienced this?

[mos6510]

I have seen this exact thing too.
I had a perplexing situation where a card would boot in one Pi, but not another.
Eventually I noticed that the SD card had bent such that the middle pins wouldn't make contact with the SD socket. On one Pi, the socket pins protrude a fraction more - so the card worked on that one.
When applying pressure to the SD card, such that it is "flattened", it will boot on either Pi again.

Most of my SD cards that have seen time in a Pi show some curvature, obviously due to the slight interference fit required to hold them in place in the SD socket.

[pjc123]

Quite interesting really. What make and type of card is it?

Anyone else experienced this?

I was thinking the same thing; I am wondering if this can be narrowed down to either an SD card specific brand and/or model, bad manufacturing batch, or cheap off-brand, rather than due to the pi's SD socket (which actually could also suffer from the same problems). Add your SD card make and model when reporting this issue.

[ianmacs]

Quite interesting really. What make and type of card is it?

Anyone else experienced this?

I have just experienced the second such sd card failure. Raspberry pi will boot when applying pressure to sd card. Experiences IO errors when no longer applying pressure. Either immediately or within a few days.

Both times the SD Card in Question was a cheap "Platinum 8GB SDHC Class 6" with numbers 126 and 804 printed next to SDHC logo. Both times when I examined the cards I also noticed some sort of dissolving: small crumbles of plastic coming off the card near the contacts.

Edit: Make that three such SD card failures. I'm not going to wait until the fourth identical SD card shows the same signs - it's replaced now. I had 4 cards of this "Platinum 8GB SDHC Class 6" type, running 24/7 in 4 different Raspberry Pis for about 4 months, none of the pis was overclocked.

[remsnet]

Quite interesting really. What make and type of card is it?

Anyone else experienced this?

I have just experienced the second such sd card failure. Raspberry pi will boot when applying pressure to sd card. Experiences IO errors when no longer applying pressure. Either immediately or within a few days.

Both times the SD Card in Question was a cheap "Platinum 8GB SDHC Class 6" with numbers 126 and 804 printed next to SDHC logo. Both times when I examined the cards I also noticed some sort of dissolving: small crumbles of plastic coming off the card near the contacts.

Class 6 and 10 get blasted with Overclock.
This been verified serveral times.

see the Class 6 and 10 warning at RPI wiki

http://elinux.org/RPi_Easy_SD_Card_Setu ... 6_10_Hints

[MaxK1]

If you do notice that a corner has broken off, be sure to check and if needed, clean out the card holder. Those little fragments could prevent the card from being fully inserted or damage the card even further.
Or damage the card slot... Or worse, damage a new card. I have 2 Sandisk cards that seem to be more "fragile" than the Microcenter cards I now use.

[ngocphamm]

Just got my SD card having exactly this problem. If I use my finger to push down the card, the Pi will boot up. Otherwise, it won't, or it will be very unstable leading to I/O problem. Is there anyway to prevent this? I used my Pi for almost nothing than being a ZNC bouncer for now.

[toxibunny]

same thing happened to me twice - one bent, one broken. Pi needs a slightly better card socket, methinks. hopefully with the next board revision.

[MattHawkinsUK]

What brand cards are people using? I only tend to use SanDisk and Kingston from major retailers. Never eBay. I've never had any problems with either the cards or the slot. I can't really see how the pins in the SD card slot could cause that sort of bending.

My money is on an SD card quality issue.

[redhawk]

There is nothing at or near the SD card holder to generate the kind of heat required to melt plastic.
Either the card was bent to start with and you hadn't noticed it or the card itself had been running hot internally causing it to warp.

Richard S.

[ngocphamm]

What brand cards are people using? I only tend to use SanDisk and Kingston from major retailers. Never eBay. I've never had any problems with either the cards or the slot. I can't really see how the pins in the SD card slot could cause that sort of bending.

My money is on an SD card quality issue.

It was a Transcend TS16GSDHC10E.

[redhawk]

I must admit I've never come across SD cards bending, however after inspecting my SD Card adapter that too appears to be suffering from the bends and cracked corner (after 2 years solid use).



From a personal point of view I can see the Pi SD Card holder having a serious design flaw.
The SD Card is only held by the edges but there's no support for the top lip or face so when fully inserted the contact pins are effectively pushing from underneath out without equal pressure from the top.
Due to pressure imbalances I suspect micro fractures over time are created in the plastic structure and this eventually lead to warping or cracks.
Incidentally there has been reports of SD Card holders cracking at the sides which frankly doesn't surprise me given the pressures involved.
If you're Pi user who values your data I would strongly suggest inspecting all SD Cards for physical damage as well as corrupt file systems.

Fortunately I have another spare micro SD adapter at hand but if this was a real SD Card I dread to think how it would affect the memory chip inside and gold bonds for that matter.

I might actually remove the SD Card holder altogether and replace it with a Micro SD version but I haven't found a spring loaded one that's PCB pin to pin compatible yet.
Alternative if anyone knows of a better SD Card holder that supports the card on the face and lip then please let me know.

Richard S.

[jamesh]

I'm finding it difficult to believe that the minuscule pressure from the contacts is enough to bend a piece of plastic that thick, but the evidence is there! I've never had problems myself.

Note to a poster above - I believe the huge majority (if not all) of SD card problems caused by overclocking were fixed some months ago. If you are STILL seeing them then please post here so gsh gets to hear about it so they can be investigated.

[Blundey]

Its funny, Ive built a few Pi's for friends, and all of them have this same issue. A slight bend in the middle which stops the pins from contacting the card.

My work around has been to put a piece of paper in the case to wedge the middle of the card into the slot to stop it bending in the middle. Alternatively a microsd card adapter wont bend and would work fine.

Its actually a design flaw. If the Pi was lipped at the bottom to hold the middle of the card it would be better...but hey, there are work arounds....

[blachanc]

IMHO,

The SD card socket was selected based on a quality price ratio.
There are many better ones on the market.

I own 4 PI, each of them is using a permanent short
SD to microsd adapter, built from a though PCB.

Many vendors sells them.

Being a proud father of a pre teen who has no understanding of his
strength, I can predict that schools will soon enough learn about
the fragility of the SD slot....

Ben

[tvjon]

Yesterday I opened my package containing 3 4G µSD cards + adapters.

The second one fell apart before I'd even plugged it into RPi!

The µSD card itself seems ok fortunately.

i think I'll stick with Foundation swag SD cards, fast & so far reliable.

Since the clock synchronisation fix, I've had no SD corruption.

I do have to use a clothes peg on some of my SD's with 1 or 2 of my RPi's to get reliable connections. The tolerances must be exceeded in some cases.

SD0daysuse.jpg (26.16 KiB) Viewed 10231 times

[RSvedman]

SD cards are very thin... and with one of the cases that leave the sd card sticking out we are asking for trouble.

I use one of my pi:s asa a retrocomputer emulator, which means it gets plugged in and out of the living room TV regularly, and inevitably it will sonner or later land on the sd card's protruding edge, and destroy that card. so far one card was cracked in two halves, and one micro-SD adapter got loose in a corner at the contacts. Sadly what happened next was the card slot itself cracked along one side, so now it does'nt hold the cards securely anymore, and will only work with a clothes hanger clamp across the card, meaning I can not use the case on the pi. Does anyone have a recommendation for a replacement SD card slot that will fit the PCB but not be as fragile as the original?

[fusen]

I want to report this as well. I'm using OpenELEC which has quite a few frequent updates and now every time I try to update, my Pi won't boot because the card hasn't been written to properly so I have to use my laptop's better SD card holder to write the OS then stick it back in my Pi and hold the SD card straight so it will boot

As shown with the picture, it isn't just a bend created but a full on lip. The pins are too forceful considering there is no central back support as mentioned above.

[dazligth]

I've got the same issue here.

My Pi is now 4 month old. I use two "Transcend Extreme-Speed SDHC 8GB Class 10" SD-Cards.

Directly on my first usage I mentioned that both got directly bent when putting them into the SD-Card slot. Two month later I noticed that the plastic housing got cracked in the middle. And now after 4 month of usage the PI won't boot anymore. I'm having this issue on both cards.
If I push the card down against the SD-Card-Holder-Contacts the PI will boot as expected.

Any suggestions for SD-Cards with a better mechanical stability?
A better SD-Card holder which gives the card mechanical support from the back would also be appreciated

[blachanc]

I've got the same issue here.

My Pi is now 4 month old. I use two "Transcend Extreme-Speed SDHC 8GB Class 10" SD-Cards.

Directly on my first usage I mentioned that both got directly bent when putting them into the SD-Card slot. Two month later I noticed that the plastic housing got cracked in the middle. And now after 4 month of usage the PI won't boot anymore. I'm having this issue on both cards.
If I push the card down against the SD-Card-Holder-Contacts the PI will boot as expected.

Any suggestions for SD-Cards with a better mechanical stability?
A better SD-Card holder which gives the card mechanical support from the back would also be appreciated

are your cards microsSD in a microSD to SD adaptor?
if so, you could buy the adafruit half size microsd to sd adaptor.
it is thicker, and more rigid than an standart adaptor, and stay seated in the SD slot on the pi.
this is what I have been using in all my pi.

if not, I read on many occasion people noticing that gently pulling the metal connector from the PI connector resolved their issue.

Ben

[AndrewS]

I've never had this problem myself, but I wonder if this might help some of the posters in this thread?
http://raspi.tv/2012/how-to-fix-a-broke ... spberry-pi