I have an Olympus D-360L camera, that is a couple of years old. It has always worked perfectly. I have never used another Smartcard, other than the 8MB one that came with the camera. Recently, I bought a SmartMedia Reader/Writer (General Electric). I used the 8MB Smartcard to put a couple of files from my PC onto. (The Smartcard was empty at the time). After I transferred a couple of small files (text files, not picture files) from one PC to another, I deleted the files, and put the Smartcard back into the camera. I got a "CARD ERROR" message. I went and bought 2 brand new Olympus brand 32MB Smartcard (M-32PEID), and put one in the camera. I got the same "CARD ERROR" message. tried the other new one, same message. Can anybody help me figure out what the problem may be?

-- Steve Bauer (BauerHaus@peoplepc.com), January 06, 2003

Answers

I bought a 32M card and it doesn't work correctly in my 340R (takes forever to write files, won't format, etc). Someone told me that the 32M cards are formatted differently and you can't use them in an older Oly camera.

-- Lary Eaton (lary_eaton@reyrey.com), January 09, 2003.

Thanks for the reply. It's all weird. I don't know what the problem is.

-- Steve Bauer (BauerHaus@peoplepc.com), January 09, 2003.

Same here. I have an Olympus D-460 and always used the card that came with it. Having just had a baby, we kept running out of room. We bought a larger 32 mb one and it worked fine the first week or so and now it takes forever to write an image.

-- jenn h (badronald@postmark.net), February 07, 2003.

http://www.digit-life.com/articles/smcrestore/

Check this Link.

I have one not working too and why pay for panorama feature cards if is just a matter of bytes ;-) Regards,

-- Dima (zerotarget@hotmail.com), February 10, 2003.

I just went out yesterday and bought the GE SM card reader/writer and I too have the same problem as you. I have ruined 4 SM cards and I think it the reader. I am taking it back to Target to get my money back and I am going to try to contact GE to see it they will replace my cards.

-- Bill Duke (stangs90@hotmail.com), February 11, 2003.

Executive Summary:

SmartMedia card format error - Purchased Dazzle ZiO! SmartMedia Reader/Writer with the smprep.exe util, and it worked! Didn't have to trash the SM card. And with the tweaking of the util, can use a non- Olympus card for Olympus Panorama files - cool.

From the beginning:

Got my wife an Olympus D550Z for Christmas (BestBuy) (I've been using it more than she), with the 8MB included SM card, an additional PNY 128MB SM card (still waiting on the "free" Olympus 64MB SM card - they say it's in the mail), and a PNY USB 2.0 Multi-Slot Reader, and RAYoVAC 1 hour NiMH batteries and charger.

All worked great, until . . . (the camera still does).

I transferred pictures (and other large files - aren't these SM cards just large capacity floppies?) from my computer at work, using the USB cable connected to camera, writing to the SM card. Got home, put the card into PNY reader and transferred all the files just fine. Then put the card back into the camera, and the camera wanted to format the card - but wouldn't - got the "Card Error" prompt. So, I tried several more times in the camera - still no luck accessing it. Put it in the PNY reader, and wasn't able to recognize it there either! So, I formatted it in the PNY reader (Win98SE format), and was able to put files, folders, etc. on it, but still not able to access it in the camera. If I tried to let the camera format it again, again it would corrupt it, and I'd have to reformat it again in the PNY reader.

Checking with Olympus Tech support, they said "Oh, you have a PNY card, it must be bad, take it back to your retailer". What a crock.

Checking on these forums, I got the real answers, eventually. Even that the SM cards are no longer being made / supported. Oh well. But the real help was the reference to the smprep util that comes with some readers/writers (not my PNY, of course).

So after receiving several offers to send some "helpful" soles my card with SASE and they would use their software/writers to reformat it, I spent my own money on the ZiO! SM reader/writer - because it will happen again! Followed the installation instructions, and it worked right out of the box. So much for a "trashed" card. Then I tweaked the smprep util, as suggested, to get it to be an "Olympus" card, with the Olympus panorama feature enabled, and it worked too!

The forums and newsgroups pull me through, again. Thanks to all of you that contribute to correcting the weaknesses of the manufacturers.

-- Steve Lemaster (stevelemaster1@prodigy.net), February 16, 2003.

There are more resources at my site for this subject. You will need a card reader/writer that uses the Smprep utility Then you may try one the files we have for Zio reader/writers and Microtech so far.

http://home.attbi.com/~slobo66/ or Try http://www.geocities.com/roberthaus/pan/index.html

-- Robert Ashmun (slobo66@attbi.com), February 17, 2003.

c this title: http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00AUA3

-- JnJn (jnjn@e165.com), February 25, 2003.

Found this forum looking for help since I was handed a similar problem yesterday. I`m in Japan and the company that I`m at has been using an Olympus C-960 for several years. They`ve been using a 16mb Hagiwara-SC (HPC-SI16M, Made in Japan) with no problems. Yesterday, the computers here wouldn`t read the card. The Olympus had no problem seeing the pictures when in the camera. But when coupled w/ a LOAS SM card reader/writer (CRW-SM01SL, Made in China), the computers (Japanese Windows XP) didn`t see the pictures. There had been no problems before this. And to my knowledge, there is no one here swapping out the SM into mp3 players (I`ve yet to find anyone here who`d even know what one of those were). I tried the card & reader on my Sony VAIO (US Windows XP) and got the same thing- no data on card.

Using a different camera (Canon), we tried its SM card in the reader and XP found it just fine.

No error messages at all- the files just aren`t showing up at all, other than when placed in the Olympus.

-- M. (drflgd69@hotmail.com), February 26, 2003.

Tried different cards in the reader. Worked fine. Even tried the card in a different camera. Worked fine. Formatted the SM card (lost all the pictures, though) and now it seems to work just fine.

*shrugs*

-- M. (drflgd69@hotmail.com), February 27, 2003.

I had the same problem using a GE SmartMedia reader. After reading various threads (especially this) one I discovered a process that fixed two 128Mb Olympus SmartMedia cards. I am running Windows XP Pro and using an Olympus C4040 Zoom camera

1. Purchase a Zio Dazzle SmartMedia reader/writer 2. Download the Zio smprep files from http://home.attbi.com/~slobo66/ 3. Place SmartMedia card in the GE reader 4. Right click and on the SmartMedia drive letter in Windows Explorer and select full format with FAT 5. Remove SmartMedia card from GE reader and place in Zio reader 6. Run smprep1.exe selecting full and yes to recover (you will get an error message at the end of the format/repair 7. Close dialog 8. Run smprep2.exe selecting full and yes to recover (you will get and error message after running this as well 9. Place SmartMedia in camera and say yes to formatting 10. Card should now be readable 11. Remove GE reader and put away in case you have problems in the future

From now on I will COPY my pictures onto my hard drive, place the SmartMedia card back in the camera, and then format the card in the camera. I believe this is the safest way to handle SmartMedia cards. As a matter of fact if I try to format the card when in the Zio reader I get an error message so am thus prevented from inadvertenly formatting in this manner. Hope this helps someone. I certainly am happy not to have to get replacements or worse, buy new cards.

Happy formatting...

-- Larry Wilcox (larry.wilcox@bigfoot.com), March 20, 2003.

Well, for the last answer. Couldn't you just format using zio? Why did you have to use GS reader at all?

-- Bruno (bruno_@netlane.com), May 29, 2003.

Hi, I just wanted to put my two cents in. Am still learning and not doing to bad for a grandma. Bought a Olympus D-490Z two years ago, a Zio Reader, had Windows 98, not one problem. Got a new computer in Jan. XP, the Zio wouldn't work even after driver upgrade. Bought a 8 in 1 Dazzle Reader, transfered my pictures to the hard drive without a problem. Put the card back into the camera, turned it on and the formatting mode was displayed. When I tried to format, CARD ERROR displayed. Thought I did something wrong or the 32MB card was bad. Today I had a 128MB, same thing happened. That is when I found this forum and got the info on formatting with the Zio Reader. Went upstairs to the old computer and the Zio. Put the card in, clicked on programs, Zio, clicked on smprep, Bingo, my cards were useable again. Thanks to All who put their knowledge and expertise into this forum. I put it in my favorites to get quick access.

-- Gisela Eastham (giselaeastham@aol.com), June 02, 2003.

The reason I used the GE reader is it was the only reader that would even recognize the card.

I recently helped someone who also had problems with his SmartMedia cards and my GE (General Electric) reader again was able to read his cards even though neither my Zio or SanDisk could. I was also able only to FAT format the cards in my GE reader. That was all the GE reader was good for. What I then had to do was transfer the card to my Zio and run the smprep 1 and 2 files which I downloaded as noted in my previous post and placed in my "C:\Program Files\Dazzle\USB" SM folder after loading the Dazzle driver.

The process worked for two of three of his cards.

I don't know what is different about the GE reader but I'm keeping it around just in case.

-- Larry Wilcox (larry.wilcox@bigfoot.com), June 03, 2003.

Try here http://www.marshost.com/~rashmun/

-- Rob Ashmun (rjashmun@attbi.com), June 09, 2003.

Bought a Dazzle Zio and was able to reformat my Smartmedia cards so they work in my Olympus camera again. When I try running the smprep files from Rashun's website that add the panorama feature to non- Olympus cards, I get an error [smapi.dll missing]. If I run the smprep.exe file that came with the Zio it runs fine.

What is the smapi.dll file and where do I get it?

-- Greg Abernathy (gregaberspam@mindspring.com), June 15, 2003.

I have used the WinHex files to try and repair an Olympus 64Mb SMC (M-64P Panoramic). After writing the hex file to the SMC, I can see the correct folders in Windows XP and all looks ok. However when I put the SMC into my C-860L, I get the card error screen and can do no more. If the SMC is put back into the PC I get a formatting error and have to start again...

Any ideas?

-- Dan W (daniel.w@bigfoot.com), June 23, 2003.

card error is torturing me all the time, I ruined two cards even copy action only! use 6 in 1 linxcell card reader, no more information about this reader. tried several method from net, including winhex, format, reformat... smprep, (doesnot recognize my reader), how to prevent this happied, only olympus card reader? any help????

-- york cui (yc224@cornell.edu), June 24, 2003.

I am also having problems running the SMprep with my Dazzle with Windows XP. DO you need to perform this procedure in Windows 98?

-- Thomas Squires (tds24@pitt.edu), July 14, 2003.

Problem just cropped up on my Olympus C3000Zoom(purchased May 2001). "F" format error upon inserting cards into the camera. I go thru the format procedure and receive "E" card error. I cleaned the card and reinserted it into the camera. Same set of errors. Removed the batteries from the camera overnight, reinserted the batteries and put the card back in. Same errors. Purchased a brand new SmartMedia card. Ditto. Contacted the Olympus helpdesk, "Your cardreader is corrupting the card"(hellllloooo - I used a brand new card DIRECTLY into the camera...I think not). Have sent emails to both Olympus and Microtech(Zio). I did go back to the store I purchased the camera from to try and format the card in another Olympus. Didn't work either.

-- M. A. Nitz (plantlust@hotmail.com), July 18, 2003.

I am also missing this file SMAPI.DLL and I can't use any of the smprep files. I have been searching all over the net and this page is the only one where I can find anyone whom might be of use to help me. If anyone can send me the file or if they know where it can be found, that would be lovely.

EF makotojade@hotmail.com

-- SMAPI.DLL error (makotojade@hotmail.com), July 23, 2003.

yah i need help too!! i got a 128mb smartmedia card for me nomad IIc mp3 player and im havin the same sort of probs??? can anybody help? if so please e-mail me asap thanks bye :)

-- sam (masuel500@hotmail.com), July 29, 2003.

I had a similar problem - I deleted files on an Olympus 64MP SM card then got a "Card Error" message when I put it into my E20. The camera refused to format it. I could format it on my computer, which could read and write to it, but the camera still said "Card Error". I lokes up the problem in several user groups, and found that writing to an Olympus SM card using XP and certain card readers (like my built in 6 in 1) destroy the card for Olympus use. However, I found one suggestion that formatting it in a Fuji camera would revive it. I took the card to a camera shop and asked them to do this, and it worked! My card now works in the E20 again. I now do not use the 6 in 1 reader for it, but an older USB one.

-- Bill McKelvie (bill.mckelvie@blueyonder.co.uk), August 02, 2003.

Here's the reply that I received from Olympus when I asked them for a utility that I can use to reformat my SmartMedia cards so that they'd be recognized by Olympus cameras. Oh well....

I've got a Dazzle SmartMedia card reader/writer. (But it's not a Zio and doesn't come with the smprep utility -- which I assume is why I get that "smapi.dll missing" comment when I try to use the smprep1 and smprep2 procedure others have suggested. I think I'll contact Dazzle and try to see if a camera store will let me use a Fuji camera to fix my cards.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

(Sorry about the fake e-mail address. I just don't give it out and definitely never publish it in forums.)

We apologize for any inconvenience you are experiencing at this time. However, we value you as an Olympus customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you with this situation.

When a media card is used in more than one type of hardware (i.e. camera, voice recorder, printer, card reader, printing kiosks), the card may become corrupted. This can happen in a number of ways. You may lose pictures, lose space on your cards, or the card may only function in one of the hardware devices and not in the other.

This is especially true with USB card readers. Some card readers do not follow media standards fully and may write their own signatures to the media card. If this occurs, the camera will be unable to read this new signature and may return a card error message. Based on our records, this happens with a few particular brands (at this time PNY, GE, PQI are known to cause problems with SmartMedia cards).

Solution:

If your card becomes corrupted and you are unable to format it using the camera, we suggest contacting the reader's manufacturer. They may be able to recover the card with their own utility. The utility would be specific to each brand of card reader. Please contact the card reader's manufacturer for further assistance with this matter.

To avoid this problem in the future, please follow these recommendations:

As a general rule, any operation involving writing data to the media card (copy, delete, move, format) must be done using the camera. The reader should only be used to copy files from the card to the computer. It is important to format the card in the camera any time there is a suspicion that the card is corrupted. Formatting the card will delete any information stored on it, including locked pictures, so the pictures must be saved before formatting the card.

This is your Email Response Tracking Number: ###### . Please use this number if you need to refer to this email for further assistance. You can also browse our website by visiting http://www.olympusamerica.com/

Regards, Jami

Digital Technical Support Olympus America, Inc.

-- Hans Blix (abc@abc.com), August 03, 2003.

Okay, so here's the standard line from the people at Dazzle (they tell you to contact the camera people to update the firmware). So much for industry standards...

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Question

I Insert my Compact Flash card into my Camera and get a CF Card Error. What is wrong?

Answer

When this occurs it is too early to determine if your card / card reader / camera is the cause.

1. The problem that you are describing might be due to a corrupt file system on the CompactFlash card. If you cannot format the card in the digital camera we recommend formatting it in a PC running the Windows Operating system. The card should have a DOS format and should be able to work in all compatible cameras along with Mac and PC card readers.

2. On occasion, when you cannot access your card, it means that you will need to upgrade the firmware of the camera that you are using. This can be done by contacting your camera manufacturer. The firmware is the Operating System of the camera and dictates how the card is formatted and how images are written to the card.

3) A Third cause that you may not be able to access the card may have to do with battery power levels. If a battery is low, your camera state that you have a CF Card Error. This is caused because the batteries are so low that the camera only performs part of the write operation and not all of it. Please be sure that the batteries are fully charged when using a CompactFlash card.

If you feel that the card cannot be used at all you may need to contact our Technical Support Department for further troubleshooting procedures.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

All I want is a SmartMedia format utility that will render a SmartMedia card that is recognized by my Olympus camera. And I'd love to follow Olympus' advice to only format my cards in my camera but the &*(&%ing thing won't let me. I just get "Card Error" when I try. (Once again, sorry for the fake e-mail.) -- Hans

-- Hans Blix (abc@abc.com), August 03, 2003.

Who knows exact details which reader is useful?

After a lot of emails between me an Olympus support Germany and Austria it turned out: The manual which says-> formatting a SM-card in a reader needs new formatting in the camera before use <- is wrong. I bought the Olympus with SM-cards because I own some cards from another camera, the intention was to change between the cameras - bad luck! I hate Olympus for that. Has anybody an exact description of a card-reader with smprep.exe working for that? Brand, model-number, ... to search sucessfully.

Martin, Austria

-- Martin Pota (pota@gmx.at), August 06, 2003.

I have recently encountered the same problems as detailed above after a year of problem-free use of a Soyo reader with absolutely no problems. The catalyst seems to have been my upgrade from Win2k to XP Professional. I have an Olympus d-510 and a C3030. Same on both. A friend at work had a Dane-elec combo-reader and said he had fixed the problem with the smpprep utility that came with it. Tried it and recovered 2 128MB cards and an 8 that came with one of the cameras. Set out to find this jewel in Austin, TX, with no immediate success. But found a Dazzel Zio and remembered posts that it works. Bought it and installed (no drivers required on XP). Also no smprep. Experimented with installing the drivers off the CD anyway (instructions say not needed, which is true--the reader read cards OK without them, but do it anyway). Worked fine. Can read cards, and the smprpep is now there. Formatted fine too (but run the full format, not the quick). Am now moving on to the hacked files, but so far cannot run due to the lack (supposedly) of the dll file mentioned above. Will try to do my own hack rather than the downloaded files, but can live with what I've got at this point: functioning cards, albeit without panorama. Will update if successful.

-- Loren E. Svor (lsvor@satx.rr.com), August 08, 2003.

This is in response to Sam's post on July 29. My 128 MB smartmedia card was also giving me "Card Error" when I try to read or format in my Olympus C700. After reading many many discussion forums/posts and trying various suggestions, I came to the conclusion that need to just buy another card reader (had a no brand card reader with no formatting utility). Then as a last resort, I thought I try to format the card with the Creative Playstation software that came with the Nomad player. Initially the Creative software couldn't read the card either but could format it. After I formatted the card and transferred a music file, then Voila! my Olympus camera could read the smartmedia card! I got a "No picture" message at first, I then formatted the card with the camera and now the card works fine. Didn't even need to buy a new card reader! Now I know to never, ever, use Windows ME to format my smartmedia card.

-- Creative Nomad Player (kcay212@yahoo.com), August 31, 2003.

This thread saved my sanity. I've used my Olympus D-230 without any problems for over a year. I bought a Dazzle SM Reader/Writer and got "card error". I used the fix advocated on http://www.marshost.com/~rashmun/ to fix it. Works great so far! I am not a computer whiz and had to read the directions and try a few times before getting it right.

-- pat neves (pneves7@comcast.net), September 01, 2003.

It Worked!!!!!!!!

I originally bought the Dazzle 8-in-1 card reader. Deleted files with through the reader and poof...Card Error on my Olympus D-360L (2 cards...original 8MB and SanDisk 32MB). Read everything above a bought the Dazzle Zio SmartMedia reader (not the faster USB-2 because of what I read). Installed software before connecting reader to Win XP notebook. Formatted the disks, ran the 2 files I downloaded from above site (both said they failed) , re-formatted again in the camera and now BOTH cards work and BOTH do panarama mode (32MB card originally did not). I had to move the downloaded files into the same folder that Dazzle Zio software was installed (Search for smprpep). 8-in-1 reader will be on eBay shortly.

Hope this helps.

-- Dave (dave_johel@hotmail.com), September 19, 2003.

I got the same problem with Dazzle 8-in-1 card reader running under win XP pro, causing card error on my 128 and 64 MB Sandisk SM Card. I bought Dazzle ZIO SM reader, but I couldn't get to install the software from the original CD under win XP, the error said it's not intended for this operating system. How did you install the software? The ZIO reader worked anyway under win XP, because it doesn't need driver. It can read my other SM card, but failed to read those two error cards. This two cards still readable by dazzle 8-in-1 reader.

-- Diwan Ariana (diwanariana@yahoo.com), September 22, 2003.

My new Dazzle ZiO! SmartMedaia Reader/Writer, DM-8700, has added the panorama feature to 2 128 MB and 1 64 MB card. Cool beans!

-- Bill Francis (BikerMrBill@yahoo.com), September 24, 2003.

Can anyone send me the SMAPI.dll file and the smprep.exe file so I can do as suggested. I purchased the Dazzle reader (while it was still a Dazzle product) and could not find this on the CD. If you send me a link where I can download the files that is OK, too.

I have the same SM issues as I've have read in here with my Dazzle reader writer and my Olympus D490 camera.

Thanks

-- CWhite (whiteclw11@comcast.net), December 13, 2003.

I am looking for the smapi.dll. Can anyone who has it send to to me PLEASE.

-- Bobby Walters (bobby_walters@hotmail.com), March 09, 2005.