[SDRAMPS] Can't transfer and read files

Hey guys, here is my problem. Would appreciate any form of help.

The sdramps that I ordered recently arrived and I'm having difficulty transferring and reading files to my micro-sd card.

1) Plug in SD card
2) Launch Repetier-host
3) Send M21 to printer, received ok as echo.
4) Open the SD tab and choose to transfer gcode file to SD.
5) Transfer rate is slow but process can be completed.
6) Send M20 to open the list of files but it is empty.

I tried using a 64mb sandisk t-flash card and a 4gb sandisk micro-sd card but still doesn't work. I have formatted both cards with a windows PC to FAT format.

have you mounted the files, or completely turned off printer and reset, so it can read the card at start up and initialize?

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jamesdanielv
have you mounted the files, or completely turned off printer and reset, so it can read the card at start up and initialize?

Hey James,

Thanks for the reply. What I did was send M21 to mount the card, is that what you are referring to? It would be good if you can describe the steps as I am unable to find any tutorial on sdramps online.

Isn't there a 2 gig limit for RAMPS to work correctly?

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A2
Isn't there a 2 gig limit for RAMPS to work correctly?

I read that somewhere too, but my 64mb sandisk t-flash is acting the same way. I'll try to lay my hands on a 2gb micro-sd ASAP. Just want to be sure that I didn't make any mistakes in the setting up and procedures.

Maybe try to reformat the card with a 2gb single partition first ?

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Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

Did you put the card in a PC to see if you see any files. Not sure about repetier, but marlin expects files to be named with a .g suffix. If a file doesn't have that suffix, it does not show up in marlin response, even though its on the card.

try .gco, or .gcode there also is firmware options at least with newer firmware, including repetier firmware for large file system support.

I would think you could format a 2gb card to FAT 16, and see if it shows up. just turning the ramps board off, either by switch or unplugging it will cause it to reinitialize card upon start up once it is powered back up.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2014 09:27PM by jamesdanielv.

Thanks for all the response, I've found the solution. Both 64mb t-flash and 4gb micro-sd from sandisk are working, just that they are not in the proper extension. .GCD seems to work for me.

I would think it better for the sdcard to read a file, and error our with why it won't run better than not showing it. such as 'file not a ..Gxx'

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I found that the particular formatting is super critical to whether RAMPS/RAMBO accept it. Fat16 is the way to go here, fat32 might give you issues.

I wrote a blog post about this last weekend, but I found that my particular card only worked when I formatted it a particular way in os x:
coherent-reprap.blogspot.com

Other people on these forums recommended the official sd card formatting software for windows:
[www.sdcard.org]

My method of transferring is just to slice the stl and copy the gcode manually via windows explorer to the SD card and then plug it in. Cura also provides an option to copy it over once you slice it. Good luck and let us know if it works, I haven't found very much information online about this sort of thing so documenting would be great for others who have issues.

Wow, spent one hour figuring out that I have to name the uploaded file as "xxx.gcd" instead of "xxx.GCD".

Or else there would be an error "No firmware response detected for sd action." and the print would start immediately. Posting this just in case anybody out there facing the same problem.

It appears that the Arduino SDFat library that Repetier uses does not support long file names, which include the ability to use lower case in filenames. For filenames that don't fit the 8.3 format, a short file name entry is created as well as the long file name entry. There are also a couple of flags Windows uses for certain types of lowercase filenames. Windows filesystem is not case-sensitive, and this is all invisible to the user.

Unix is case sensitive, and so is C, so upper and lowercase filenames are distinct.

When you combine all this with trying to support Windows filesystems on Unix or elsewhere, it all becomes a bit of a mess.

In Windows you can see the 8.3 names by using "dir /x" in a command prompt, I don't think there is an equivalent method in Unix.

The safest way is probably to use 8.3, uppercase only, but other combinations may work depending on how you mounted your filesystem etc.

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thanks a lot , nobody but you was able to answer that question.

... but unfortunedly it is not the solution ...


;-((

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2014 10:46AM by netsnake.

Hello guys

I've recently built my Prusa i3 with a RAMPS 1.4 board from SainSmart, and bought a RepRap Discount FullGraphic LCD with SDCard reader.
As many of you, after spending countless hours of googling and searching in forums for solutions to get my machine to read the files on the SD card I think I have finally found one solution:

In Marlin firmware, go to SDFatConfig.h and in the 74th line:

#define SPI_SD_INIT_RATE 5

Change 5 for 6 like so:

#define SPI_SD_INIT_RATE 6

After doing that my printer read .gcode files within folders with names longer than 8 characters from my 4Gb SD Card (Yes I have read in several other posts that it wont work but it did...)

I am no coder whatsoever, I have found this by trial and error in the past few days

I am sure that this wont work for everybody, but I will be happy if this can help someone.

SPI init rate for SD initialization commands. Must be 5 (F_CPU/64)
* or 6 (F_CPU/128).


so in this case it may actually be a noise issue with cross talk. try to use shorter wires, and a common gnd. possibly shroud the entire cable with aluminum that is gnd?

many modern designs incorporate noise reduction by changing every other or third wire data at a time, then latching the transfer. i don't know if marlin uses this method or not. i would recommend using ic2 mode lcd's for longer cable. slowing sd transfer however is a welcome solution, another issue could be the sd card itself, is it compatible with high speed transmission? SDHC, SDXC, SDHC UHS

Thanks for the input jamesdanielv, it is working perfectly now, but I will try that if I run into any problems

I am using the cables supplied in the lcd kit they are around 20cm or so... As for the SD card I am using a 4Gb, not Kingston (EMTEC I guess), SDHC class 4 card