SD card died during Virb Firmware 3.0 update

Dear all,

since there isn't any Virb hardware forum yet, I post my issue here (admin, please feel free to move it).

I tried to update my Virb Elite's firmware today from 2.8 to 3.0 via Virb Edit for Mac. For whatever reason, it did not go through. I received an error message saying the device had been removed not properly, although I did not interfere with it at all. Since then, the SD card isn't recognised anymore (it's the 16GB class 10 card that came with with device). Neither the camera nor a Mac nor a Win7 PC recognises the card. Using a different card, the camera works.

Not sure if this was just bad luck or if might be a systemic issue, but I'm grateful for feedback. Does anyone know how to format a SD card that isn't recognised on a Mac?

Cheers
Olaf

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

You could try the SD Formatter tool from the SD Association: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/
There are versions for Mac OS or Windows.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

The 3.0 Virb firmware update that is currently available is only for Windows computers, not Macintosh computers.

0 ORINWDYM over 11 years ago

I just updated--Mac, no problems. The Virb Edit upgrade was windows only.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

mine updated no issues, windows 8.1. Try the master reset trick.

0 redfalo over 11 years ago

Thanks for your replies. FW update worked using a different SD card, but the original one seems to be toast. Will try the SD formatter and the master reset though.

The 3.0 Virb firmware update that is currently available is only for Windows computers, not Macintosh computers.

I think you're confusing the Virb Edit update, which currently is in fact only available for Win, whit the Firmware update for the hardware, which is is independent from the OS of your computer.

0 redfalo over 11 years ago

Update:

- Master reset is impossible with faulty SD card installed. You won't get past the "no sim card" logo. I did a reset using a different card but it did resolve the issue

- SD Formatter Tool: Doesn't help either, unfortunately. The SD card is not recognised by the computer anymore - hence you cannot format it. :-( I'll try to replace it at the Online Merchant who is currently busy with this X-mas thingy. Luckily it was just a 16GB, hence a 10 Euros item, but it's still annoying and hopefully doesn't happen too often.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Thanks for your replies. FW update worked using a different SD card, but the original one seems to be toast. Will try the SD formatter and the master reset though.

I think you're confusing the Virb Edit update, which currently is in fact only available for Win, whit the Firmware update for the hardware, which is is independent from the OS of your computer.

Yes, you are bang on. Thank you for the correction.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Update:

- Master reset is impossible with faulty SD card installed. You won't get past the "no sim card" logo. I did a reset using a different card but it did resolve the issue

- SD Formatter Tool: Doesn't help either, unfortunately. The SD card is not recognised by the computer anymore - hence you cannot format it. :-( I'll try to replace it at the Online Merchant who is currently busy with this X-mas thingy. Luckily it was just a 16GB, hence a 10 Euros item, but it's still annoying and hopefully doesn't happen too often.

Must have been just unlucky, an update can't kill your card, all the webupdater does is copying the new firmware on the card as a single file (normal file copy), then when the VIRB reboots, it reads the file and updates it's internal rom. It doesn't do anything to the card other then read from it and delete the file.