No SD Card

[fredolivas]

Can't figure this one out. Everything is soldered correctly as the "Game of Life" sketch, found here, works just fine. Have tried 3 different SD cards but can't figure out how to format in FAT16. Windows 10 only formats SD cards in FAT32. Could this be my problem?

[jasoncoon]

Do you have a SmartMatrix shield with the micro SD card reader built in, or have you attached a reader separately as shown in this tutorial?

Is the display showing the text "No SD card"?

[fredolivas]

Like in the tutorial. Very easy to assemble, however it doesn't work.
The display is showing "No SD card"?
Is this a case of not formatting the SD card with FAT16 instead of the Windows standard FAT32?
And if so, how can I format the SD card in FAT 16 using Windows 10?

[jasoncoon]

The SD library supports both FAT16 and FAT32. Have you double-checked all of the connections?

[fredolivas]

Double and triple checked all connections. Resoldered all points twice. VOM signal connections from SD Adapter to Teensy SmartMatrix board. Beeped everytime which means a secure connection from Adapter to board. I'm stumped!?!

[embedded-creations]

Fred, do you have another Teensy you can try, or another SD card you can try? The problem is likely in the Teensy, SD card, or wiring, see what you can narrow down

[fredolivas]

I think it's a Teensy problem. Wiring checks out and i've tried 4 different SD cards and I know they are holding data as I can see it on my PC. I'll have to order another Teensy as this seems like my only recourse. Thanks.

[embedded-creations]

One more thing to try, try swapping the pin for GND. Instead of between 3V3 and MOSI, put it in the unused pin between CLK and MISO.

I noticed on one microSD card adapter I disassembled, the manufacturer shaved off a fraction of a penny by not connecting the two GND pins on the SD card pinout to the single GND connection on the micro SD.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sd+card+pinout&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSrcLBhofMAhUEMz4KHVJUCfQQsAQIJQ&biw=1180&bih=995#imgrc=_

[fredolivas]

Problem solved. I couldn't find any errors in the wiring and the Teensy worked just fine as the FeatureDemo ran with no problem. I decided the problem might be in the SD Adapter. I soldered two of them and neither one worked. What I decided to do was to order an microSD card breakout board from Amazon. After it arrived I just attached the pins from the board to the pins on the Teensy SmartMatrix board. The scrolling message that I saw was that the message said "No gifs (or something like that) on board" which told me that I hadn't placed anything on the card I had inserted. Loaded up some gifs from my PC onto the SD card and it worked! Since then I've discovered how to resize the images properly, 32x32. This is great fun. Thank you your tireless help.

[embedded-creations]

@fredolivas You can do a continuity test between the two ground pins on the microSD adapter to see if indeed they are not connected internally. Glad you got it working. I'll add a note on this issue to the troubleshooting section next time I'm editing on the Adafruit Learning System.