Hello friends,
I am the not so proud owner of a new BCD436HP.
I turned it on WITHOUT being connected to a computer, brand new, and got the SD card error. I have thoroughly read through this and other sites on how to fix the issue, but am having little success. Could you evaluate my process and advise me further?
1. Loaded NEW 16G microSD card (Fresh out of BestBuy) into a card reader in a PC, and reformatted the disc with the SDReader software version 4. Format Full Erase overwrite.
2. Opened Sentinel (newest version) and used "clear user data" on the recognized card (labelled as unknown).
3. User data cleared, selected update firmware to disc (in card reader, NOT in the scanner). This update completed. I now ejected the disc, and then reinserted it into the scanner.
4. Upon starting the scanner, I get the "SD card file error" that advises me to use Sentinel "clear user data" to initiate the SD card.

I'm totally lost. :-(

About the only thing I can suggest is to try again doing exactly what you did - make sure you "safely remove" from the card reader before pulling it out, like with all Windows removable drives/media.

If it consistently fails, I'd think the scanner is at fault and needs replacement, sadly.

Jay911 wrote:


Jay, sadly this is what I am coming up with also. Unbelievable.
I now have two separate microSD cards both of which have been formatted apparently correctly.
One thing I discovered: When you put the microSD into the scanner and power it up, it comes up saying SD card file error, use Sentinel blah blah... If you then plug the scanner into the USB port on the PC, the Sentinel software will NOT recognize the scanner. If you pull up devices on Windows, the F drive is listed but when you right click on the BCD436hp icon it says "unable to start (code 10)" on the windows desktop.

Does that give you any clues?

SOLUTION:
The unit was indeed bricked out of the box but I couldn't figure out why I could not redo the microSD card and start over.
The reason was pilot error...I was using the wrong Sentinel software to reformat the card.
I needed to be using version 1.0.0xxxx, instead of the HomePatrol Sentinel software. I became confused by the fact that the box on my scanner says HomePatrol.

Thanks everyone for your help!
Pete

My new bcd436hp worked for 2 months before I got the "sdcard access error" Never could get it to work and it was replaced with a new unit. That one worked for one month and the same thing happened and I had to send it back for repair. It has now been working for 2 weeks and I am keeping my fingers crossed every time I turn it on. I don't think I want a scanner where I have to replace the sd card on a regular basis. I am much happier with my Home Patrol. It is easier to use and does not give me any problems.

Please refer to page 81 of the 436 manual. At the bottom of the page it tells you to format the card using a Special SD Card formatter. HTTPS://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4

You may need to clear user data using Sentinel to restore all HP files and directories to the card.