Sd card bigger than 2gb is not recognized in ubuntu 12.04

Question

When I insert a card up to 2gb it is immediately seen by the system but if try it with bigger one it's not seen. I presume the issue is not due to the card reader itself as it reads all cards under windows 7 but due to linux driver.

I could see some people having similar issues but no solution.

Any help appreciated.

GParted doesnt see cards bigger than 2gb.

After insertion small card

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ dmesg
[10169.384481] mmc0: new SD card at address a95c
[10169.384870] mmcblk0: mmc0:a95c SD016 14.0 MiB 
[10169.386715]  mmcblk0: p1

everything worked fine then I removed the small one and put 8gb, waited for 2min

[10295.736422] mmc0: card a95c removed
[10362.448383] sdhci: Switching to 1.8V signalling voltage failed, retrying with S18R set to 0
[10372.480076] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10382.496146] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10392.512149] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10402.528145] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10402.529267] mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
[10402.748807] sdhci: Switching to 1.8V signalling voltage failed, retrying with S18R set to 0
[10412.768063] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10422.784051] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10432.800076] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10442.816067] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10442.817165] mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
[10443.040805] sdhci: Switching to 1.8V signalling voltage failed, retrying with S18R set to 0
[10453.056145] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10463.072139] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10473.088050] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10483.104046] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.
[10483.104107] mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card
[10483.328960] sdhci: Switching to 1.8V signalling voltage failed, retrying with S18R set to 0
[10493.344144] mmc0: Timeout waiting for hardware interrupt.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary) (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8072 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 16)
0a:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): O2 Micro, Inc. Firewire (IEEE 1394) (rev 02)
0a:01.2 SD Host controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MMC/SD Controller (rev 02)
0a:01.3 Mass storage controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MS/xD Controller (rev 01)

Same cards, same machine (same reader) only different OS(win7) work flawlessly.

Some interesting reading I came across but is Chinese for me http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg14598.html

and another bit http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.mmc/11973/match=sd+card+not+recognized

Solution

I experienced the same with 8GB SD card. Problem is Ubuntu kernel is taking time to mount the card in its file system.

Solution: put the SD card in SD card reader and leave it inserted for more than 1 hour.

Once kernel finish mounting the SD, it will show up in left side bar.

Comments

[Mitch]

I have an 8GB card, and its recognized OK. How is it formatted?

[dex1]

It is formated fat32. And it works fine under windows 7 on the same machine.

[thorstorm]

It might help to specify the type of card reader you're using. It might be a problem with the driver of your specific card reader. I had a similar problem in the past with the card reader of my laptop which was solved by one of the recent kernel updates.