MP3 Player Shield V15: Can't access SD card.

Sensors Sound & Audio
1

I have a v15 board (DEV-12660) connected to a RedBoard (DEV-13975) and a class 10 microSD card (COM-15051) formatted as FAT32 using (https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/). Everything purchased new from Sparkfun in January 2021. I carefully soldered the headers (PRT-00116) on the MP3 shield, according to the Technical Assistance page (https://www.sparkfun.com/technical_assistance). I have one MP3 file saved to the microSD card, and renamed to “track001.mp3”.

I am using this (https://github.com/madsci1016/Sparkfun- … ag/1.02.02) SFEMP3Shield library because the recommended one (https://github.com/madsci1016/Sparkfun- … no-Library) did not compile with Arduino 1.8.13 on Windows 10 Pro. The library is installed as described here (https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/in … no-library).

After loading the “SFEMP3Shield>Examples>FilePlayer.ino” file to the RedBoard, the Arduino serial monitor (at 115200 baud) reports:

Free RAM = 2166 Should be a base line of 1029, on ATmega328 when using INTx

Can’t access SD card. Do not reformat.

SD errorCode: 0XF,0X0

Trouble-shooting steps:

  1. I have re-flowed my solder joints to ensure proper connection.

  2. I have confirmed pin continuity with a DMM.

  3. I have verified the error with the MP3Shield connected to another Arduino Uno.

  4. I have verified that the MP3Shield also reports the same error with other FAT32 and FAT16 formatted class 10 microSD cards 1GB and 64GB.

  5. I have verified that changing SD_SEL, SPI_FULL_SPEED, and SPI_HALF_SPEED in SFEMP3ShieldConfig.h does not fix the issue.

  6. I have verified the pins on the MP3Shield are clear of debris, and no shorts.

This trouble-shooting has taken me several hours. What am I missing?

2

Hi aero_guy.

The libraries and documentation for this shield are super old and desperately in need of updating. The were written for the Arduino IDE before a lot of changes were made to the IDE and seem to have trouble with the newer versions.

Give this a try:

  • - Uninstall all the libraries MP3 Shield you’ve already installed.

  • - Close the Arduino IDE.
  • - Download and unzip the file below
  • - Open your Arduino sketchbook folder and locate the /libraries/ folder inside.
  • - Copy the two folders you unzipped earlier into your sketchbook/libraries folder.
  • - Restart the IDE and try the SFEMP3Shield/Examples/FilePlayer sketch and see if that gets things working for you.

    • We really need to modernize the instructions for this product, I’ll see if I can get our documentation team to add this to their to do list.

    MP3 Shield.zip (189 KB)

    3

    Hi Chris,

    Thank you for your response! I have waited for weeks to get this project finished for my daughter. I first started with an email to Sparkfun, then I posted on the MP3Shield page (https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/mp … 60cb6079b3), now here. You would think with an MS and PhD in EE that I could figure this out.

    I followed your instructions exactly. I still cannot access the SD Card. At least this time I get a different error code. :roll:

    F_CPU = 16000000

    Free RAM = 917 Should be a base line of 1017, on ATmega328 when using INTx

    Can’t access SD card. Do not reformat.

    SD errorCode: 0X50,0X0

    I am attaching photos of the board set-up.

    IMG_0208.jpg

    IMG_0207.jpg

    IMG_0206.jpg

    4

    Sorry for the late reply, I also reached out to you on your other post and there is more information there for you.

    It looks like you might have a Kingston Canvas card on the shield and I believe that line of cards should all be capacities over 32GB. You might try a smaller capacity card and see if that works.

    5

    Thank you for the reply. What other post? (can you provide a link?)

    In the photo I supplied, the SD card is the one I referenced in my first post, a 16GB class 10 (COM-15051) purchased from SparkFun at the same time I purchased the MP3 shield. I have also tried a 1 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB and a 64 GB card. Each of these formatted as FAT32 with the tool you suggested. All of the SD cards are recognized by my computer and the SparkFun OpenLog (DEV-13712 purchased back in 2011), but not the MP3 Shield (purchased last month).

    I really don’t know what to try next.

    6

    Hi, was there ever a solution to this? I’m having the same issue :slight_smile:

    I’m getting this message when running the File player example script:

    F_CPU = 16000000
    Free RAM = 917 Should be a base line of 1017, on ATmega328 when using INTx
    e,!4⸮⸮Z⸮⸮e⸮ZO⸮e%EmC⸮⸮⸮d*⸮⸮⸮K0r⸮5⸮?⸮⸮x⸮⸮E⸮⸮0@⸮ȡ;⸮U⸮⸮⸮N⸮ld⸮
    2}⸮⸮%R⸮9 ⸮5,k⸮⸮⸮⸮c⸮⸮iyķS%⸮⸮⸮I8 ⸮⸮$D⸮⸮2⸮⸮a⸮⸮Hg$
    E