When I turned my DS on yesterday with the M3 plugged in the DS didn't boot normally, it never got past the M3 "Loading..." screen. I tried turning off and turning on again but it didn’t help. I noticed that the Micro SD card was hot to touch. I removed the card and plugged it into a PC with the USB adapter included with the M3 kit and it wouldn't recognise as drive in the PC. The card is a 1GB Sandisk MicroSD bought from a highstreet store recently and has been used only with the M3 and USB adapter. The night before this event I copied a game and some music to the card with the USB adapter and it worked perfectly. I am sure the card was seated correctly in the M3. I believe my M3 Simply DS is faulty and damaged my Micro SD card. Has anybody heard of the M3/R4 damaging Micro SD cards in this manner? Cheers!
I guess as no-ones replied to this post that its not a known problem of M3s damaging MicroSD cards and that I should be safe buying a new one and trying it out. Cheers!
I suggest you try formatting your microsd before giving up on it. Format it using the FAT32 filesystem, install the newest M3 firmware on it, and boot it up to see if it works. To begin with don't add any homebrew or roms to the card. Just the latest firmware on a fresh format. This should tell you if there is a problem with the firmware or if the m3 has a problem with your card. You can also try booting up the M3 with no card inserted. It will show a message complaining about not finding a card. This will tell you if the problem is with the M3 or with your microsd. Either way you stand a chance to save some money assuming one or both of these are indeed faulty. Be patient! it is cheaper to try out various things than to buy a new one
Would be kinda hard to format the MicroSD card if it isn't recognized when inserted via USB on the computer. All you can do is try another MicroSD card. If it happens again then I would get a different M3 cart. I received an e-mail from Tiger Direct today that had a PNY 1GB microSD Card for $14.99 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=36
Thanks for your replies. I spotted the problem this morning, there was a hairline crack across the MicroSD card. It's only visible from the top side and only in certain lights. I've now put another MicroSD card in my M3 and it works perfectly. I think I left the MicroSD card in the silver USB reader and put it in my travel pouch which carries my DS and accessories. I must have knocked it in there and broken it. Seeing as though I take an average of 2-3 international flights a week I guess it was kind of inevitable really if I was going to be so careless.
