Arduino Due SD Card

Question

I have an Arduino Due and want to save data to an SD card. For this I use a 3.2 'display of ITead with integrated SD slot (http://imall.iteadstudio.com/im120419006.html). This I connected to the Arduino.

However, the Arduino doesn’t detect the SD card (I've tried two different cards and also reformatted both). I wired the three SD ports correctly to the SPI. I wired the CS output on to pin 4, 10 or 52 (each one once tested), without success. I have also tried using ICSP instead of SPI, which the Arduino website suggests. Again, without success.

The test program I used is a test program on the Arduino website for SD cards (the program in the end of the post, changes marked in bold). Is the problem in the program code or is it a hardware problem? If it is a software problem, could you send me a test program that is designed for Arduino Due?

I have invested several hours and read tens of forums but found nothing comparable. Also, the proposed solutions never worked.

/*
 SD card test 
 This example shows how use the utility libraries on which the'
SD library is based in order to get info about your SD card.
Very useful for testing a card when you're not sure whether its working or not.
 The circuit:
 * SD card attached to SPI bus as follows:
** MOSI - pin 11 on Arduino Uno/Duemilanove/Diecimila
** MISO - pin 12 on Arduino Uno/Duemilanove/Diecimila
** CLK - pin 13 on Arduino Uno/Duemilanove/Diecimila
** CS - depends on your SD card shield or module. 
 Pin 4 used here for consistency with other Arduino examples
 created 28 Mar 2011
by Limor Fried 
 modified 9 Apr 2012
by Tom Igoe
*/
// include the SD library:
#include <SD.h>
**#include <SPI.h>**
// set up variables using the SD utility library functions:
Sd2Card card;
SdVolume volume;
SdFile root;
// change this to match your SD shield or module;
// Arduino Ethernet shield: pin 4
// Adafruit SD shields and modules: pin 10
// Sparkfun SD shield: pin 8
const int chipSelect = **10**; 
void setup() {
// Open serial communications and wait for port to open:
 Serial.begin(9600);
 while (!Serial) {
 ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for Leonardo only
 }
 Serial.print("\nInitializing SD card...");
 // On the Ethernet Shield, CS is pin 4. It's set as an output by default.
 // Note that even if it's not used as the CS pin, the hardware SS pin 
 // (10 on most Arduino boards, 53 on the Mega) must be left as an output 
 // or the SD library functions will not work. 
 pinMode(**chipSelect**, OUTPUT); // change this to 53 on a mega
 **SPI.begin(chipSelect); //habe ich eingeführt, da es in einigen Foren erwähnt wird, funktioniert jedoch mit und ohne nicht. //I made this, becaus it’s mentioned in severals forums, but it didn’t workt wiht it and whitout it** // change this to 53 on a mega 
 // we'll use the initialization code from the utility libraries
 // since we're just testing if the card is working!
 if (!card.init(SPI_HALF_SPEED, chipSelect)) {
 Serial.println("initialization failed. Things to check:");
 Serial.println("* is a card is inserted?");
 Serial.println("* Is your wiring correct?");
 Serial.println("* did you change the chipSelect pin to match your shield or module?");
 return;
 } else {
 Serial.println("Wiring is correct and a card is present."); 
 }
 // print the type of card
 Serial.print("\nCard type: ");
 switch(card.type()) {
 case SD_CARD_TYPE_SD1:
 Serial.println("SD1");
 break;
 case SD_CARD_TYPE_SD2:
 Serial.println("SD2");
 break;
 case SD_CARD_TYPE_SDHC:
 Serial.println("SDHC");
 break;
 default:
 Serial.println("Unknown");
 }
 // Now we will try to open the 'volume'/'partition' - it should be FAT16 or FAT32
 if (!volume.init(card)) {
 Serial.println("Could not find FAT16/FAT32 partition.\nMake sure you've formatted the card");
 return;
 }
 // print the type and size of the first FAT-type volume
 uint32_t volumesize;
 Serial.print("\nVolume type is FAT");
 Serial.println(volume.fatType(), DEC);
 Serial.println();
 volumesize = volume.blocksPerCluster(); // clusters are collections of blocks
 volumesize *= volume.clusterCount(); // we'll have a lot of clusters
 volumesize *= 512; // SD card blocks are always 512 bytes
 Serial.print("Volume size (bytes): ");
 Serial.println(volumesize);
 Serial.print("Volume size (Kbytes): ");
 volumesize /= 1024;
 Serial.println(volumesize);
 Serial.print("Volume size (Mbytes): ");
 volumesize /= 1024;
 Serial.println(volumesize);
 Serial.println("\nFiles found on the card (name, date and size in bytes): ");
 root.openRoot(volume);
 // list all files in the card with date and size
 root.ls(LS_R | LS_DATE | LS_SIZE);
}
void loop(void) {
}

• Gerben: That board should have 2 CS pins. One for the display and one for the SD. I can't find any pinouts for that module. Try using a multimeter and test where all the pins of the SD-holder go to (especially the middle one).
• Marques: Thanks very much, I just controlled the connections from the SD-Card to the pins on the lcd-display, and they work. Also the wiring from the display to the arduino is okay.Do you know, if there are special needs to initialise SPI on the due?

Answer 1

Thank you very much. I solved part of the problem. I tried it whit a new SD Card. When I use pin 52, I am able to read the card information with the program above. But only if I use SPI.

Pin 10 doesn't work at all and Pin 4 a bit. If I work with Pin 4, it accepts the card, but it can't find out what format the SD card has. This is kind of weird, I think, because Arduino say alls three pins should work (http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/SPI). Does anybody knows something about this?

Answer 2

I use SD card with Arduino UNO. I connected SD card to the Arduino and I saw the Arduino don’t detect the SD card. Then I see this tutorial and Arduino detect the SD card now. Don't connect the SD card breakout board to Arduino and use non-inverting hex buffer(4050).