Can't get my SD card formatted

[Dakota_Lynn]

Hi there! I just got a Canon S5 for Christmas. Unfortunately, I can't get past problems with the SD card to even begin using the thing! Ugh! I bought two 1gb Sandisk SD cards. I put one inside the camera and took several pictures with it, then put the card into my computer to look at the pictures I took. It said I needed to format it and that I would lose the pictures. Ok, no big deal there. But when I tried to format it, it said that "windows could not complete the format." Eeek! So I tired to format the second memory card and the same message came up. Windows can't format either card.

So I decided to try and format them from the camera and when I tried it said, "memory card error." Did I have the bad luck of getting two defective memory cards or am I doing something wrong? I've never had to mess with formatting my Sony memory sticks or my compact flash cards so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[S. C.]

I load the pics straight from the camera to the computer & I formatted my cards in my canon S3. Sorry i can't be of any help. Here is hoping someone here knows the answers.

You might also want to ask these ???'s at http://www.s5users.com/forum/index.php

 

[MICKEY88]

not sure what the problem is, but it's best to never format in the pc, always format with your camera,

although you haven't formated in the past it's a good idea toformat your cards in camera on a regular basis...

when you tried formating in the pc, how did you do it..

found this on the sandisk website..

The card shows an error in the camera or on the computer?
A. The card may have some corruption on it, please try to format the card preferably in the camera, if it does not format in the camera then please try to format on the computer. ( To format the card in the camera, please refer to the manual. To format the card on the computer please go to my computer and right click on the removable disk drive and select format (we would suggest formatting in Fat on Win2000 and Win XP))

 

[fla4fun]

Are you doing the quick format or the full format (in the camera)? Try doing the full format and see if that helps. I have two Sandisk cards I use and I haven't had any trouble using them in my S5. I do always format new cards in the camera before taking any pictures, in case they have been pre-formatted for another use.

Also, do you have any trouble with the card that came with the camera? Just curious - because if you had the same problem with the card that came with the camera, maybe there's a problem with the camera.