Geek Oracle on Sim-Cards

Poststructural Pub
1

I humbly beseech assistance and words of wisdom on the subject of Sim Cards.

I have a Motorola Mobile Phone (Cell-Phone) with iTunes.

Last time I removed the sim-card to download some pictures I’d taken, the card shifted when I replaced the battery. I had some difficulty getting the battery out again to set the sim-card properly.

When I did, the pictures had gone. I wasn’t too bothered about that. All my phone numbers are still there. So that’s fine. But the iTunes have gone.

Not a problem, I thought - I’ll just download them from my laptop.
But iTunes doesn’t recognise the phone as an iTunes device, any more, when I plug it into the USB. It still has the controls on the phone: Playlist, Songs etc: but it’s empty. The “capacity” information is confusing. It says “Songs: 0/100. Capacity: n/a”.

So the question is: have I fried my card? Is it possible to resurrect it? Or do I just need to buy a new card?

2

I don’t think you’re talking about a sim card here. The sim card is the small card with the visible chip on it that stores your phone’s account information (and some phone numbers and texts). It doesn’t store media.

I assume what you’re talking about is the Micro SD card or some similar flash memory card.

Can the card still be read in the computer? Does a new card (or a card you’ve borrowed from someone else) work in the phone?

Also in future it might be a good idea to leave the card in the phone and use a USB connection or bluetooth (USB bluetooth adapters are cheap) to transfer media to and from your phone. You should have software on a CD to manage your phone, if not you can probably download it from the motorola website.

3

Thanks Chris. You are right, the SIM card is something else. So simply, I’ve fried the memory-card and need to buy a new one. Nuts.
I have a USB connection from the phone, but only considered it as an iTunes connection. I’ll look into using that for downloading the photos, too.

Thanks again!

4

It’s entirely possible that it’s just not seated properly in the phone’s slot.
In the States, we can take a phone into the service provider’s sales office
and they’ll look at it for free. Is that also true in the UK? Maybe an expert
can look at it and make sure the problem isn’t the card’s connection.

Have you tried to see if a computer can read the SD card? That would help
narrow down whether it’s the card of the phone that’s having problems.

5

You are correct. The little clip that holds the card in place had come loose. I’ve fixed it back and I have my Willowflute tunes back again.

I think I’m getting even stupider than I was. I can’t take much more of this.

But thank you both, you’ve been a big help, and I won’t be panicking in the tube again when I’m surrounded by a sussuration of earphones.

6

That ain’t stupidity. That’s maturity. :smiley:

7

well, I, for one, certainly hope the I don’t get any more mature… :wink: