Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

[Sharp Tech Support]

We have a lot of MX-M365N unit here and we always encountering hanging up, freeze on "please wait" upon turning on the printer machine, and through problem isolation we found out that the cause of this was because of corrupted SD Card in which containing the firmware.... Just want to ask some ideas what are the possible causes of this and how can we avoid this kind of problems, does electric supply matters, environment, document files, networks, we don't have any much ideas yet all we doubting was because of electric fluctuation...

We also encounter this in MX-3060N and we solved this through replacing the SSD which also containing the firmware, can anybody explain why?,,
we already replaced 3 SD Card on MX-M365N as well as 3 SSD on MX-3060N and its just happened a couple of month.... and I think there is something not good about this.....

[MHeon71]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

It has been awhile ago, but Sharp tech support believes it to be improper shutdown and brown outs. I think Sharp used cheap SD cards, which exposes the problem more. I installed SanDisk SD card and the failure rate has gone down. I have put some ESP's out there and they seem to help. Of course, they do not solve improper shut down or brown outs so I am guessing noise may play a part.

[austonrush]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

Sharp, a lot of the time, will cover the SD card under warranty (even if the machine is older).

[Sharp Tech Support]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

It has been awhile ago, but Sharp tech support believes it to be improper shutdown and brown outs. I think Sharp used cheap SD cards, which exposes the problem more. I installed SanDisk SD card and the failure rate has gone down. I have put some ESP's out there and they seem to help. Of course, they do not solve improper shut down or brown outs so I am guessing noise may play a part.

Just want to be clear with this, you installed SanDisk SD card, so you mean that the SD card was empty..

[Toner Boy]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

Techs are cloning the good SD cards to use as backups for quick swap. A very good idea.
Take clones of all possible SD card configs. Don't know if you can do with Compact Flash cards as well, assume so.
Free available software can accomplish task.
From Chubblies 4/2017 post: Find a working SD from a good machine, clone it using hddrawcopy, keep a copy of the clone on your laptop then just clone it back onto a normal 8GB class 10 SD card and it will fix it

[austonrush]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

We are also cloning the cards when we have a chance. I got the tip from here awhile ago. Works well

[ctuinstra]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

I have been doing the cloning of SD cards for some time now. I have files for all of the models affected. I've been doing the SD card, CF cards, and the mSata, all with success. However I have been re-using cards from machines over and over. Some machines have a real issue while others have been re-cloned only once. I have a MX-M264 that we have had to re-clone numerous times. One thing I have heard and does seem to come in to play is those customer that are heavy fax users. This is the case with the MX-M264, they are heavy fax users and the fax information is stored on the SD card. I am in the process of installing the HD option to see if that helps with the issue.

In the case of the MX-4070 and the mSata, we have a lot of issues with the E7-80 and E7-90. In one case the technician was finishing up on the machine and was doing the color calibration. After the machine power cycled after completing the calibration, it would not boot back up. The mSATA was corrupt. This was a proof positive case of a proper power cycle as the machine initiated it, not the user. In order to prove that the mSATA was corrupt, the technician "borrowed" another mSATA from another machine in the same building (same model) and in doing so, this mSATA became corrupt! I then had to drive to the location and re-clone both mSATA drives and both machines were working again. While I was there, he elected to calibrate a third MX-4070 at the customer site, and this one rebooted with a E7-80/90 code!!! Luckily, another power cycle and it came back. All three of these machine currently have the v6.0 on them because all three of them tended to do the E7-80/90 codes often. They are much better now with v6.0.

I just had to re-clone another card this morning. It's almost daily and certainly weekly for us! Maybe higher quality cards might help. I know the "updated" cards from Sharp with the white dot do it also and I have had them come through a couple of times also. In fact the one I did this morning had the white dot on it.

[Dragon-slayer]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

Sharp has "unofficially" admitted to cheap SD cards, and recommended cloning good ones with "HDD Raw Copy Tool. We've been cloning them for about 6 months across the Sharp line with good results. Blank SD's from NewEgg. Here's the link for the free copy tool: 404 Not Found

[chubblies]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

The SD cards fail because the card is being heavily written to/read from to store data specifically when faxing or scanning, because of the lack of hard drive, and it also holds firmware, and so you get bad blocks that eventually corrupt causing odd errors.
Fitting a HDD kit will cure, as will fitting decent SD cards in place of the lego ones that come with the machine.

[austonrush]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

The SD cards fail because the card is being heavily written to/read from to store data specifically when faxing or scanning, because of the lack of hard drive, and it also holds firmware, and so you get bad blocks that eventually corrupt causing odd errors.
Fitting a HDD kit will cure, as will fitting decent SD cards in place of the lego ones that come with the machine.

This totally makes sense, a good reason to always sell with a HDD kit if possible.

[mansart]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

The MX365's come with a HDD, I'm confused.....are you referring to the HDD Mirroring kit?

My other source of confusion here is that beside the emergency firmware dip switch, there is another called SD Boot. What is it used for? I've tried it while troubleshooting "dead" machines but seems to do nothing.....or at least nothing to my eyes.

[austonrush]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

The MX365's come with a HDD, I'm confused.....are you referring to the HDD Mirroring kit?

My other source of confusion here is that beside the emergency firmware dip switch, there is another called SD Boot. What is it used for? I've tried it while troubleshooting "dead" machines but seems to do nothing.....or at least nothing to my eyes.

Yeah, this thread has meandered a bit off the original topic/machine. Originally it was about the MXM365N, but has morphed into a general discussion on Sharp Machines and cloning SD cards and ESata drives. My comment was in regards to the MXM264N series of copiers which do not ship with an HDD by default.

[narnol02]

[CopierShaman]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

Yes it will, for the SD Card that is. However, be sure to purchase a good quality and reliable one. I'd steer away from eBay also.

[Sharp Tech Support]

Re: Sharp MX-M365N Corrupt SD Card

It has been awhile ago, but Sharp tech support believes it to be improper shutdown and brown outs. I think Sharp used cheap SD cards, which exposes the problem more. I installed SanDisk SD card and the failure rate has gone down. I have put some ESP's out there and they seem to help. Of course, they do not solve improper shut down or brown outs so I am guessing noise may play a part.

can you give me some steps on how to replace it with a blank new SD card, how is the process.. thanks