Dream Card reader does not work

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KimH
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Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 1:52 pm
Location: Denmark

Dream Card reader does not work

Post by KimH »

Hi,

I haven't used the card reader in my dream before. Now trying to update the firmware to version 1.24.
However, the cardreader does not seem to work. It simply does not find the memory card including the bin file.

I also tried to use read/Write functions, which also does not work. It just says "SD Card Error".

My machine came with the card reader, but no card, as I have read some of you got. So I have simply tried with 2 different SD cards from digital cameras, which I believe would work?

Please let me know if any of you are aware of any known issues related to the card reader.

PS: The machine and I live in Europe, so unfortunatly I don't have the same great support as most of you from the US.

/Kim
- La Spaziale S1 Dream
- Ceado E37S
- Rancilio Rocky SD
- Hottop B
goodboyr
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Location: Canada

Re: Dream Card reader does not work

Post by goodboyr »

On the Chris coffee site on the dream page there is a resources tab with the manuals. I think the interface manual has the details on the read/write file setup on the card. The card itself is a 256mb formated to FAT with no name. It has the .bin firmware file in the root directory. Here's a pic of the root directory.
Dream card files.jpg
Dream card files.jpg (11.22 KiB) Viewed 9592 times
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Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
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chas
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Re: Dream Card reader does not work

Post by chas »

There's an mportant thing to note and I don't see it anywhere in the documentation. It may be because they usually include a tiny ~256MB SD card which you can't buy anymore and which is already properly formatted. I know I have used larger SD Cards that I have formatted myself. However, as I recall you have to be careful if formatting an SD card for this purpose or if using a preformatted SD card. There are several format options to chose from. I think the DREAM will only recognize cards formatted in the original FAT format. If yours is formatted for FAT32 or NTFS it won't work.

Also if you have some SD card size options to choose from I would pick the smallest option you can as there is a problem with larger cards. I have used 2GB and 8GB cards with some success. I forget what the size limit is - maybe 64GB. Once you get to that size and beyond, FAT is no longer compatible so you won't be able to format the cards as readable by the Dream unless you perhaps split the card into smaller partitions first.
Chas
LM GS/3 & LaSpaziale Dream v 1.25 (US 120V)
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goodboyr
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Re: Dream Card reader does not work

Post by goodboyr »

Good point, Chas. Thxs.

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Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
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KimH
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Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 1:52 pm
Location: Denmark

Re: Dream Card reader does not work

Post by KimH »

Thanks for your inputs. I tried to format 2 different SD Cards in FAT format. I also made sure the name was blank. But no luck so far :-(

I assume it is not required to have the machine's current firmware bin file on the card - right. I only placed the new bin file, as I never had a bin file with the firmware that came from the factory.

Other ideas on how to get this to work?
- La Spaziale S1 Dream
- Ceado E37S
- Rancilio Rocky SD
- Hottop B
goodboyr
Barista
Posts: 255
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Dream Card reader does not work

Post by goodboyr »

Are you sure it's fully plugged in? I've found it's a bit finicky and if it you don't get it straight on it might be partially inserted into the plug. As well, you might want to try power cycling the machine with the card reader plugged in.

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Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
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