D750 Non-Formatting and Non-Writing Issues - Slot 2

WarbirdAirbrush2

Senior Member
Bought my first Nikon from a friend.
First pair of cards (brand new SanDisk 64GB Extreme PLUS) individually formatted through menu successfully. Camera set to write RAW+JPG Fine. Role of Slot 2 set to RAW-Slot1, JPG-Slot2.
No problems.
Last week while re-formatting same cards after offloading photos, Slot 2 option is grayed out or burnt-oranged out and unselectable. Message: "This option is unavailable in the current settings or the camera's current state." shows when I try to format Slot 2 card.
Remove Slot 2 card and the option to format Slot 2 is available. Huh? Makes no sense.
Last week I put in two brand new SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO cards to photograph a major airshow. Formatted Slot 1 fine, no chance to format Slot 2 as it was unselectable.
Verified camera was set to RAW+JPG Fine and Role for Slot 2 was RAW-Slot 1, JPG-Slot 2.
After airshow the card in Slot 2 was empty. RAW and JPG both written to Slot 1. Delighted I didn't lose anything but I'd like to use both slots as intended.
I have verified neither card is write-protected and each is inserted thoroughly. I have switched cards to slots to rule out bad cards and only Slot 1 remains selectable.
I have tested Role of Slot 2 set to Back-Up and still NOTHING gets written to it.

Can anyone help with this issue? Is there a way to reset camera to default settings and try from scratch? (My user settings have been saved to another card)

Thanks for any helpful replies.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Have you looked in the card slot to see if there is a dust bunny in there (or possibly some type of material blocking the contacts)?
 

WarbirdAirbrush2

Senior Member
Have you looked in the card slot to see if there is a dust bunny in there (or possibly some type of material blocking the contacts)?

MASSIVE thanks to Hark for the suggestion of looking more closely at the interior of the card slot!!! I didn't find a dust bunny, foreign object, or other blockage but I DID notice the miniscule displacement of the one of the SD pins in troublesome Slot 2. After poking at that with a fine watchmaker's screwdriver and inserting the card with a bias toward pressing the card contacts toward the slot pins, the Formatting menu allowed Slot 2 to be 'seen' and formattable. I walked around the parking lot at work taking 12-15 photos and the RAWs were written to Slot 1 card and the JPGs to Slot 2 instead of the camera being set that way but both files being written to the Slot1 card as earlier.
Super cool!! And I avoided what I guess to be a few hundred dollars and lost time sending the D750 to Nikon for repairs.
 

WarbirdAirbrush2

Senior Member
Andy, you are also right. I took a look more closely at Slot 2 contacts and one appeared to be odd and not looking like it's counterpart in Slot 1. After poking around a bit with a fine screwdriver, the slot was recognized by the camera and the card inserted into it was formattable. Super cool! Delighted to know the root cause of the problem now and avoid the time, inconvenience, and cost to send it in to Nikon for repairs.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
MASSIVE thanks to Hark for the suggestion of looking more closely at the interior of the card slot!!! I didn't find a dust bunny, foreign object, or other blockage but I DID notice the miniscule displacement of the one of the SD pins in troublesome Slot 2. After poking at that with a fine watchmaker's screwdriver and inserting the card with a bias toward pressing the card contacts toward the slot pins, the Formatting menu allowed Slot 2 to be 'seen' and formattable. I walked around the parking lot at work taking 12-15 photos and the RAWs were written to Slot 1 card and the JPGs to Slot 2 instead of the camera being set that way but both files being written to the Slot1 card as earlier.
Super cool!! And I avoided what I guess to be a few hundred dollars and lost time sending the D750 to Nikon for repairs.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. We had a power outage that lasted over 24 hours. Am now back up and running.

Glad to hear you resolved your issue. Just be careful when inserting that card in hopes the pins stay in place. The D750 is an amazing camera. Enjoy yours. :)
 

WarbirdAirbrush2

Senior Member
Thanks, Cindy. I noticed my 'fix' was very intermittent and in trying to further improve it the pins for that SD slot are seriously messed up now. With both large capacity cards I had intended to use in both slots, I now have a single slot D750 and a back-up 128GB card to throw in when the first one is filled. Maybe over the winter I will send it in to Nikon to have the SD card slot replaced.
 

spb_stan

Senior Member
SD sockets and cards are very fragile, which were never intended for critical applications. The fix is likely temporary so consider getting the socket replaced. Nikon service centers are not set up for surface mount component OC board repair so they will replace the next higher assembly which is a pc board with both sockets on it. SD does not have error correction like newer card systems so until it is replaced you will be better off using Slot 1 and not risking that small contact shifting again. Unless you are needing really large storage, risking that many files on very large carts is not worth the risk.
 

WarbirdAirbrush2

Senior Member
Thank you for the reply, spb_stan. My 'fix' is very intermittent and I think I have further damaged the pins in trying to make it more permanent. Nikon has quoted a fix for just under $300 so at some point I will send this D750 body in for the full-on spa treatment with new SD slots and all. Until then, I will get by with the single slot.
 
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