Hmm the Microsoft work around - for XP does not address the issue, the work around for 2000 does address the issue - but it doesn't work.
I contacted the teck / support / inquiries people at Sandisk - and they have been suspiciously quiet - and after a couple of emails to them, they have NOT replied.
As generally unscrupulious as MS are in releasing bad (aquired) software, there is some really good stuff they have done and occasionally I have run across some really good support / tech services, to fix up the BUGS in their software, while avoiding getting ripped off in the process (which I usually had to fight for).
So I sent this email to assorted depts in Sandisk and MS:
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Hi, I have a U beaute MMC based mp3 player. I have a Sandisk 512MB MMC in it and yes the card is unlocked. One of my fathers sent it over from Canada - brand new, in the pack, about 2 months ago.
The last MP3 player I had, had defective earphone jacks, and so I removed the Sandisk card, put that on the shelves and sent the player back for replacement.
The replacement came back, and when I stuck the card into it, I tried to overwrite / delete the old tracks, and also to copy new tracks onto it.
However, the bloody thing spat back at me "Cannot delete / overwrite / format / etc. because the drive is now write protected.
And after trying everything I can think of, etc., I searched through about 120 posts on 120 websites on the subject, there are lots of people and sites saying "remove the write protection" but none of them actually say how to do it....
There is NO clear "turn write protection off" anywhere in XP and there is as far as I can tell, no DOS commands etc., to force the disk to be overwritten / brought back into service.
It seems to be enough of a common problem with flash disks in cameras and USB drives and such like to produce many posts, but no clear, concise and working solutions.
And I can't find anyone who actually knows how to crack the "write-protected" function for a flash drive? (online or elsewhere).
This is some of the stuff I have done to crack the "write protected" issue.
It won't format, delete, overwrite, cut, paste, or respond to any the XP GUI commands or DOS commands.
There may be an issue with the card it's self, it may be a matter of having formatted the card as a FAT32 instead of a FAT filing system (we live and learn???) cause the former MP3 player was playing up and or a whole heap of causes...
But it's a 512M Kingston MMC card, reading as 483 Meg FAT32....
And I have tried.... XP, computer management, disk management, properties.
No "read only" attribute in PROPERTIES, only "Share this folder on Network" + "Allow network users to change my files" - both checked.
Jump into "Command Prompt" CD D: attrib -r, a pop up says: "THE DISK CANNOT BE WRITTEN TO BECAUSE IT IS WRITE PROTECTED. PLEASE REMOVE WRITE PROTECTION FROM THE VOLUME IN DRIVE D:." [cancel / try again / continue]
I hit any of the three commands and it comes back in dos:
D:\attrib -r
Unable to change attribute - D:\001 (file name).mp3
Unable to change attribute - D:\002 (file name).mp3
Unable to change attribute - D:\003 (file name).mp3
etc.
So I have tried all this and similar before... in the XP GIU and in XP DOS and I am honestly STUCK.
It player plays just fine tho.....
I had a crack at hooking the MP3 player into a different computer - same problem.
Any ideas on the subject?
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A twat as MS sent this reply:
Dear Shane
I have not received a response from you and therefore will be closing and archiving the case at this point in time.
It was my pleasure to work with you on your Windows Update issue. Should you require any further assistance in relation to this case please feel free to reopen it.
Thank you for contacting Microsoft Online Assisted Support.
Kind regards,
Sunny Cheok
Microsoft Australia & New Zealand Technical Support
http://support.microsoft.com~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Which is quite an interesting thing to say - "Response? what response?"
Slap that mans head for imbecielity...
So I told him so.
Better upload this.... stay Tuned for part 2.