# Moultrie Game Spy**SD Card Locked?



## DaddyPaul

DGS-200 is the model number.

A bud let me borrow it and for some reason no matter what I do it gives me the following message:

SD CARD LOCKED

I have tried the card in my digital camera and it works fine.  I also pulled the card out of our digital camera and stuck it in there.....................same message.

Any clue as to how to fix it?


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## DaddyPaul

Trash in the camera I reckon?  Blew in the slot pretty hard and now it works perfectly!


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## davidhelmly

Glad you got it going!


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## kevina

my game spy 200 is doing the same thing occasionally. i will try to blow in the slot and see if it makes a difference.


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## JohnK3

Look on the side of the card.  There's a little slide switch.  Move the slide switch to "unlocked" and try again.


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## hicktownboy

Do not erase the pics from a memory card on a different camera (IE digital camera that you use at home) because it will reformat the card and it will not be able to be used in your trail cam again.  Took me a few times to figure that out.  Lost a few SD cards that way.  Some brands of SD cards are better than others.  Stick with Panasonic, San Disk, or a well known brand.  I tried some Patriot cards that I bought from Frys and they didnt seem to work as well as my other cards.
Good Luck!


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## BlackKnight755

...Also, instead of blowing in the memory slot, buy a can of Contact Cleaner from wal-mart or radio shack. The humidity from your breath can mess up the electronics of the camera.


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## BRANCHWYNN

*Thanx....*



hicktownboy said:


> Do not erase the pics from a memory card on a different camera (IE digital camera that you use at home) because it will reformat the card and it will not be able to be used in your trail cam again. Took me a few times to figure that out. Lost a few SD cards that way. Some brands of SD cards are better than others. Stick with Panasonic, San Disk, or a well known brand. I tried some Patriot cards that I bought from Frys and they didnt seem to work as well as my other cards.
> Good Luck!


 
THOUGHT i  WAS LOSING MY MIND.


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## hicktownboy

BRANCHWYNN said:


> THOUGHT i  WAS LOSING MY MIND.



Same thing huh?  
I messed up quite a few cards doing that, but needless to say I have plenty of cards for my digital camera I use around the house...


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## gblrklr

DaddyPaul said:


> Trash in the camera I reckon?  Blew in the slot pretty hard and now it works perfectly!



Did it get bigger?


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## larpyn

DaddyPaul said:


> DGS-200 is the model number.
> 
> A bud let me borrow it and for some reason no matter what I do it gives me the following message:
> 
> SD CARD LOCKED
> 
> I have tried the card in my digital camera and it works fine.  I also pulled the card out of our digital camera and stuck it in there.....................same message.
> 
> Any clue as to how to fix it?





kevina said:


> my game spy 200 is doing the same thing occasionally. i will try to blow in the slot and see if it makes a difference.



that camera has a 2025 battery in it that is about the size of a quarter. it is in the main 6v battery compartment.
change it out. you can find those 2032 batteries at wal-mart.
my camera developed the same problem and it started working fine after i changed out the battery.


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## MERCing

> Do not erase the pics from a memory card on a different camera (IE digital camera that you use at home) because it will reformat the card and it will not be able to be used in your trail cam again.



I do this every week and have never had a problem. I have extra cards and when I check the cameras(Moutlries and Stealth Cams), I pull the old card, insert a cleared one and take the cards home to look at them, them delete them with a different camera(usually a Sony) or with the computer. I never clear the cards using the t/cam.
I have 7(or 8 cards) that I use this way.


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## snook24

I had the same problem with 2 cameras I just bought...Its a problem with the computer in it...u need to return it and get new ones.


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## BRANCHWYNN

*question...*



larpyn said:


> that camera has a 2032 battery in it that is about the size of a quarter. it is in the main 6v battery compartment.
> change it out. you can find those 2032 batteries at wal-mart.
> my camera developed the same problem and it started working fine after i changed out the battery.


 
so, youre sayin that if i change out another battery located inside the camera...this should correct the problem?

I went and pulled my card yesterday and when i inserted into my lap top it said it was no longer formatted. Lost probably 26 pics. I am goin to get a new card and try to change out that battery and see if this will correct the problem thanks for your advice GENTLEMEN.


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## hicktownboy

You know the ones Bass Pro had on SALE for like $70 bucks or whatever?...
Someone told me that they tried to go exchange it for another cause their camera was not working and Bass Pro said they could not exchange them because they were actually a cheaper version of the original D40s.  They gave him his money back but would not swap it for another D40.  If that would have been me and I found out I would have been rasising some 'cane' it that place!


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## earth mover

I've   had  the   same  thing  happen  to  me.Called  Moultrie.Thay   said  to   take  a  paper   clip   and  push  the  button   on  the   left   back  side   of  the  SD   slot..


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## freezerfiller

*Camera not the card*

Hicktownboy is right on according to Moultrie customer service.  Had the same problem.  She told me two brands of cameras (home cameras) that reformat the cards when you delete with them.  

So the moral of the story is you CAN transfer your images to your computer using your home camera BUT do not delete the images with it.  The only way to protect your card from reformating is by using the "DELETE ALL IMAGES" from the trail cam menu.  

Hope that helps.


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## Tahoe

Any  idea why a Moultrie 100 game cam worked great two seasons, but now won't take night pictures?


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## hicktownboy

No idea.  I have a gamespy 100 that runs off a 6 volt and my disply screen went out.  Thinking bout sending it to Moultrie and see if they can fix or maybe give me a discount on a new one.  
Any ideas on how that works fellas??


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## Flash

hicktownboy said:


> No idea.  I have a gamespy 100 that runs off a 6 volt and my disply screen went out.  Thinking bout sending it to Moultrie and see if they can fix or maybe give me a discount on a new one.
> Any ideas on how that works fellas??



 Have you tried different batteries first? Mine went out and after fooling around I tried another one and it worked fine. 

 I've had great service from Moultrie. Repair and even sent me a new one once.


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## larpyn

BRANCHWYNN said:


> so, youre sayin that if i change out another battery located inside the camera...this should correct the problem?
> 
> I went and pulled my card yesterday and when i inserted into my lap top it said it was no longer formatted. Lost probably 26 pics. I am goin to get a new card and try to change out that battery and see if this will correct the problem thanks for your advice GENTLEMEN.



i fixed my brothers cam last weekend that was having a "sd card locked" problem.
i changed out the internal memory battery (it is a 2025 not 2032 like i posted earlier) problems went away.
it is my understanding that the moultrie 6v cameras use the 2025 battery to start up the basic brain functions of the camera and initialize the card when you power up the camera. the 6v battery is used mainly for charging the flash and the actual picture capture.
it has been my experience so far that a bad 2025 battery can cause all kind of funky problems with these cameras and changing it out first is easy and inexpensive compared to sending the cam back to moultrie.
hope this helps.


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## larpyn

hicktownboy said:


> Do not erase the pics from a memory card on a different camera (IE digital camera that you use at home) because it will reformat the card and it will not be able to be used in your trail cam again.  Took me a few times to figure that out.  Lost a few SD cards that way.  Some brands of SD cards are better than others.  Stick with Panasonic, San Disk, or a well known brand.  I tried some Patriot cards that I bought from Frys and they didnt seem to work as well as my other cards.
> Good Luck!



good advice. i agree


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## BRANCHWYNN

*6v batteries*



larpyn said:


> good advice. i agree


 
put in a new card..seems to be working fine now. Now my new problem...bought 5 moultrie 6v rechargeable and cant get 3 of them to charge....ever had this problem? thanx


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## hicktownboy

BRANCHWYNN said:


> put in a new card..seems to be working fine now. Now my new problem...bought 5 moultrie 6v rechargeable and cant get 3 of them to charge....ever had this problem? thanx



Only after about 6-8 months of use... If you just bought them new, I would take them back to wherever you bought them and tell them they will not hold a charge.  Glad you got the camera to work.  What size and brand card did you go with?  Price?  In the market for a couple myself.


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## larpyn

BRANCHWYNN said:


> put in a new card..seems to be working fine now. Now my new problem...bought 5 moultrie 6v rechargeable and cant get 3 of them to charge....ever had this problem? thanx



yep on the battery problem
not sure what happens internally to the battery but when it takes a dump it is useless. i've got 7 of the 6v batteries and i think 3 of them have quit for some reason. wont charge or anything. as a matter of fact i had one go bad two days ago after i dead shorted one out while trying to put it in a flashlight that one was my fault though

also here is a picture of where the 2025 battery is located. absolutely no disassembly of the camera is needed so put away your wrenches and hammers 
simply remove the 6v battery and the 2025 battery is located on the right side and is secured with a pull out tray.
hope this helps, Larry


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## kevina

larpyn said:


> yep on the battery problem
> not sure what happens internally to the battery but when it takes a dump it is useless. i've got 7 of the 6v batteries and i think 3 of them have quit for some reason. wont charge or anything. as a matter of fact i had one go bad two days ago after i dead shorted one out while trying to put it in a flashlight that one was my fault though
> 
> also here is a picture of where the 2025 battery is located. absolutely no disassembly of the camera is needed so put away your wrenches and hammers
> simply remove the 6v battery and the 2025 battery is located on the right side and is secured with a pull out tray.
> hope this helps, Larry



Thanks again Larry, I am going to swap this battery out this weekend. The camera is on a mock scrape right know, and when i set it up it did not say SD card locked, so I am hoping for some pics. I will keep all posted if this battery swap works for me. Thanks again.


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## dutchman

larpyn said:


> yep on the battery problem
> not sure what happens internally to the battery but when it takes a dump it is useless. i've got 7 of the 6v batteries and i think 3 of them have quit for some reason. wont charge or anything. as a matter of fact i had one go bad two days ago after i dead shorted one out while trying to put it in a flashlight that one was my fault though
> 
> also here is a picture of where the 2025 battery is located. absolutely no disassembly of the camera is needed so put away your wrenches and hammers
> simply remove the 6v battery and the 2025 battery is located on the right side and is secured with a pull out tray.
> hope this helps, Larry



OK, got a new 2025 battery and changed it out. Then, when I put the new SD card (San Disk) into the card slot and turned the camera on, I got the "SD Card Locked!" message again!

Did the "air" thing in the card slot and got it to work, but I'm still concerned that it'll lock up on me in my absence and that I'll miss something passing through. 

Any other suggestions?


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## larpyn

dutchman said:


> OK, got a new 2025 battery and changed it out. Then, when I put the new SD card (San Disk) into the card slot and turned the camera on, I got the "SD Card Locked!" message again!
> 
> Did the "air" thing in the card slot and got it to work, but I'm still concerned that it'll lock up on me in my absence and that I'll miss something passing through.
> 
> Any other suggestions?



hammer ??? 

don't you just love electronics? 
i'm not sure what you can do now except call moultrie......
all they are going to do is tell you to mail it to them then they will say it can't be fixed but we can upgrade it for xxxx amount of $$$.
raise cane with them and see if maybe they will upgrade for free?? i guarantee they have heard it b4.
if you are like me though i don't want to go to the "D" batteries 
i like the rechargeable 6v better.

good luck bub


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## kevina

larpyn said:


> hammer ???
> 
> don't you just love electronics?
> i'm not sure what you can do now except call moultrie......
> all they are going to do is tell you to mail it to them then they will say it can't be fixed but we can upgrade it for xxxx amount of $$$.
> raise cane with them and see if maybe they will upgrade for free?? i guarantee they have heard it b4.
> if you are like me though i don't want to go to the "D" batteries
> i like the rechargeable 6v better.
> 
> good luck bub




Larry, I swapped out my 2025 battery this weekend as well and got the SD CARD LOCKED message as well. I then turned off the cam and pulled my 6v battery out and pulled the SD card out and waited about 1 minute and then re-hooked the 6v battery, re-inserted the SD card and turned on cam. I did have to reset the date and time and all, but it did not showed locked. I will update next week when i check it again.


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## larpyn

kevina said:


> Larry, I swapped out my 2025 battery this weekend as well and got the SD CARD LOCKED message as well. I then turned off the cam and pulled my 6v battery out and pulled the SD card out and waited about 1 minute and then re-hooked the 6v battery, re-inserted the SD card and turned on cam. I did have to reset the date and time and all, but it did not showed locked. I will update next week when i check it again.



10-4 bub , i'm glad i helped at least one person out


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## kevina

kevina said:


> Larry, I swapped out my 2025 battery this weekend as well and got the SD CARD LOCKED message as well. I then turned off the cam and pulled my 6v battery out and pulled the SD card out and waited about 1 minute and then re-hooked the 6v battery, re-inserted the SD card and turned on cam. I did have to reset the date and time and all, but it did not showed locked. I will update next week when i check it again.





larpyn said:


> 10-4 bub , i'm glad i helped at least one person out



Went to check cam this past weekend and it displayed "SD CARD LOCKED" again and that was with a new SD CARD in it. It is starting to look like i may have to use it as a target to sight in a rifle I will continue to look on line for a remedy to this issue


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## hicktownboy

Anybody having trouble with a D40 not flashing?  Mine was working fine, then all of a sudden no flash... Just stopped with the SD Card Locked deal and then no flash... Yet another great Moultrie product.  I will never buy another Moultrie Trail Cam.


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## larpyn

hicktownboy said:


> Anybody having trouble with a D40 not flashing?  Mine was working fine, then all of a sudden no flash... Just stopped with the SD Card Locked deal and then no flash... Yet another great Moultrie product.  I will never buy another Moultrie Trail Cam.



i've got a couple of friends i hunt with that have 'em. no problems yet.


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## BowFan

*Solution?*

I had a GS200 that my dad gave me that did the "SD card locked" on me.  Started intermittant, but got worse and was too unreliable to use on a hot scrape.  Dad's GS200 didn't do it, and he thought it might have been operator error  , but then he tried mine a while and it happened to him too.  

I tried the battery swap but without success.  

My dad sent it back and Moultrie swapped it out for a like model.  This was about a year ago tho. 

I googled and found that issue is not isolated to Moultrie trail cams.  It happens to laptops, cell phones, lots of devices that use SD memory cards.  

There is a micro switch that has to determine whether or not the sliding write tab is in 'lock' or 'unlocked' mode on your SD memory card.  You can imagine it is measuring a very tiny amount of travel if you look at a write tab on the upper left side of your SD memory card.  If it's measurement is off by a hair it may not detect the tab in the correct position.

I think this agrees with the advice given to blow in the memory slot, or use a paperclip to push 'button' inside memory slot.

Some people resolved the problem permanently by opening up their device and fixing that microswitch.  I can't recall if they soldered a wire to permanently close the switch and show the write tab was in the unlocked position or the other way around.  Or just bent a wire.

I did experience a problem with a piece of Patriot brand memory I bought that had a very loose 'write' tab and when I would slide it into my Kodak digital cam, it would slide back to the 'locked' position.  I had to tape it down in the forward (or unlocked) position to cure that.  

If my GS200 hadn't been swapped out, I would have opened it up to fix and take pics of the problem.  Perhaps someone else can...?

Does anyone remember write stickers on 5.25" floppy disks? ...  tabs on 3.5"?


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## dutchman

Mine's still giveing me trouble. I pulled it out on Saturday due to the SD Card Locked message and it made three photos of me in the process. I don't get it...


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## kevina

I set mine up on the fireplace hearth in the den and it took 52 pics of my daughter and our dog without locking up. I place it on a tree in the woods on a well traveled trail and when i check it it takes a pic of me and says "SD CARD LOCKED" The only difference is indoor vs outdoors, and strapped to a tree tightly vs free standing on hearth? 

I put a Scoutguard on my letter to Santa


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## larpyn

dutchman said:


> Mine's still giveing me trouble. I pulled it out on Saturday due to the SD Card Locked message and it made three photos of me in the process. I don't get it...


 


kevina said:


> I set mine up on the fireplace hearth in the den and it took 52 pics of my daughter and our dog without locking up. I place it on a tree in the woods on a well traveled trail and when i check it it takes a pic of me and says "SD CARD LOCKED" The only difference is indoor vs outdoors, and strapped to a tree tightly vs free standing on hearth?
> 
> I put a Scoutguard on my letter to Santa


 

i'm thinking about buying a didital camera and hiring a midget and strapping him to a tree with the new camera and see what kinda pics he gets 
my brothers moultrie said sd card locked this past weekend when we checked it but it had taken 70+ pics of deer, all at night on a trail. working fine other than the sd lock error.
mine's been working fine.


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## kevina

I contacted the Moultrie tech yesterday about my Game Spy 200 showing SD card error. He told me that most likely my card reader was going out and it would be more cost effective to buy a new camera. I asked him if he knew where i could purchase a Scoutguard. That did not go over too well.


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## proside

kevina said:


> I contacted the Moultrie tech yesterday about my Game Spy 200 showing SD card error. He told me that most likely my card reader was going out and it would be more cost effective to buy a new camera. I asked him if he knew where i could purchase a Scoutguard. That did not go over too well.



Thats funny Kevin, I sure hope you get a new fast cam!

I am tired of looking at my missed pics from my slow cam!


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## kevina

proside said:


> Thats funny Kevin, I sure hope you get a new fast cam!
> 
> I am tired of looking at my missed pics from my slow cam!



You need to go to work!


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## BowFan

kevina said:


> I contacted the Moultrie tech yesterday about my Game Spy 200 showing SD card error. He told me that most likely my card reader was going out and it would be more cost effective to buy a new camera. I asked him if he knew where i could purchase a Scoutguard. That did not go over too well.



LOL, that was a good comeback.  They sometimes go above and beyond the warranty but I guess the GS200 is too old for that.  But it is frustrating when they fail over something so simple.  It's not like it was a lightning strike or run over.

If anyone wants to sell a (cheap...) GS200 that is doing the SD card locked error, let me know.   I'd be interested in knowing if it can be repaired with a little solder.  I suspect it could, but I never opened mine up when it failed.  They did swap it out last year (with someone else's return), but it was probably only a year or two old then.  The replacement is still working and helped me get  my buck this year.

On the plus side, the next one you buy will be better, easier to use, take better pictures and possibly be cheaper than a GS200.

I will say my dad's old GS200 lcd screen failed, unknown cause, and he replaced it with a newer 4mp Moultrie model.  After 2 or 3 weeks he is not real happy.  It _IS_ very sensitive, catches motion from everything from cardinals/doves to deer, simple to set up, takes good pics, the new design is cool - the case is separate from the internal camera, but the time stamp freezes up.  You can see the shadows move thru out the day and the timestamp may only move a couple minutes.   So you can't tell what time an event happened other than by using a shadow as a sundial.  Who knows after dark...


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## kevina

I pulled my Moultrie out yesterday and when i did the screen read "SD CARD LOCKED" but it still took a pic of me and saved it on the SD card and not the internal memory.

I put my new Scoutguard up in place of the Moultrie.


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## larpyn

kevina said:


> I pulled my Moultrie out yesterday and when i did the screen read "SD CARD LOCKED" but it still took a pic of me and saved it on the SD card and not the internal memory.
> 
> I put my new Scoutguard up in place of the Moultrie.


 
how about posting some results of the scoutguard....pics, ease of use etc etc
i may switch to them if they work ok.


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## kevina

larpyn said:


> how about posting some results of the scoutguard....pics, ease of use etc etc
> i may switch to them if they work ok.



So far it appears easy to use. It comes with a plug in remote that has a lcd screen on it, and you program your cam settings with it, and when you get to the woods you strap it to the tree and turn on and leave it. I will be checking it this coming weekend and i will let you know what I have.


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## mastr001

question i have a moultrie cam thats about 2 years old. its black i am not sure what model it is but it was about $100 and my question is i was trying to check the pictures on the camera on my computer and when i put the usb cord into the camera i have a memory card in there and it said on my camera sim card bad, but it had over 300 pictures on the card and it just erased all the pictures on the memory card. why did this happen?


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## letsgohuntin

BowFan said:


> I will say my dad's old GS200 lcd screen failed, unknown cause...



anyone know of a fix for this...are they replacable? mine has recently went out...the cam still works fine, I just can't read the screen, set the date/time etc... the cam is about 4 years old, so I haven't bothered with contacting customer service.

On rare occasions, mine will give the card locked error... but I just take it out and put it back in and that has always worked to this point.


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## kevina

letsgohuntin said:


> anyone know of a fix for this...are they replacable? mine has recently went out...the cam still works fine, I just can't read the screen, set the date/time etc... the cam is about 4 years old, so I haven't bothered with contacting customer service.
> 
> On rare occasions, mine will give the card locked error... but I just take it out and put it back in and that has always worked to this point.




change the watch battery in the cam that runs the lcd screen.


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## letsgohuntin

kevina said:


> change the watch battery in the cam that runs the lcd screen.



I thought about that, but figured that battery just ran the memory(date,time,etc)... I'll give that a shot, thanks


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## BowFan

letsgohuntin said:


> I thought about that, but figured that battery just ran the memory(date,time,etc)... I'll give that a shot, thanks



Any luck with LCD screen fix by replacing your battery?


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## whchunter

*Battery*

A battery is a battery as far as I know. It's either good/bad or weak. A battery is only a battery supply...


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## jonday

Well my Gamespy 100 started "SD Card Locked" so I pull the card out undid the battery and put the card back in hooked the battery back up and works fine no problem now.


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## Son

*Moultrie*

I have a Moultrie IR-40. Have been deleting pictures from the card with my Kodak digital. No problems yet.
Different camera I know, but thought I would throw that in.


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## larpyn

whchunter said:


> A battery is a battery as far as I know. It's either good/bad or weak. A battery is only a battery supply...


 
you are correct and a weak (internal) battery will cause wierd intmnt problems with this particular trailcam.


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