FIX: A Windows CE 5.0-based device cannot identify an SD card or the TFAT file system on a Windows CE 5.0-based device may be corrupted when the power supply is turned off suddenly

In Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 5.0, you may experience one or more the following problems.

Problem 1

When you insert a manufacturer-formatted Secure Digital (SD) card into a Windows CE 5.0-based device, the device cannot identify the SD card. This problem may occur when some storage devices use the FAT32 file system. For example, the storage devices may include the SD card, the multimedia card, or the RAM disk.

Note This problem does not occur on Windows Embedded CE 6.0-based devices.

Problem 2

Consider the following scenario. You use the transaction-safe FAT (TFAT) file system on a Windows CE 5.0 based-device. The device uses NAND flash storage that has a sector size of 2 KB. You run an application that quickly writes in a file in a subfolder of the mounted NAND flash storage volume. The power supply is turned off suddenly. In this scenario, the file system may be corrupted, and the application cannot access the subfolder.

Cause 1

This problem occurs because the FAT32 file system driver checks the File System Information (FSINFO) structure of a storage device when the driver mounts the device. However, the FSINFO structure is optional. Therefore, some devices that do not have the structure cannot be mounted.

Cause 2

This problem occurs because the sector size for a comparison of FAT tables is hard-coded to 512 bytes, regardless of the actual size when the TFAT file system is initialized. Therefore, the file system may be corrupted when the actual sector size is 2K.

Software update information

A supported software update is now available from Microsoft as Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Monthly Update (July 2008). You can confirm this by scrolling to the "File information" section of this article. The package file name contains the product version, date, Knowledge Base article number, and processor type. The package file name format is:For example: Wincepb50-060503-kb917590-armv4i.msi is the ARMV4i Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder fix that is documented in KB article 917590 and that is contained in the May 2006 monthly update. To resolve this problem immediately, click the following article number for information about obtaining Windows CE Platform Builder and core operating system software updates:

Prerequisites

This update is supported only if all previously issued updates for this product have also been installed.

Restart requirement

After you apply this software update, you must perform a clean build of the whole platform. To do this, use one of the following methods:

• On the Build menu, click Clean, and then click Build Platform
• On the Build menu, click Rebuild Platform.

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this software update.

Update replacement information

This software update does not replace a previously released software update.

File information

The English version of this software update package has the file attributes or the later file attributes that are listed in the following table. The English version of this software update package has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For more information about the TFAT file system, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site: For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: