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SD card stuck in GTN650

jahoosafat

Active Member
Does anyone know how to remove an SD card that's stuck in the slot of a GTN650? I can slightly push it in, but it doesn't spring release as it should. I've tried a variety of different methods, including pushing it in farther than normal with a screwdriver as well as using a pair of needle nose pliers to try to gently wiggle and pull it out. It feels locked into place (as it should be when inserted for use). I'm nervous to yank the card out in case that would break the spring/lock mechanism. Obviously, I don't really care about the card itself, but I don't want to kill the GTN. And yes, I tried to call Garmin: 30 mins on hold only to get transfered to their engineering dept, which I eventually hung up on after waiting another 30 mins on hold. Any tips are appreciated!

Jeff
 
Can’t tell you how to get it out. It happened to me and I took it to an avionics shop. They removed it somehow, but the card holder was ruined and had to be replaced. Several hundred dollars later I decided to go with the $1500.00 Flightstream card that never has to be removed. Being a pilot, I rationalized that expense because it’s not unusual for that little card reader to break and 800 bucks a whack to repair it won’t happen again.
Added benefit, it works like a champ with Foreflight and database updates.
 
I had a similar experience with the micro SD card in an Aspen MFD. There are 2 states to the mechanism: latched when it's held in by the mechanism and unlatched when it should be slightly pushed out by a weak spring. When mine did not come out on it's own, I could gently pull it out when the mechanism was in the unlatched state but not in the latched state. I.E. if you can't gently pull it out, then push it in again to try and get the mechanism to go to the unlatched state and then attempt to pull it out again. After a few cycles of this, I managed to get it out.
 
Can’t tell you how to get it out. It happened to me and I took it to an avionics shop. They removed it somehow, but the card holder was ruined and had to be replaced. Several hundred dollars later I decided to go with the $1500.00 Flightstream card that never has to be removed. Being a pilot, I rationalized that expense because it’s not unusual for that little card reader to break and 800 bucks a whack to repair it won’t happen again.
Added benefit, it works like a champ with Foreflight and database updates.

Possibly a good suggestion. One question: I thought the Flightstream card only worked with Garmin Pilot and not Foreflight??
 
I've always used Sandisc standard or ultra 16 or 32G with no issues.
Be very careful removing/installing, use a very gentle touch, if it doesn't slip in easy stop, somethings wrong.
And do not add any stickers or labels on the card, anything that increase the thickness can cause issues.
 
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Good Luck

Too bad since it is a $3 part. I have searched high and low and not found a good illustration of the push-in push-eject mechanism for the SD card.

Removal for bench handling might be in order to use gravity in different directions to aid in changing the release function. As a first try before probing ??

If it is moving smoothly against the ejection spring, but not releasing, I might use a .004 or .005" steel feeler gauge to go along the latch side to see if it could be released. Attempting the non-contact side would be a first shot, and depth limited of course. Also OFF electrically for sure. The latch notch is on the side with the chamfer.

There was a YT video on a Canon camera where a foreign object prevented the insertion far enough to allow the latch. I wonder if something is there that is preventing the same to unlatch? Again - bench ? fist bump to side?

Brute force will certainly produce a costly result although not likely to change the amount. If there is no warranty, I tend to take things apart. YMMV
 
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In addition to Stein, you can also call Garmin avionics support - they are usually pretty helpful. 888-739-5687

Mine have gotten stuck also. The card can still be pushed in gently a bit against the feel of a bit of spring. Push it in that bit and let it snap/release from that spring resistance and that for me has gotten it to release from the latch position. I've pushed it with a fingernail or flat blade screw driver and slid off to the side so the card snaps back, and typically then comes out.
 
I had a similar problem and with the card in the unlatched position I could catch the slightly raised edge on the end of the card and pull it out with an angled dental pick
 
I solved the same issue by pulling the unit from the panel, push the card in as would normally do to get it to come out, hold it facing downward, gently tapping the unit near the card. It came out sufficiently that I was able to retract the card with some long, thin tweezers.

I then blew the unit out with canned air and was impressed with the amount “dust” that blew out, being collected over the years.

“Easy as she goes” is applicable.
 
I pm'd Jerry this question, but I'll also post it here just in case others have experience:

Hi Jerry - I took your advice and bought a Flight Stream 510. I need to get a dealer to update the firmware, but so far it looks pretty helpful. One question: do you have to pay for a Garmin Pilot subscription in order to have access to essential features (e.g., wireless database updating and flt pln transfer)? I see how the latter should be able to be done fully through Foreflight, but the former seems to require opening/using the Garmin Pilot app. I'm a Foreflight user and don't really want to pay for both that and the Garmin app. Thanks for any info and thanks for your initial suggestion!
 
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