Reply To: Issues with SparkFun MP3 Shield and Arduino UNO R3

[Michael P. Flaga]

Not enough to blame the shield. All you can say is the SdCard is not initializing.

I often get the same errors and strangely I find a solution is to swap cards between my laptop and exercise them and then swap them back. There must be some form of latch up, that is drained. Where I do think my MP3 shield is getting old and its connector is severely past its cycle life, several times a day for the past six months. May want to inspect the inside and ensure there is no debris.

I will put on my ToDo list an Example to test the MP3 aside from the SdCard. But won’t get to that shortly. but an alternative is to change the following lines to the below. Commenting out the ErrorHalt.

//Initialize the SdCard.

if(!sd.begin(SD_SEL, SPI_HALF_SPEED)); //sd.initErrorHalt();

if(!sd.chdir(“/”));// sd.errorHalt(“sd.chdir”);

Allowing the script to continue. There will be some warnings. but you should be able then run the “t” command to test the sinewave output. Indicating the MP3 chip itself is good.

Also you do not want any other cards or things using the SPI bus that are not disabled. Using an Ethernet Shield connected but not having its CS pin disabled will cause this symptom.