MiSTer FPGA Forum

Hi,

I've just received a new DE10-Nano board. Unfortunately, I'm a little concerned about the state of the SD card socket.

When I insert a new SD card it catches against the side of the socket that is nearest to the HDMI connector. It's a bit hard to describe, but it feels like the card is scratching against the side of the socket.

However, nothing appears to be visibly broken, and once the SD card is inserted about half-way in, it latches into place like every other SD card socket I've used.

Is this normal behaviour for the DE10-Nano's SD card socket, or should I consider returning the board while it's still new?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Presumably the DE10-Nano boots just fine? Have you tried any other micro SD cards? If so, do they all insert with this behaviour?

It's been a while since I've had to eject the micro SD but I remember it being a snug fit. It could just be that your particular micro SD has a rough edge.

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I've tried a number of different SD cards, and they all insert with the same behaviour.

I haven't actually tried booting it yet. I'm reluctant to use the board until I'm sure the SD card slot is not faulty, just in case I need to return it. However, I have no reason to believe that it won't boot as the SD card locks securely into place once it's been fully inserted.

I would load up the SD card with the default OS provided by Terasic. If it doesn't boot, you can send it back for replacement, and if it does boot fine, you can still message them about getting a replacement board. From what I've heard their customer support is good, especially if you follow their instructions for performing the initial checks.

Yesterday I had a go at booting the board with the SD card provided by Terasic. Everything worked fine, so the SD card socket appears to be OK at least for the time being, although I still have concerns about its longevity.

I now suspect the board is simply fitted with a poor quality SD card slot (which is a bit disappointing given how much the board cost). So I'm minded to keep it. I'll just have to be extra careful when inserting a new SD card.

However, I might still email Terasic to see what they have to say. Maybe this is a known problem with the board.

It is pretty well known that the sd card slot on the DE-10 nano is not the best.
And for the price!
You do know that only the FPGA chip on there cost more then the entire DE-10 nano?
As in you get a FPGA chip for cheaper then you can buy anywhere else and everything else for free.

But sure i agree that a better sd card slot would be good also some other things could be better like hdmi implementation.