problem with hp48gx

If I recall those cards had a battery in it may be going bad. I may be wrong

Also probably time to get a new card .

> If I recall those cards had a battery in it may be going bad.

I think that is right. Battery in the memory card.

FWIW, HP48's are great, but the best time to replace it will be before you have too.

If I remember it was the first generation (48sx), the black one that took the cards with the batteries. The GX (the gray one) did not. I remember this happening to me before but do not remember if it was the card or the port, but I am wanting to say it was the port. If you have a different 48 try it in there. If you dont, I would say maybe its time for an upgrade and would recommend a Ranger running TDS.

> I have an hp48gx with the survey package and 512k memory card. Lately it will not allow me to enter the program unless I agree to erase all data in port 2. I have lost all my files and when I create a new file it is not stored in the library. I also get an invalid card data message. My instinct tells me the memory card is malfunctioning. Any suggestions?
> Thanks
> Jim

my current SMI 512k memory card has a battery replacement slot and takes a small, flat watch type battery. As I remember, this is my 2nd 512k card. The first one, which was probably a first or second generation one (1995±), did not have a replaceable battery, and thus had to be tossed. If your card has no battery slot, it's probably a gonner. I think they had a 10 year life, and I'm thinking you probably got more out of it than that.

Time to upgrade.... Step into the 21 century brother Surveyor!!

Carl

Roadie, sorry to disagree, but the GX cards took the flat batteries about the size of a quarter and half as thick.

Changing is a bitch if you don't want to lose data, so you have to keep the calc on while changing it to keep it powered, less you lose data.

I did try your suggestion and set the cards up in another HP48 and it appears to have solved the problem. Thanks for the help Roadhand. I was reminded by many others that I am still working in the last century but HP's have served me so well for 35 years. They are hard to give up.
Jim

"Time to upgrade..."

There are new 41CX's still available!

If it works well for you and you are competitive, don't fall for the salesman type of hype and replace a good working HP with a new something. A lot of sales are made by convincing buyers that they are out of date and must upgrade to their newest and greatest product. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
jud

Who can afford to upgrade, they will have to pry my HP48 out of my cold dead hands...;-)

Had something very similar happen with my 48gx/TDS Survey Pro/512k setup. The 512 was not one that took a battery and I replaced the card with a new one. The problem turned out to be the TDS card. TDS told me that there was no fixing it, but they didn't really try. they probably just wanted to sell me a new Recon or Ranger.

I hope yours can be fixed with a battery for the memory card or with a new memory card. I really liked TDS on the 48 platform. It did just about everything I needed it to, was easy to use and easy to teach.

> I really liked TDS on the 48 platform. It did just about everything I needed it to, was easy to use and easy to teach.

I did too, but man you should see it run on a Ranger.I think the genius there is TDS, not the DC. It can EASILY do anything that you want (except go get the TP out of the truck), just like when it was on the 48 platform.

I cuss Trimble everyday for killing it.

> ... the GX cards took the flat batteries about the size of a quarter and half as thick.

Reaching back to a very old part of my brain ... reaching .....reaching.....Didn't the ROM (program) cards for the SX require batteries, while those for the GX did not? But the RAM (storage) cards for both needed batteries??

> > I really liked TDS on the 48 platform. It did just about everything I needed it to, was easy to use and easy to teach.
>
>
>
> I did too, but man you should see it run on a Ranger.I think the genius there is TDS, not the DC. It can EASILY do anything that you want (except go get the TP out of the truck), just like when it was on the 48 platform.
>
> I cuss Trimble everyday for killing it.

I used TDS on an early model Ranger, and you're right, it added some really useful functionality, particularly for construction applications. But the problems with the screen going black (much worse than on the 48) and other techno-hiccups made me want to go back to the 48 full time quite often.

When I had my own practice, I went back to my 48 with TDS. Since the only construction I was doing was a couple of very small professional offices on sites of 1/2 acre or less, I didn't miss the alignment and template functions.

The TDS card corrupted and died about a year into that venture and I went with MicroSurvey Field Genius on the Explorer 600. Nice machine and good software, but it does a lot more than I needed it for.

Glad you got your HP48 back on track

You must have the HP program and HP data card

I have enough of them to supply my kids and grandkids and maybe some of theirs with calculators for years to come.

Still use HP48 and SMI everyday.

The early cards were usually 256K to 512K and battery powered to be able to retain data outside the 48 to have a library of jobs in the truck

Later the cards stored more data and were powered by the 48 and some were capable of retaining data without power

The largest card data storage size I've seen is 2mb. I think that is 80,000+ x,y,z,description

All the data and program cards I have work, never had any to fail.

Lost data before thinking without reading instructions.

Using them properly is detailed in the handbooks. Be sure to refer to the original HP handbook on things to do with the HP48 cause the software program guides expect you to already know how that works and doesn't go into detail on the calculator and accessories.

😉