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The microSD card in each EST unit contains the operating system that runs the device, similar to a desktop computer. In our efforts to make Athena an affordable EST system, we choose to use SD cards as the "hard drive", drastically cutting down on the expense. The downside to this however is over time, the SD card will wear out and need to be replaced. A typical lifetime for an SD card is 3 to 5 years. The MicroSD cards in each Athena device are found in a different location. Refer to the sections under this topic on the left for instructions on how to replace the card on each device.
Diagnosing
If after turning the power on for an EST Unit, and it seems unresponsive, the following are clues the SD card has gone bad.
•Targets, Monitors, and Displays: Inside of Orion, and after a normal boot up time of 1 to 2 minutes, on the Range Control tab, the EST Unit may have a status of "Disconnected", "Unknown", or "Not Sync". Note, this status is not always indicative of a bad SD card.
•DoW100 Athlete Monitor and MM100 Spectator Display: The screen on the Monitor or Display is just blank.
•MM200 Range TImer: Never see the "Scopos" logo, which normally comes on about a minute after booting.
•NC100 or NC200 Target: The Red X and Green O lights never come on, and the frame lights never come on, which normally happens about 1 or 1.5 minutes after booting. You will also not be able to control the target, such as sending practice mode or a match. Note: even with a corrupt SD card, the target's frame lights may come on.
Confirming a Corrupted SD Card
To confirm an SD card had gone bad, you must also look at the activity lights on the CPU board. With a healthy SD card, the power light is red and will turn on when power is applied. The activity light is green and will flash repeatedly immediately after boot, and then randomly during normal operations. If, immediately after turning on power, the activity light does not flash but the power light comes on, then you have a bad SD card.
Pictures with the locations of these lights and locations of the SD card are in the topics for individual devices to the left.
Remember that when replacing the MicroSD Card in your Athena devices, you must afterward run the Take Ownership process on the device to tie it back into your range.