Setting up SD card printing

Hello everyone, I just purchased the reprapdiscount smart controller and am having some trouble getting the SD card to work. I can control the printer completely from the LCD screen and encoder, and when I insert an SD card it will say "Card inserted," but the menu says card empty if I try to find any files I have saved. I formatted the card to MS-DOS(FAT) using disk utility on a Mac. Is there a certain folder I need to put files in, or a certain way I need to name them?

If I try to send M20 or M21 I get these responses

SENDING:M20
Begin file list
End file list
>>>m21
SENDING:M21
Error:volume.init failed

I'm running the newest version of Marlin on a RAMPS 1.4 board. I altered the Marlin code according to the reprapdiscount page

Thanks in advanced for the help!

Assuming everything is configured correctly, you most likely have an unsupported SD card.
It requires an SD card that supports spi interface and not all do, I've had good luck with sandisk cards under 4GB.

An sd card was provided with the board from the seller that supports api interface. I have a 4 gb sandisk sd card

Then I'd check your changes to pins.h, it's the easiest thing to mess up.

What should I be looking for exactly? I really don't know what is going on in pins.h

this is the code I have from the arduino mega section of pins.h


/****************************************************************************************
* Arduino Mega pin assignment
*
****************************************************************************************/
#if MOTHERBOARD == 3 || MOTHERBOARD == 33 || MOTHERBOARD == 34
#define KNOWN_BOARD 1

//////////////////FIX THIS//////////////
#ifndef __AVR_ATmega1280__
#ifndef __AVR_ATmega2560__
#error Oops! Make sure you have 'Arduino Mega' selected from the 'Tools -> Boards' menu.
#endif
#endif

// uncomment one of the following lines for RAMPS v1.3 or v1.0, comment both for v1.2 or 1.1
#define RAMPS_V_1_3
// #define RAMPS_V_1_0

#if MOTHERBOARD == 33 || MOTHERBOARD == 34

#define X_STEP_PIN 54
#define X_DIR_PIN 55
#define X_ENABLE_PIN 38
#define X_MIN_PIN 3
#define X_MAX_PIN 2

#define Y_STEP_PIN 60
#define Y_DIR_PIN 61
#define Y_ENABLE_PIN 56
#define Y_MIN_PIN 14
#define Y_MAX_PIN 15

#define Z_STEP_PIN 46
#define Z_DIR_PIN 48
#define Z_ENABLE_PIN 62
#define Z_MIN_PIN 18
#define Z_MAX_PIN 19

#define Z2_STEP_PIN 36
#define Z2_DIR_PIN 34
#define Z2_ENABLE_PIN 30

#define E0_STEP_PIN 26
#define E0_DIR_PIN 28
#define E0_ENABLE_PIN 24

#define E1_STEP_PIN 36
#define E1_DIR_PIN 34
#define E1_ENABLE_PIN 30

#define SDPOWER -1
#define SDSS 53
#define LED_PIN 13

#if MOTHERBOARD == 33
#define FAN_PIN 9 // (Sprinter config)
#else
#define FAN_PIN 4 // IO pin. Buffer needed
#endif
#define PS_ON_PIN 12

#ifdef REPRAP_DISCOUNT_SMART_CONTROLLER
#define KILL_PIN 41
#else
#define KILL_PIN -1
#endif

#define HEATER_0_PIN 10 // EXTRUDER 1
#if MOTHERBOARD == 33
#define HEATER_1_PIN -1
#else
#define HEATER_1_PIN 9 // EXTRUDER 2 (FAN On Sprinter)
#endif
#define HEATER_2_PIN -1
#define TEMP_0_PIN 13 // ANALOG NUMBERING
#define TEMP_1_PIN 15 // ANALOG NUMBERING
#define TEMP_2_PIN -1 // ANALOG NUMBERING
#define HEATER_BED_PIN 8 // BED
#define TEMP_BED_PIN 14 // ANALOG NUMBERING

#ifdef ULTRA_LCD

#ifdef NEWPANEL
//encoder rotation values
#define encrot0 0
#define encrot1 2
#define encrot2 3
#define encrot3 1

#define BLEN_A 0
#define BLEN_B 1
#define BLEN_C 2

#define LCD_PINS_RS 16
#define LCD_PINS_ENABLE 17
#define LCD_PINS_D4 23
#define LCD_PINS_D5 25
#define LCD_PINS_D6 27
#define LCD_PINS_D7 29

#ifdef REPRAP_DISCOUNT_SMART_CONTROLLER
#define BEEPER 37

#define BTN_EN1 31
#define BTN_EN2 33
#define BTN_ENC 35

#define SDCARDDETECT 49
#else
//arduino pin which triggers an piezzo beeper
#define BEEPER 33 // Beeper on AUX-4

//buttons are directly attached using AUX-2
#define BTN_EN1 37
#define BTN_EN2 35
#define BTN_ENC 31 //the click

#define SDCARDDETECT -1 // Ramps does not use this port
#endif

#else //old style panel with shift register
//arduino pin witch triggers an piezzo beeper
#define BEEPER 33 No Beeper added

//buttons are attached to a shift register
// Not wired this yet
//#define SHIFT_CLK 38
//#define SHIFT_LD 42
//#define SHIFT_OUT 40
//#define SHIFT_EN 17

#define LCD_PINS_RS 16
#define LCD_PINS_ENABLE 17
#define LCD_PINS_D4 23
#define LCD_PINS_D5 25
#define LCD_PINS_D6 27
#define LCD_PINS_D7 29

//encoder rotation values
#define encrot0 0
#define encrot1 2
#define encrot2 3
#define encrot3 1


//bits in the shift register that carry the buttons for:
// left up center down right red
#define BL_LE 7
#define BL_UP 6
#define BL_MI 5
#define BL_DW 4
#define BL_RI 3
#define BL_ST 2

#define BLEN_B 1
#define BLEN_A 0
#endif
#endif //ULTRA_LCD

#else // RAMPS_V_1_1 or RAMPS_V_1_2 as default (MOTHERBOARD == 3)

#define X_STEP_PIN 26
#define X_DIR_PIN 28
#define X_ENABLE_PIN 24
#define X_MIN_PIN 3
#define X_MAX_PIN -1 //2

#define Y_STEP_PIN 38
#define Y_DIR_PIN 40
#define Y_ENABLE_PIN 36
#define Y_MIN_PIN 16
#define Y_MAX_PIN -1 //17

#define Z_STEP_PIN 44
#define Z_DIR_PIN 46
#define Z_ENABLE_PIN 42
#define Z_MIN_PIN 18
#define Z_MAX_PIN -1 //19

#define E0_STEP_PIN 32
#define E0_DIR_PIN 34
#define E0_ENABLE_PIN 30

#define SDPOWER 48
#define SDSS 53
#define LED_PIN 13
#define PS_ON_PIN -1
#define KILL_PIN -1

#ifdef RAMPS_V_1_0 // RAMPS_V_1_0
#define HEATER_0_PIN 12 // RAMPS 1.0
#define HEATER_BED_PIN -1 // RAMPS 1.0
#define FAN_PIN 11 // RAMPS 1.0
#else // RAMPS_V_1_1 or RAMPS_V_1_2
#define HEATER_0_PIN 10 // RAMPS 1.1
#define HEATER_BED_PIN 8 // RAMPS 1.1
#define FAN_PIN 9 // RAMPS 1.1
#endif
#define HEATER_1_PIN -1
#define HEATER_2_PIN -1
#define TEMP_0_PIN 2 // MUST USE ANALOG INPUT NUMBERING NOT DIGITAL OUTPUT NUMBERING!!!!!!!!!
#define TEMP_1_PIN -1
#define TEMP_2_PIN -1
#define TEMP_BED_PIN 1 // MUST USE ANALOG INPUT NUMBERING NOT DIGITAL OUTPUT NUMBERING!!!!!!!!!
#endif// MOTHERBOARD == 33 || MOTHERBOARD == 34

// SPI for Max6675 Thermocouple

#ifndef SDSUPPORT
// these pins are defined in the SD library if building with SD support
#define MAX_SCK_PIN 52
#define MAX_MISO_PIN 50
#define MAX_MOSI_PIN 51
#define MAX6675_SS 53
#else
#define MAX6675_SS 49
#endif

#endif//MOTHERBOARD == 3 || MOTHERBOARD == 33 || MOTHERBOARD == 34

For anyone out there with the same issues as me, I finally figured out my problem. I had been using 1 meter cables to connect my LCD to the RAMPS board, which made it easy for my steppers and other electronics to interfere with the SD card reader. I traded the long cables for some 30 cm cables and now everything works perfectly