My dealer is closing her doors next week (retiring) and she's 60 miles away with very limited hours between now & then. Compact Flash card when inserted into machine gives me this message: ATA PC card Memory error  / Fat error in card  / Do you want to format?
Have reformatted it on the machine and on my computer too many times to count. Here's where it gets funny: If there are designs on the card I get this error. If no designs on card, the folders show up on the machine. I would like to use my 10000 for embroidery being that the 550e does not have a 4x4 hoop and to continue to be able to help a friend out when she needs designs added onto her ATA card. I miss my Windows XP and Customizer. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
mahjongg

It's very doubtful that your dealer could help with this. What's happened is that your ATA card is worn out. The process that records data in the card is chemical, and each memory cell is good for around 100,000 write operations. They shift the data around so that the wear is spread out over the whole card, but at some point one or more cells will no longer be writeable. At that point the data the machine reads from the card may be scrambled and you'll get this error.

There is one other problem that can cause this error, and at this point it's likely fatal. If the ATA card is plugged in and is slightly out of alignment, it can bend over one of the pins that plugs into the card for reading the data. If this is the case you will get the error on every single card you have. To check for that, remove the card and shine the strongest light you have into the opening. If you see one or more tiny gold lines at the bottom of the socket, those are bent pins. The only fix is replacement of the entire motherboard, which at this point may no longer be available. Fingers crossed you just have a bad card!

All pins on ATA card and inside machine looked straight. ATA card was rarely used. I bought the 10000 around 2002 and Customizer shortly thereafter and had used the direct connection untiI I was forced to go to Windows 10.  I could try testing  my ATA adapter & Flash card on her machine. Any ideas what may be defective?

thanks,
mahjongg

The pins in the socket are so small you can't tell if they are straight or not. If you see a line, it's due to a pin folded over. But if a pin gets broken off completely, there is no fix except a new board. If the ATA card and adapter combo works on another machine, then you have your sad, but inevitable answer. If it works on another machine you can try a different card/adapter combo on your machine. If that also results in error there's nothing more to be tested, only repaired if possible.

Mahjongg-

If you have Windows 10, and the Customizer 10K+ disk - you can upload the software and it will function better than it did on XP.  When I had XP, the program did not work correctly so I had to download the 11K version from the Janome website to be able to use the program.  It did not recognize any of the ".sew" designs I had that my MC10001 would let me stitch out previously.  

When I installed the program onto the laptop with Windows 10...  It was just like the program was supposed to run.  I could use ".sew" or ".jef" designs and put them onto ATA cards to stitch them out.  I've had to purchase a new laptop last week and could not get one locally with Windows 10 on it, so now I've got Windows 11.  I'm still learning my way around this new operating system so have not installed Customizer to see what it will do or not do.  I'll cross my fingers when I do install the program and hopefully it will still work the same as it originally did and continue like on Windows 10.

Sounds like your card might need to be replaced so you can transfer designs.  I'd try a new one and make sure the ATA card is max 512mb memory.  Most of the time I purchase 4-8mb cards online from ebay and so there are always new ones that I can use if one wears out. 

And while I love my MC10001 machine!  I've also purchased a newer TOL model in a different brand due to all the great features the machine offers that Janome does not have at this point, and I won't be able to ever purchase another machine unless I win the lottery....  Someone told me in order to win you have to play!  LOLOLOL  (I don't play!)

I'm sure your friend likes having you to help her with embroidery!!!  Good luck!

Tracy in Nashville, TN

Martha Pullen Licensed Educator

Thanks, I'm thinking about giving it a try. Now if I can just figure out why editor will not  transfer designs directly to the 550e.