Very odd problem here. And one app maker very helpfully pinpointed the primary problem. But, I cannot figure out how to correct it and am looking for any suggestions.

I installed an 8 Gig SDHC micro chip in my 3 week old G1, replacing a 1 Gig SD micro card. I copied all data from the SD card to my PC hard drive (including ebook, several videos, 2 pix taken by the G1 camera and 50 MP3 audio files).

Once the new chip was installed, I mounted the phone via USB to my PC and it saw the new chip beautifully. (Ergo, it was formatted FAT32.) I began moving all files back and the process froze after about 30 seconds. No button pushing of any kind, no removal of the USB cable (unmounting) would unfreeze the G1 (although the PC would become unfrozen after disconnect.) Furthermore, the G1 was VERY slow to perform simple screen tasks. A past beta tester and frequent Windows crasher, I recognized that the G1 was locked in a default loop of some kind.

On a whim, I physically popped the SDHC chip out (no, I did not unmount it first. Who knew, till much later on?) and the phone immediately returned to normal operation. Something was causing the phone to freeze after 30 seconds of download to the new SDHC chip.

And, in fact, this happened repeatedly.

I did find that the most expeditious way to copy all remaining material over to the new SDHC chip was to keep the USB mounted to the PC, but physically pop the SDHC card every time it froze (after 30 seconds of download). This worked and all material was moved to the new chip, in about seven freeze/remove/reinstall chip exercises.

Once completed, I disconnected the USB cable (again, not unmounting it) and began checking the apps for functionality.

The MP3 player found all MP3s and played a random test fine. So did the video player. Same was true for ebook reader and Weatherbug, Where and AK Notepad apps.

I tried the Camera app and it immediately told me to "install an SD card before trying to use." The Video Camera app started up fine, never recorded and never saved. I downloaded SnapPhoto and found it too could not find the SDHC card. I tried my audio recorder and the program froze. Ringdroid also worked, but could not save to the SDHC card.

It was later determined, and you may have guessed, that the apps that "read only" worked fine. (Except, why the AK Notepad wrote and saved is beyond me.) But all my apps that required "RW" were failing, freezing or simply not working properly.

At the recommendation of one app writer, a tremendous help I must say, I downloaded a terminal app and looked at the command mount lines. Indeed, the chip was defaulting to "RO" and I have no idea why.

At his recommendation, I moved all material off the chip and reformatted it FAT32. Once done, with no problems, I tested the camera app and it worked fine, allowing me to take two pictures and save them. I carefully moved all saved data back a second time (except the DCIM data, as the app had created a new file) - again with the same 30 second download freeze and chip removal while mounted on the USB line to my PC.

When finished, I properly unmounted the SDHC card and unmounted the USB connection (yes, I figured this out) then reinstalled the chip and immediately shut off the G1 to reboot the system.

I tested all the apps that had previously worked and they continued to operate properly, including the write and save feature of the AK Notebook app.

I went to Ringdroid and sure enough, it worked fine, allowing me to save the ringtone and assign it for use. Yippee! I tested the audio recorder and it too worked fine, recording and saving a sample. It looked like the "RW" feature on the chip was corrected after formatting.

I tried the camera again and got one shot, saved it and then the app said "must install SD card before using." Huh? It just saved a pix! How could it save one pix and then not know where the SDHC micro card was?

I tried the SnapPhoto and it immediately said: "must install SD card before using." I tried the Video Recorder app and it still didn't record or save.

So I uninstalled SnapPhoto and Video Recorder, then reinstalled them and shut off the G1 to allow the system to reboot.

I went straight to SnapPhoto, took one shot and then the program hung. (And when Android hangs up, it's no fun, nothing seems to "force close" except pulling the battery.) I did this and started the G1 up again. I went straight to the Video Recorder and tested it. It started, it recorded and ticked off 11 seconds before freezing. The app froze, I couldn't save, and again I could only reboot by pulling the battery.

Upon start-up, I went to the camera app, shot and saved one pix before it said: "must install SD card before using." Then this app also froze and again, I had to pull the battery to restart the phone.

And this is where I am at. All other apps appear to work fine. I can write and record with them all. But the Camera, the SnapPhoto and Video Recorder apps all find, then lose the SDHC chip, freezing up the system.

I am at a loss to know what to do next or guess what the problem could be. It occurs to me the chip may be malfunctioning, but it does seem to work perfectly fine for all but the visual capture apps. These three visual capture and save programs seem to NOT like my chip.

I would love to hear any suggestions on what to do next.

I did just check the "command mount" and everything says "RW" except the opening line: "rootfs / rootfs ro 0 0"

Here is the only place the "read only" command still exists. Is there any way to change this line?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.