Thank you to all that responded to my query, as well as some follow-up
discussions. I downloaded the free Card Wipe program and gave it a try. The
card came up with errors, but after CW at least my camera did not lock up
when the card was inserted. Now it just reports a bad card and will not
format it. My neighbor's camera does not recognize the card at all. In my
case, I guess the card has been toasted. Fortunately, it is an old 4MB card
of little value. However, this should be a warning to others that the flash
memory cards should NOT be formatted using the standard OS format utility of
the computer! I still don't understand why the USB drivers for the cards are
designed so that a card could be damaged, but this would not be the first
time dangerous conditions have been allowed to occur.
 
Peter
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The NoSpin Group
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