Can't get on-board SD Card (DFR0664) to initialise when using the GDI connector (DFR0654).
GeNextAppLabs 2025-07-27 13:04:18 297 Views3 Replies I'm trying to use the on-board SD Card on the 2.0 IPS TFT LCD with a MicroSD display (DFR0664) with the FireBeetle 2 ESP32-UE (DFR1140) board, but can't get the SD Card to initialise.
What pin do I assign to the SD Card select SD-CS in my Arduino sketch when using the GDI connector on the FireBeetle 2 ESP32-UE (DFR1140) board?
And is this the same pin I should use for the FireBeetle 2 ESP32-E (DFR0654)?
It is strange that RFRobot has no example-code for his modul.
I found out that it is woking with D5, but you have to disconnect the USB-cable after uploading the script. The cable can then reconnect (for power supply), then it works.
The reason for the problem: D5 is used from the SD-Card as chip select but also from USB. After using the USB the D5 is in a unsupported state and cannot be used for SD-card.
I cann't find a solution without disconnet and reconnect the USB-cable. But this workaround works fine on my Firebeetle ESP32-E. Only sometimes it helped to use another frequence for the SPI:
SD.begin(SD_CS, SPI, 8000000)
Renato.Pi Awesome thanks @Renato.Pi for your very helpful responses. I'm currently using the ESP32-UE and D5 doesn't work for me. I had a look at the schematic and Pin 9 on connector P2 (GDI connector) is SDCS and goes to IO13/D7 so I tried D7 and this works well. It appears that the Product Wiki for the ESP32-E is incorrect. D7 can also be used for the ESP32-E MCU. Only issue is, when I press the on-board Reset button the SD Card refuses to initialise, so I unplug the USB cable instead and plug it back in and this fixed the issue. Similar to your workaround. Forgot to mention I'm also using the LCD at the same time.
According to this page, it should be pin 0 (= D5): https://wiki.dfrobot.com/FireBeetle_Board_ESP32_E_SKU_DFR0654#9.9%20GDI
But even with this correct pin, I could not access to the SD-card, too. (with FireBeetle 2 ESP32-E (DFR0654))
Renato.Pi 