Bought a new memory card for my nikon coolpix 3100 card wont work

A 4GB CompactFlash card should work in your Nikon Coolpix, but you may only be able to use 2GB of it's space once formatted correctly. This camera formats the cards in the FAT file system. That basically means that one can only use up to 2GB of memory (2048 MB).

Check out this site for instructions:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/222-newly-formatted-4gb-compact-flash-card-out-of-memory-digital-camera/

I’m happy to help further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/jeremy_69f3cc28d95bf514

If there are any pics in the internal memory, you need to get rid of them. With no card in the camera, download any you want to save and then go into the menu and find "format"...follow the instructions to erase the internal memory. Then, insert the new card and do the "format" thing again.

Hello to anyone with a Nikon D1X.
This model will not operate with a compact flash card bigger than 2 GB
according to Nikon UK.

The Nikon Coolpix 4300 only supports the FAT16 filesystem, so it can only support a 2GB partition. To support 4GB you need a FAT32 filesystem.
Put the card in a CF writer and attached to a PC or Mac. Partition 2x2GB partitions, then format them as FAT16. Now put it into the Coolpix 4300 and it should work.

4GB requires FAT32. Camera firmware only supports FAT16. 4GB won't work because FAT16 has a 2GB maximum size limitation. 1GB CF card is Nikon's "approved" maximum for this camera.

Catch: 22 1GB -and lesser capacity- CF cards are no longer manufacturered or generally available in 2010. When the current CF card dies, the still working camera also becomes throwaway unless you can source a CF card 1GB or under. 2GB may work, but with 'issues' per caution below.

CAUTION: Anecdotal evidence suggests the final release -& current- firmware for cameras of this generation is also encumbered by with a maximum picture number limitation of 999, realistic at the time of original manufacture when 256MB was a the largest capacity CF card but completely nonsensical now.

Summary: This is my first NIkon Digital camera and also my last.

Apart from the noteriety of the ubiquitous broken Nikon plastic battery latch, a major design flaw Nikon refuse to acknowledge or accept liability to rectify -since self-repaired better than OEM, Nikon policy on firmware support is complete abandonment of product within an unacceptably short service window. ie: a deliberate poilicy of enforced obsolescence.

Suggested Problem Remedy: Do buy a new camera supporting SD Cards of current capacities. Don't buy anything branded Nikon.

on the left side or the right side you will see a small slider. that's the lock.
http://www.purelygadgets.co.uk/images/user/products/sandisk_4gb_sdhc.jpg

the pick shows where the lock is

You can put max 1GB cf card.

Go to http://timescience.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/how-to-downsize-a-4gb-compact-flash-card-to-2gb/. That will make the card 2gb and it worked like a charm on my Nikon 4300 coolpix. It will hold 1059 pictures on the fine setting, 2083 on normal, and 4167 on basic. Hopefully this helps, I looked on the computer for hours until I found this.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that you have never tried a 4GB card in this camera before.

After looking at the manual, this camera, a 2001 product, would seem to be from a time when 1GB cards were still off in the future, and 4GB cards were not even conceivable.

So that you know, the manual refers to a 160MB card as the highest option available at the time, but I have to think that 64MB was considered a large card back then.

The link for the manual is: http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/coolpix/CP775man.pdf

The page I'm referring to is page 154 (which is actually page 168 of the pdf document).

I suggest you contact Nikon and ask for an update to the compatible flash cards for this camera and find a 256MB or 512MB that someone has lying around.

Perhaps it didn't complete formatting. This happened to my mom and I tried her card in my camera and it wouldn't work there either. We had to replace. You might take it back since you just bought it. That way, you will know if it's the card or the camera.