When I put the memory card in, it says Memory Error. How do I fix this?

This problem is so common that there's a whole blog about it here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Canon_Powershot_Memory_Card_Error_Fix


It seems that the camera gives this error when it has problems reading/writing the card. The fixes they suggest there are to do with cleaning the contacts. It's pretty easy to clean the contacts on the memory card, but much harder to clean the camera. I don't suggest following the instruction to spray cleaner into the slot... that sounds like a recipe for getting it all over the inside of the camera!


I would start by cleaning the memory card's contacts. You can either use a solvent such as Methyl Hydrate (US) (= Methylated Spirit (UK)) and a kitchen towel, or you can actually rub the contacts clean with an eraser (US) (= rubber (UK)). It's probably worth looking inside the camera too, to see if any of the contacts are obviously bent in the card slot. I've seen that in a Nintendo DS which is similar. If a contact is bent, nothing's going to work unless you can get it back in place.