No Chart Cartridge
Raymarine Chartplotter
Severity: ModerateWhat it means
Raymarine 'No Chart Cartridge' (also seen as 'Cartography not found' or 'No charts available') means the plotter falls back to its built-in base map because it can't read a detailed chart card.
Either the microSD card isn't seated properly, it's formatted in a way the plotter doesn't recognise, or the card itself has corrupted.
It's almost always the card or the slot, not the plotter.
Affected Models
- Raymarine Axiom / Axiom Pro / Axiom XL (microSD)
- Raymarine Axiom 2 / Axiom 2 Pro
- Raymarine eS Series and gS Series
- Raymarine a Series with the side card door
Common Causes
- Card not pushed fully home — the spring-loaded slot needs a firm click
- Card door cap not closed (some Axiom Pro models won't read the card with the watertight cap off)
- Chart card from a different region or an expired LightHouse Charts subscription
- Card formatted as exFAT or NTFS — Raymarine wants FAT32 for chart cards it writes to
- Corrupted card after a power cut while it was being written to
- Worn or dirty card slot contacts
How to Fix It
-
Reseat the card.
With the plotter on, pull the card out and push it firmly back in until it clicks and stays.
On Axiom Pro and gS units, make sure the rubber card door is screwed shut afterwards — some firmware won't mount the card with the door open.
Then restart the plotter. -
Try the card in a computer.
Put the microSD in a card reader on a laptop.
If the computer can't see it either, the card has failed — replace it and re-download your charts.
If the computer reads it fine, the problem is the plotter's slot or the card format. -
Check the format.
Raymarine plotters expect chart cards formatted FAT32.
If the card shows up as exFAT or NTFS on the computer, back up the chart files, reformat the card as FAT32, and copy the charts back.
For LightHouse Charts, the cleaner route is to use Raymarine's chart store tool to re-prepare the card from scratch. -
Confirm the charts match the region.
A LightHouse, Navionics, or C-MAP card only covers the regions you bought or subscribed to.
If you've sailed outside that coverage, the plotter shows base map only — that's not a fault.
Check your subscription is current and the card actually holds the area you're in. -
Clean the slot.
If a known-good, correctly-formatted card still won't read, a cotton bud lightly dampened with isopropyl alcohol cleans dust and salt off the slot contacts.
Let it dry fully before inserting the card.
Persistent failure after that means the card reader hardware has failed — Raymarine service.