New camera, new sd card. after 1 pic, I get msg that says its full. I cannot get the format feature or the date feature to work correctly; what the manual says should display, doesn't. any ideas?

I ran into this exact issue (64GB Sandisk SD not working with an old Nikon D40). The problem is that the camera requires FAT32 formatting, which is not supported on partitions greater than 32GB (i.e the 64GB stick). A format from the camera attempts to repartition all device space (64GB) which is incompatible.

I solved this by connecting the SD to my laptop, opening the windows disk management utility (diskmgmt.MSC), deleting all partitions on the SD (right-click, delete partition on all allocated space), the right clicking the unallocated space, add simple partition, then allocating only 32GB and using FAT32 as the format (any more and windows will only provide exFAT as an option, also not compatible with Nikon D40). Plugging that into the camera and NOT reformatting from there worked.

There are two possibilities that I can think of. 1) The SD card is full. You will need to copy the pictures off the SD card and onto your computer, then format the card. You can probably do this in the camera, but MAKE SURE you have copied the pictures you want to your computer because the format will erase everything. 2) The SD card is write protected. Look closely at the SD card there is a little slide switch that "locks" the SD card so that your camera cannot put any pictures on it. This slide switch must be in the unlocked position (or NOT locked).
Hope this helps.

It's suggested that you use any SD Memory Card formatting Software to format the SD memory card. You can download any such Software from the address given below:
https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/support/jp/sd/sdfv2003.exe

Download the software from the above link and install in your computer and then format the memory card using it. After formatting the memory card, insert it in your Camera and use it normally.

Do you have pics on the internal memory? You must format the internal memory with no card in the camera. Then, format the card.

Your camera is only supporting: SD/MMC up to 1 Gigabyte

The card that you currently have might be high speed. All should be sorted if you change the SD card to the supported MMC SD card up to 1G. There is a lever on the SD card this one might need to be changed.

The card that you currently have might be faulty. Please try another card.
You might also need to switch the camera over to saving pictures directly onto the SD card.1: Menu, Cam settings, Chose AUTO or SD card option Press OK

Note: If the SD card isn't in the camera or is unreadable the camera will automatically go back to saving you taken pictures on the internal memory.

If you connected the camera to the computer with a USB cord to download your pics and then just yanked out the cord without using the "safely remove hardware" icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, the card may have been corrupted. Replace it.

Same problem but with a different camera. Turns out, these cameras are very... may I emphasize very... picky as to which cards to use. Try other off-brands and you'll be surprised as to what it takes.

Copy the existing photos on to your PC, switch off the camera. Remove the SD card and format the SD-card using a SD-card reader, this will clear all the card contents. Now try using it in your Camera again. Ideally, you should be able to save photos on this SD card. Other way would be to insert another SD card into your camera and click photos and check whether those photos are being saved into the SD card(this can be done using display option in your digicam.)

It thinks that the SD card is full - try re-formatting if you have no photos there. The SD functions the same as a PC hard drive, and if the directory 'tracks' are corrupt, anything could happen. Else try a new SD card.

That message is probably because you have not saved any images in the camera's internal memory. Whatever pictures you took are on the SD card. Try taking a couple of pics using the SD card and try the review. If you are able to review, then all is well. If you cannot review, then one of 2 things:
1. Faulty SD card..Replace or format it.
2. Remove the SD card and take a pic. The pic will be saved in the camera's internal memory. If you still cant preview, probably a fault with the camera, and you'll need to service it.