First off, the personalities won't work unless you're running LifeOS1.1. So, the fact that they don't work may not really be an issue.
On the SD slot problem, first let's check the SD card. The card should be completely empty. The files should be placed at the top level of the card, not in any directory. Try re-downloading the updates. If you started installing 1.1 and it failed, you may have to try 1.0.2 first, then install the 1.1 after you install the 1.0.2. You might want to also try several different cards, in case pleo is having problems reading a specific card. If pleo won't read ANY cards, then that points to the problem being the SD slot in pleo.
This is a case where DinoMITE would come in handy. You could check your OS level and you could check the tail.
As another method to check the tail, if you can get the SD slot working, you can use MySkit to write a short skit to move the tail up, dow, left, right, and see if it works.
