Help with Card Reader...please

Discussion in 'Storage Devices' started by cheeseburger, Sep 1, 2004.

  1. cheeseburger

    cheeseburger Geek Trainee

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Dear All,

    I require any help and advice with a dissapearing card reader.

    I have an Advent T9000 desktop PC which is only about one month old. It has an integrated 7 in 1 Card Reader. However yesterday I turned the machine on with the intention of copying photo's on to the PC and found the card reader was no longer detected. When I clicked on 'my computer' it's no longer there ?

    As it is still in warranty I telephoned PC Service Call and they told me I needed to backup all my data and carry out a System Recovery with the disc supplied. Prior to this I had already tried a previous system restore point with no success.

    Their solution seems a little drastic, can anyone help ? By the way, my knowledge of computer hardware is very limited!

    Thanks in advance
     
  2. Sniper

    Sniper Administrator Staff Member

    Likes Received:
    59
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Since it’s integrated, whats your motherboard model? It might be connected using USB! Can you see it in your device manager at all, maybe it’s disabled there? (Right click on My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager)
     
  3. Addis

    Addis The King

    Likes Received:
    91
    Trophy Points:
    48
    maybe somethings gone wrong with the drivers. go to controil panel then add hardware.when it asks you wether you've already connected it click yes. the device might be there. From then you might want to install fresh drivers.
     
  4. cheeseburger

    cheeseburger Geek Trainee

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Thanks for the replies.

    I followed the instructions given by pcservicecall. Firstly this had me completing a non-destructive system restore. This did not have any effect so, as instructed, then completed a destructive one. Sadly this didn't work either. Consequently I have an engineer arriving next tuesday as they believe the card reader is faulty.

    It was a pain to have back everything up and then afterwards return my PC to where I had it before the restore. However it's all good experience for me. Using CDRW's I've created a number of backup discs which I'll probably try and use once a month. Hopefully I'll never be caught with my trousers down!

    Regards.

    P.S. I'll update after the engineer has been
     
  5. Sniper

    Sniper Administrator Staff Member

    Likes Received:
    59
    Trophy Points:
    63
    how did it go?
     
  6. fro5tie

    fro5tie Geek Trainee

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hi, i am encountering exactly the same problems, i just bought a new MMC card for my mobile phone, and when trying to copy the data across, i got some sort of error, and from now on the card reader wont recognise any cards, no lights show up when i enter them, the removable drives are no longer in my computer, and when i go to hardware manager it says the device is not working properly. I too have an advent pc =/ so i may be right in guessing something is dodgy with their card readers. I have so far tried uninstallin and reinstalling the device with no luck.

    If need be i shall call tech support and get them to send someone, its still under warranty :) I shall ask my question in this thread however as our problems are very similar. I am thinking about trying a "Non-Destructive System Restore" as you said you had tried, but am skeptical about the data i have installed, i was wondering if you, or anyone else with experience in the matter, can shed any light on the situation.

    My pc came with windows xp Home edition, but i installed XP Pro ontop of it, it all runs fine, and ive installed all my apps, moved a few gigs of mp3s and got a few games on their now. If i do a non destructive restore, wont it remove XP Pro and leave me with home? and wont that tamper or remove my existing data. I really dont want to have to back up many gigs and then reinstall things. All i want to do is just to reinstall all the drivers, but from what i can tell it reinstalls the programs that came with the PC. If anyone can help it's most appreciated.

    Thanks in advance.....

    fro5tie
     
  7. Sniper

    Sniper Administrator Staff Member

    Likes Received:
    59
    Trophy Points:
    63
    What error message did you get? Also is it only the new MMC card which doesn't work? Or others don’t is well?
     
  8. fro5tie

    fro5tie Geek Trainee

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Neither my new one or old one work, i cant remember the error exactly i clicked it off quickly coz i didnt know it was important :s

    It said something like I/O error or something with I/O in it... THats what sticks out in my mind, does that ring any bells?
     
  9. cheeseburger

    cheeseburger Geek Trainee

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Apologies for the delay in replying....

    Two days before the engineer was due to call the card reader suddenly re-appeared. I didn't do anything unusual, just turned the computer on to do some accounts work and there it is again in 'My Computer' ??
    I used it in an effort to induce some kind of fault before the engineer arrived but it worked fine so I cancelled the engineer.

    Since then it has vanished once more. It couldn't be found anywhere by the computer. I put in a card to try and wake up the reader but that didn't work, I then left the card in and re-booted the machine and it appeared straight away. Since then it's worked fine. I'm a bit annoyed with myself as I hadn't tried this before.

    Anyway I shall have to wait and see if it does it again and also if I can wake it up by repeating the process.

    Thanks for the assistance
     
  10. fro5tie

    fro5tie Geek Trainee

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Dont think ive tried booting with a card in, will try it tonight and see what happens.How long after it stopped working did it reappear? (the first time)
     
  11. cheeseburger

    cheeseburger Geek Trainee

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Have been decorating the office Mon/Tues so apologies for the delay....

    I intially followed the instructions from PCServicecall and carried out a destructive restore. Sadly this didn't sort the problem (but was good experience for a novice like me !). I guess it was about three days after the restore that the card reader re-appeared. During those days I used the computer fairly heavily but never actually tried what I mentioned above, i.e. turning on the machine with a card in place.
     
  12. SiliconSyko

    SiliconSyko Geek Trainee

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I am running yet again the same system, and usually when I attempt to use my card reader my computer frezes or reboot randomly. However the last time I attempted this it said the device had been disabled when I rebooted. I know how to switch it back on but I know this will NOT solve the problem. I have heard rumors that it may be that windows XP generic driver is malfunctioning, as when I tried to use an MP3 in my computer (thankfully not my Ipod) the same prolems arise.

    If anyone knows of a replacment driver (Generic Removable Disk Driver, I think) or has a better suggestion then plz reply...


    SiliconSyko
    ---------------------------------------
    Death is not the end...
     

Share This Page