XPS Media Card Reader "Vanishes"

I have a XPS 600 and have the same problem. I installed a Dell 9 in 1 internal media card reader connected to the motherboard USB flex connector. When I inserted a compact flash card I lost the media card reader and had to power down the computer to get it back. I then installed a third party media card reader, this time connecting it to a USB hub ( I intalled a USB PCI hub that has an internal connection. I again experienced the same problem. I now use an external USB Compact flash card reader connected directly to the back of the computer that works fine. I also ordered a third party external/internal 14 in 1 media card reader which I should receive on the 10th.

I spoke to Dell twice and they have no clue

It looks like I've entered the same plague... got thru to cust support and they asked me to reseat the cable. It happened when I inserted a CF card as well. I also just updated the BIOS too, but read several SD cards since then.

Yikes. This computer is buried in a shelf - all wires tightly bundled, and not very easy to reach. Its going to take an hour to get to open the case. Maybe I'll try a cold boot first...

As a follow-up:
I have not opened the box to re-seat the cables - I believe that is a red herring.
What does work is powering down the computer rather than just a warm boot. I discovered this when the system hung when shutting down (for some other reason!??) So I have to power off. Then I did the following:

-after cycling power and the system started normally, the Samsung 9in 1 media card drives are present in windows explorer. I verify by reading a SD card.
- I back up registry and create a restore point.
- Cycle power - confirm normal boot Card reader drives are present in explorer and device manager.
- Read SD card no problem, File browser opens automatically
- insert CF card. and poof drives dissappear.
- Warm restart; card reader still missing.
- restore system to prior restore point & system restarts itself
- Card reader still missing
- Shut down & Cycle Power (cold Boot) & Reader is present
- read SD card ok, read Memory stick card ok. Insert CF card ...poof! Reader disappears.
- Shut down Power down / reboot... Reader is present.... this time it reads a CF card successfully

I have no idea why.

Thanks Dave for the reply.

But... since opening the case and reseating the cable involves powering off, (at least it _should_ involve turning off the computer!) there's no way to determine if its the reseating or the powering off that does the job.

In this case the computer is 4 months old, and has been sitting unmoved and untouched for three months before this started happening. Its on a shelf that doesn't shake or wobble, it runs 24 hrs / day so the temp is consistentIts hard to imagine the circumstance where a connector loosens itself in those conditions. The thing that has changed since is the bios and several other dell supplied system drivers as well as a re-install of XP.

What is mysterious is that without opening the computer, I've been consistently able to resolve the problem by cycling the power, and that now with a known good restore point it has not happened again. Also, the card reader only dissappears when a CF card is inserted, it worked fine with the SD and MS devices I tried. I could literally watch the removable media drives dissappear one by one as the Card Reader shut down when I put the CF card in.

-TS

Well, At least I know for sure the card reader is a USB device - which explains why I've also been having some intermitent problems with my Wacom USB tablet - sometimes on boot it doesn't start and the service has to be started manually. This all makes me think its a software / port /driver / bios problem.

This is a followup to my last post I puchased an internal/external media card reader
(Atech Pro-Gear XC-14U ( 14 in 1 reader) from XPCGEAR.COM ) and installed it using the 5 pin USB connection on the motherboard vs. the USB flex mtherboard connection used by the Dell media card reader and have no problem anymore. It reads the CF card and I do not lose the connection.

Mike,
Sorry to say it but I'm glad someone else is seeing the same problem. I'm certainly no EE or software or even PC expert - but it seems to me the problem has to do with the USB interface to the card reader. I've not had the time to take this up with support yet - its not a severe problem for me if I can't read CF cards... but I do want to resolve this while my PC is under warrantee.

If there's a Dell Moderator lurking...can you please let us know if Dell is working on this issue?

If you got the dreaded BSOD, consider yourself lucky (I've been getting plain old freezes with no logging). You can check the "Event Viewer" and look for the yellow and red icons in the log entries there to figure out what went wrong (Administrative Tools / Event Viewer). Post the entries on these forums if you can't figure it out from there.

Hi,

I have the XPS 600 and my system has been locking up upon bootup. It gets to the DOS screen and stays there with a blinking curser. When I disconnected my Stor QMRU191H3 it worked. My reader has been working before now. It's plugged into the back of my XPS via a USB connector.

I do have (2) error event viewer messages:

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
nvraid

and ....

The IP address lease XXX.XXX.X.XXX for the Network Card with network address XXXXXXXXXXXX has been denied by the DHCP server XXX.XXX.X.X (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).

Any help would be appreciated.

I am now on computer #2 in 6 a 6 month period. I had the exact same problem with the media card reader on my then Dimension 9100.

This is day 1 with the new Dimension 9150/XPS 400 and big surprise, another vanishing Media Card Reader.

The reason for the new computer was that the previous one had this problem intermittently and eventually after 179 Blue Screens the PC ceased to function and had to be replaced.

I have been through all the nonsense with the Dell 'Tech Support' crowd as well about re-seating the cable and securing the unit (it is extremely loose and the screw will not tighten any further) better.

I am not wasting anymore more time with Dell on this issue, (other than to advise them), two computers in a row 6 months apart and on day one the Media Card Reader on the new computer does the vanishing routine.

I can, after an random number of reboots, get the Operating System to identify the reader and install the Drivers, and show the icons, but if you stick any media card in the reader, it disappears!

I am going to uninstall it and replace it with a third party reader (which this is essentially mine is a Teac) and connect it to an internal USB connector not the one where the current connector is attached right on the motherboard.

This is unbelievable. Virtually everyone is having this problem and Dell is doing nothing about it. Typical.

I have a 4-month old XPS400 as well with the factory installed 13-in-1 card reader. DELL send a tech to install a new Media Card Reader in my home, but it does the same thing.  Namely, as soon as you stick in the CompactFlash card, all of the Media Card Reader drives vanish!  I can only get the media card reader drives to reappear by doing a 'hard-reboot'.

I have an open case # with DELL, but don't see any reason to pursue it anymore. They just flat out don't have a fix, and don't really care I guess.

Hi,

Thanks for the information. I'm totally new to the Community Forum. I've purchased numerous Canon lens and a 1DS from Dell, and of course my new XPS in the past and have had an absolutely terrible time with telephone support on my "camera purchases". Actually totally unacceptable. I was told the computer divison wasn't this way? (that's a question). I was ready to purchase a laptop tonight but now I'm not sure it's such a good idea.

So is Dell's COMPUTER tech support easy to get a hold of? Can you understand them once you get a hold of them? Are answers available about this issue or not? Is there another thread about this issue? Is there a moderator here?

Sincerely ....

It seems to me the whole issue is with the USB stuff on these machines.  I get periodic messages on boot up that certain USB devices (external drives, the card reader, etc.) are 'not found' .... then continue the boot up and somehow they appear eventually.  

The card reader problem I had reported a month ago or so has mostly disappeared (I don't know why, which scares me) but this XPS machine does not seem to have the same reliability as older machines and Dell does not seem to have the same quality support it used to have by any means.   I have several Dell boxes that I purchased years ago that have never had a single issue...this one purchased in December 2005 has had several.

If you saw the recent news about Dell bulding more factories and hiring thousands more folks in India..well...I think that may be part of the issue here.  The support 'script readers' don't seem to know the products (however, keep in mind there are a LOT of products and potential issues with hardware/software/users....I would NEVER want their job). 

I'd like to thinkg that problems called in to their support system are tracked in a systematic way so that it could lead to alerting them to an issue so it could get resolved..but the evidence seems to point to the contrary. 

When an issue like this one arises,  which evidently many of us are having, Dell has just not responded in a way that gives me much in the way of a warm and fuzzy feeling about their concern over the matter.   We can't ALL be crazy, can we?  (Except perhaps that we bought these very expensive machines to begin with).  

The lack of ANY response from anyone at Dell to ANY of the messages posted in this thread (I don't know about others) is shameful.   I'm betting these forums are nothing more than way for us to vent and perhaps devine a solution ourselves....Dell doesn't seem to pay any attention to them at all.   If I'd spent $399 on my newest Dell machine, perhaps I could understand...this piece of junk was close to $3000, and when you spend that much on a computer these days, you deserve better support (and a better product to start with).