1 Rookie
•
8 Posts
0
25
November 30th, 2025 07:57
18 R1, Card Reader not working, code 48 in the Device Manager
This is for the Realtek Card reader.
Have tried re-installing the driver, turning off Core Isolation's Memory Integrity...
Installed a driver from Realtek and that didn't work _ Dell offers nothing new off course.
Was running Windows 10 from an upgrade from Windows 8 and all was well.
Installed Windows 11 using Rufus, and that went OK, but now this problem.
Reverted back to Windows 10, and now this problem persists.
Tried to install Windows 8 again and start from scratch, but that won't work because 10 is on the drive now.
Was thinking of pulling the drive, wiping it on another computer and then doing a fresh install of Windows 8, then go to 10, and do an upgrade to 11.
That's assuming that the new BIOS A15 has TPM 1.2 enabled.
I'm still at BIOS A14.
Couldn't up date the BIOS just yet because the battery is shot, the installer wants at least 10% battery charge, and it only shows 1% and it won't charge beyond that.
This is for a Dell 18 from 2014, model number P19E
This problem is all over the place with different manufacturers too, and so far, I've never come across any solution for any of them.
All this security enabled on these new operating systems is gone way over board.
Jeff R 1
1 Rookie
•
8 Posts
0
November 30th, 2025 20:46
I'll just reply to my own thread, found a driver that works after much searching from this post; scroll down to the bottom to find it.
17 R1, installed Windows 10 today, Realtek PCIE Cardreader not recognize | DELL Technologies
The solution in the post doesn't work, as the Realtek page is no longer available, here's the direct link too.
(it's in Spanish)
Download Realtek Card Reader Driver 10.0.370.188 – Drivers.Plus
I'm saving the driver install package (obviously), so if the link here is broken, you may send me a PM and I will send it to you.
EDIT:
Can't send PM's here, so here's my email address.
<To protect you, your private information was removed from public view. All private data was saved to your private Case. DELL-Admin>
(edited)
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
•
1.6K Posts
0
December 3rd, 2025 03:55
I'm glad you got it sorted out. It was always really annoying that this was the one driver from Win7/8 that didn't work with Win10. Windows would not auto-install it direct from Realtek either, it was a little frustrating.
Jeff R 1
1 Rookie
•
8 Posts
0
December 3rd, 2025 08:26
@mattyb3
I'm pretty sure there's nothing there at the Realtek sight anymore for Windows to find. I think the industry is geared to forcing people to blow a lot of money to purchase new hardware. The problem with that is not only the cost for a new 18 inch Alienware laptop at around $4000.00, give or take 2 grand, but none of the new models have a CD/DVD reader. A person has to hook up a big clunky USB reader.
I really like this machine now, and when something major goes wrong like a screen failure/processor, or what ever, I'll spend the money then.
Now that I have the drivers, I can do a clean install of W11, or an upgrade assuming that the new BIOS has implemented TPM1.2.
There's even a condoned hack from Microsoft, but any machine has to have at least TMP 1.2.
All this security stuff is a royal pain!
I wish they could have stayed with W7, it was clean and easy to work with.
(edited)
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
•
1.6K Posts
1
December 3rd, 2025 20:53
Good luck with the 18, they are massive machines and a lot of fun to tinker with. I have two in the garage but one of them has a cracked screen and the displays are pretty expensive and hard to find.
The GPU is highly upgradeable so keep that in mind if you ever want to do some major upgrading in the future or if you current GPU(s) fails.