Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
340 Posts
0
12520
April 29th, 2008 19:00
Card Reader Crashing
OK I posted this in a couple threads regarding my Garmin GPS. But I want to start over. It seems to be my card reader. But I don't know if it's a software or hardware problem. And it first started when I put in an sd card that I had used in my Garmin nuvi 650 GPS. I've talked to Garmin, they never heard of this happening. So before I call Dell and try to explain what's going on, maybe you can tell me some things to try.
When I turn on my Dim. E520 it will read 1 card (SD or Memory Stick) ok. I do safely remove. After I remove it all the card reader drives disappear from my computer and if I put any card in nothing happens. The light doesn't come on, it doesn't even recognize a card has been inserted. As I said this started when I got the Garmin GPS that takes an sd card for mp3s and jpegs. And I just tried it with a memory stick that hasn't been in the GPS. So I think that does rule out the GPS.
It also has crashed the card reader in my HP printer. I insert the sd card into it and the light just blinks and wont' read the card. I inserted the memory stick in the hp printer and it read ok. Now I inserted a sd card that hadn't been in the GPS unit into the hp printer and it doesn't show up in my computer even the drive letter disappeared. BUT the hp icon in the bottom left taskbar turns on and when I right click it, the choices are Open X:HP photosmart 7660 and Prepare to remove card. But if I click open nothing happens. I still can't get to the card using the HP icon.
So does it seem like a software problem because it's both an internal and external card reader?
What more can I check? And what did my Garmin do to my computer? Garmin says it doesn't write anything to the card. The sd cards do work in my 1501 laptop.
Christine
Dimension E520 Desktop
MS Media Center Edition 2005 - Current
Intel Core 2 Duo processor E6300
2GB dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM
Integrated Audio - SigmaTel High Def
Video - NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE
320GB HD
D: is Philips DVD-Rom DROM6316
E: is NEC DVD+-RW ND-3650A
Monitor is E207WFP
Inspiron 6000
Win XP sp2 - Current
Intel Pentium M 730 (1.6ghz/2MB)
Accelerator 900 Graphics
80GB HD
Phillips DVD+-RW SDVD8820
Intel PRO/wireless 2200
Inspiron 1501
Win XP MCE
2gb AMD Turion 64
1GB DDR2 533MHz 2 Dimm
Phillips DVD+-RW SDVD8820
Comcast Cable Modem to Alpha Shield firewall to Netgear Router. Wireless to Inspiron 6000 & 1501 and wire to Dim E520.
5150Guy
446 Posts
0
April 29th, 2008 22:00
Hello,
I don't know if this will help or not. In about 3 or 4 situations people have brought me card readers that appeared to cause problems, even computer crashes. I uninstalled the reader and drivers, tried a different unit and everything was Ok. I have also run into some cards going bad or not being recognized by certain readers. I think you are just going to have to experiment to find a combination that works.
5150Guy
Chuck in Austin
240 Posts
0
April 30th, 2008 03:00
When booting-up, it's important not to have a flash card already inserted in the reader.
If it was me, I would simply try a new reader. Changing out a reader is a 15 minute job which is less time than it takes to mess with Dell's techs.
I'm using a Atech Flash XM5U 26-in-1 in one of my Vostros and it's superior to Dell's readers ($20 and Newegg).
volvogirl1
340 Posts
0
April 30th, 2008 19:00
No, I don't have a card in when booting up. Also I think it is software NOT hardware because it also happens with the external reader on my HP printer.
How/where do I check for an updated driver? Mine is TEAC USB HS-SD Card Microsoft driver 7-1-01 version 5.1.2535.0. Should I try to update the driver? HOW? All my usb & card reader drives use this same driver.
Christine
volvogirl1
340 Posts
0
May 4th, 2008 17:00
OK More info on my E520 card reader crashing.
After using 1 sd card and safely removing and took it out, the usb card reader and usb plugs disappear from My Computer. I went to Add Hardware and the USB Mass Storage Device had a yellow exclamation point. Status said
"Windows cannot use this hardware device because it has been prepared for safe removal but has not been removed from the computer (code 47) To fix this problem unplug this device from your computer and then plug it in again. Click finish to start the troubleshooter."
I clicked finished but just got a blank Help & Support Window. Had to restart. Got them back.
I notice under Device Manager I have 7 USB Root Hubs. Is the card reader one of them? Right Clicked-Properties and they all have a Power Management Tab. What is this for? They all have this box checked.."Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Could this be part of my problem?
This all started after I put in a sd card that had been used in my Garmin GPS. Now it does it with all sd cards so far. Only can use 1 then usbs disappear.
edit - If I take the sd card out w/o doing safely remove I seem to be ok and can put a sd card back in, etc. I just tried doing a safely remove and got this message which I sometimes have been getting...
"The device generic volume cannot be stopped because a program is still accessing it" Am I doing the safely remove wrong?
Christine
Dimension E520 Desktop
MS Media Center Edition 2005 - Current
Intel Core 2 Duo processor E6300
2GB dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM
Integrated Audio - SigmaTel High Def
Video - NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE
320GB HD
D: is Philips DVD-Rom DROM6316
E: is NEC DVD+-RW ND-3650A
Monitor is E207WFP
Inspiron 6000
Win XP sp2 - Current
Intel Pentium M 730 (1.6ghz/2MB)
Accelerator 900 Graphics
80GB HD
Phillips DVD+-RW SDVD8820
Intel PRO/wireless 2200
Inspiron 1501
Win XP MCE
2gb AMD Turion 64
1GB DDR2 533MHz 2 Dimm
Phillips DVD+-RW SDVD8820
Comcast Cable Modem to Alpha Shield firewall to Netgear Router. Wireless to Inspiron 6000 & 1501 and wire to Dim E520.
5150Guy
446 Posts
0
May 4th, 2008 18:00
Turn off the power saving that you mentioned. In the Computer Management icon in the control panel, go to Disk Management, click that open, all your drives will be listed there, right click the drive you want, go to properties, go to the policies tab, click the radio button that says "optimize for quick removal". Try again.
5150Guy
volvogirl1
340 Posts
0
May 5th, 2008 17:00
I've been doing a lot of searching in the forums and found a couple threads that look promising. One says that you should NOT do safely remove because that actually removes the card reader. Which is what is happening. Today it hasn't disappeared on me, with just taking the cards out.
And also Dell-Chris M said before you insert a card to put your free hand on the side of the chassis because the root cause seems to be ESD - Electric Static Discharge build up. That was for the XPS 420 card reader malfunctions. So I'm doing that too on my Dimension E520. My chassis is plastic, what is the XPS420? So I don't have any metal to touch.
If I still have trouble, there is a firmware and driver update I might try which will also update the older 13-1 reader to be a 19-1.
Christine
5150Guy
446 Posts
0
May 5th, 2008 18:00
Christine,
I have not yet experienced any of the problems they are suggested in the forums you found (I've been at this stuff a very long time). All my readers, USB ports, (I have several) are set with these options as I mentioned earlier. They do not disappear or are not removed. If those settings do not work, simply go back to the way it was.
As far as static goes, if you have been experiencing any static discharges or shocks around your computer area, you should definately discharge yourself on something metal in the immediate area before touching your cards, keyboard or mouse. You could try the back of the computer case, the metal power supply housing if that is accessible.
One of the things I like to do before trying settings, installing software or hardware on computers is save a restore point before I start. That way if things go really bad for some reason you can just restore to that point and everything will be as it was before you started.
5150Guy