Dead XPS 8950 SD Card fix...

Device Manager>Memory Technology Devices>Realtek PCIE Card Reader>Driver>Roll Back Driver>My apps don't work with this driver>Yes

Works for me. Might work for you, too.

Enjoy... M

System Firmware: 1.17.1

@tonylinde2​ Did you ever get a resolution to this?  I have exactly the same problem with exactly the same workaround.

@Isacc​ Yes... Last summer (2025), I explored Dell.com/support and performed an XPS 8950 "driver update" search. It offered a number of updates (can't remember which ones) for a variety of installed peripherals... card reader included. I activated the updates and the card reader issue was resolved. At about the same time, I also updated the Windows 11 firmware. Now everything works as it should. No problems... 

Cheers... M

@MichaelinA2-2024​ Thank you for your solution. I have Windows 11 and always do updates and also on my XPS 8950. Maybe I missed something but my card reader still isn't working. I had heard that a replacement board would have to be done but the pc was fairly new at the time and didn't follow through.

Do you know what updates were performed?

Thanks for your assistance.

PS, just checked Updates again and it is showing Killer & Intel Bluetooth driver as a Critical Update (see screenshot below). Very wary of installing this now unless anyone thinks it might help with the SD CArd reader?

I installed the Killer drivers and all is well. As for the card reader, I would look in device manager - Memory Technology Devices - and it should be listed there. Mine is listed as Realtek card reader. If it is listed, right click and select update drivers. If it is not listed try clicking on the "Scan for Hardware Changes" icon in the menu bar.

Thanks for the reply, @kras1. The reader is in the device manager (Realtek PCIE CardReader) as you suggested. I tried updating the drivers which it wouldn't do as it said it had the latest, deleting the device and rebooting which brought them back, then downloading the driver from Dell and installing that. None of that worked.

However, I did discover that if I left the SD card in the reader slot while rebooting the computer, the device was recognised and I could retrieve files from the card. BUT, if I then removed the card and reinserted it, it was not recognised. So, the reader only works if the card to be read is in the reader when the PC is started. 

UPDATE: I have just found that I can get the same effect if, after plugging the card into the reader, I use device manager to disable and then re-enable the reader. It is still not satisfactory, but is a workaround for now. Hope this helps anyone else with the same problem.

I've advised Tech Support of this and hope it'll lead to a proper solution which I'll post here.

Glad you found a work around. Maybe check the Windows auto play settings and also install any Windows updates. 

Might just need changing your Power plan settings...

Reboot PC and open Device Manager. Expand list under USB. Double-click each USB entry and click its Power Management tab, if it has one. Uncheck the box "Allow PC to turn off...". Repeat for all USB entries. (NOTE: Internal card reader is a USB device.)

Now expand list under Human Interface Devices in Device Manager and uncheck that same box for any HID entry that has a Power Management tab. Exit Device Manager when done.

Next, open the Windows Power & Sleep screen. Click Additional Power Settings. On next screen identify the active Power plan and click Change Plan Settings. On next screen, click Change Advanced Power Settings.

On that last screen, disable Hibernation, Hybrid Sleep, USB Selective Suspend, and PCI Express Link State Management. Be sure to save the changes to the Power plan and reboot.

Insert an SD card into internal reader after you're back at desktop and see if it works now...

Thanks, @RoHe for that detailed suggestion. Sadly, it didn't fix the problem - although I could find no way of disabling either Hibernation nor Hybrid Sleep - these options were not offered.