Hello everyone, I have a Tech question that you all might be able to help me with....

I have recently "discovered" that my laptop has a slot for the little SD memory cards. problem is, I can't get it to work. I put in a card with some photos on it, and the
computer can't pull it up.
Under the "My Computer" icon it lists the card as an external drive, but it won't click open to
show me the pictures. After running awhile it justs asks me if I want to format the card, when
I say yes, it replies that it can't accomplish that task.

And yes, I indeed tried to look at both the camera and computer instruction manuals to no avail. Couldn't find anything searching Dell Help, and nothing at Securedigital's web site
under "support".

Any idea of what I'm doing wrong or how to get it to read? All I really want to do is transfer the pictures from the chip to my hard drive so I can re-format the card on the road and free up room. Know how to do it with the USB cable, but I was looking for an easier shortcut.

By the way, the chip worked fine by inserting it right into the television's slot, so I don't think anything is wrong with the chip itself.

May be beyond me.....

You might want to check they slot on your machine and make sure it is clean. I know on my laptop there is a lot of dust in there since i never use the SD card slot.

Agreed, probably nothing a can of A-I-R won't fix.

Windows (XP and Vista) from my experience will open a window and ask you what you want to do (view, copy, play, etc..) when you stick in a media card into one of those slots. I have a reader on 2 of my PC's and a laptop. Never had but one problem. Noticed on my work laptop, it wouldn't read anykind of external drive (usb or memslot) after I installed PICASA and a HP program for handling pictures. These programs are in the task bar area and I would exit out then the PC would "SEE" the external drives and mem cards. Did this every work before? What have you installed since the last time it worked? Cleaning the reader is always good but my failures were software related. Do you have a printer that reads cards? What happens if you hook the camera to the laptop?

Something that might help:
Card Reader won't read 2Gb SD card - fkirsche
18-May-07 09:37:01

jwstiles------.com,

Does Device Manager display any alert information about the SD card reader?
For example, does it have a problem with this device? Need a driver, etc?

Also, see this information about a hot fix for some SD problem situations:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936825

Let us know if you find anything.

--------------

ANd

I don't know if any of the following is of direct help but I'm posting
it as a general warning for those that use SD cards both in their
camera and in a PC.

In any case have a look at this Panasonic utility:

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/sd/download/sd_formatter.html

I have not loaded any significant new operating software to the computer. The slot is "clean". The chip works fine in the camera and TV. Its an SD-brand chip, not a generic with strange operating instructions.
No device manager questions or comments appear when I load it. The fixes listed are for managing problems with Vista, which I don't have. Thanks for the advice guys I might just give up....

Check to see if there are any driver updates for your motherboard. Sometimes outdated drivers won't work with newer cards. Had this problem with my Sony VIAO when I bought it a few months ago. A quick update and it was off and running, no problems since.

thanks Kick and everyone

Do you know how to check the device in device manager? You can check the status of the device there, and perhaps update the driver from your computer manufacturer website. Make sure the device is enabled. Do you use a program called tweakui? That program has some options for autostart.

Do you have Windows XP and all the updates installed? That also might make a difference.

--Jim
Life is good!

What size is your SD card? if it above 2 gig, your reader may not support it. the 2.5-4 gig sd cards have a different transfer format, and it is not backwards compatible like sticking a usb 2.0 drive into a 1.0 slot.

I would look and see if you have any software for your camera or if your camera company has any listed on their website. Sometimes if you open the camera software it's easier to point the computer to the images. Short of that you can pick up a USB card reader that has software to use with your system. If that does'nt work ditch the card and get a "Sandisk" brand card. Sometimes that's enough to fix it.