Can someone help me get my media card reader to work properly?

[volumnus]

I hooked up the hardware. It's an internal reader. I installed the driver.

When I click "My Computer" all the little icons for SD, CF, SMC, and MS are visible.

Yet, when I insert media, the green light on the front of the reader comes on like it's reading it, but when I click the corresponding drive, it says "Please insert disk." A couple of times after turning the computer off and on a few times, it has recognized the media, but then it locks up and refuses to recognize it further.

The media card reader features a 2.0 USB port on the front. It works perfectly. Even if I can't get the card reader to operate, I'll leave it in the bay just for the convenience of a USB port on the front of the case.

I don't think the driver is installing correctly. When I check the driver under device manager, it says it's using C:\WINDOWS\INF\DISKDRV.INF. This driver is dated 2000. Surely a driver that came with a brand new card reader would be newer than 2000.

The card reader is a Sabrent 52-in-1. Here is the link: http://www.sabrent.com/products/index.htm

The Sabrent website has a lot of drivers for their products, but strangely they don't have one for this model. Go figure. The card reader came with an installation disk, but I've installed and uninstalled adinfinitum with no luck.

[Kareeser]

Try this:
1. Uninstall the drivers that were installed by the program/CD/Floppy.
2. Unplug the media reader.
3. With the reader unplugged, install the software
4. Restart.
5. Plug in the reader, and let Windows XP install the drivers automatically.

It should work then... give that a shot?

[Panama Red]

Your problem may not be the drivers but rather the wiring. I had to rewire a couple of Sabrent card readers to match the mobo connections. Had to swap the two black wires according to the Sabrent app note that come with the product. Try their support site and see what they say.

http://www.sabrent.com/products/index.htm

[volumnus]

I've tried everything known to man as far as installing and uninstalling. I'm about ready to give up and see if I can return the reader. Maybe if I buy a reader that is the same name brand as my PCI card (Ultra) I'll have more luck. Who knows.

[volumnus]

Panama,

I have a Dell Dimension 4100 computer, and I switched the wires as you suggested. No change was noticable. I switched them back. I'm connecting the reader via two internal USB ports on a PCI card (one for the reader and the other for the USB port on the front of the reader) rather than to a motherboard header. I'm using two female five pin connector cables that end in standard USB connectors.

[Panama Red]

Sounds like you should still contact Sabrent. I had one card reader that was doa and they sent me a new one.

[volumnus]

It's hard to communicate with Sabrent. I filled out the support request about a week ago, and I haven't heard back from them. They don't have a phone number by which to reach them.

[Panama Red]

That's odd. They responded to me right away. You sure you don't some how have them blocked from your email thru a spam blocker?

[volumnus]

Is there a possibility that my digital camera is formatting the SD cards in such a way as to make them unrecognizable to the reader? The sole reason I bought the reader was to make it easier to transfer digital pictures to my PC.

[GaryRouth]

Just a thought -- if you don't have any other copies of those photos anywhere, you might want to save the pictures in another computer before doing any more troubleshooting on your reader. A faulty reader can corrupt the data on the flash memory card, and you could lose your pictures.

A quick way to check if the memory card itself is still OK is to put it back in the camera & see if you can view the pictures OK in the camera's LCD screen.

_________

I don't see many WinMe machines, but imagine it's best to have the USB 2.0 drivers installed before the 2.0 devices are plugged in.

Another thing -- is the motherboard new enough to have a USB 2.0 Host in it? Most memory card readers that I've seen don't have a USB Host controller built in - they use the host controller on the motherboard. I know that many devices are happy enough with backward compatibility, but perhaps not all. You might also want to see if the USB Host shows either a yellow exclamation mark or a red X (or if it doesn't show up at all!) in Device Manager. . . . Also: if the host isn't enabled in the Bios, then it shouldn't function.

Best of luck
. . . Gary