Need Technical Advice - Card Reader Problem

[Zonieart]

I have a 3 year old HP m8120n desk top computer. There is a 15-in-1 card reader built in that I've used in the past to load my CF card and download the images.

When I "explore" now, I no longer see the drive. I've done the following:

1 - Rebooted the computer
2 - tried different CF cards
3 - verified the CF card was okay by reading it on another computer

Do you have any ideas on how to proceed with trouble shooting? By the way, when I plug the CF card into the reader, there is a green light on the reader that lights up. This tells me that the reader has power and recognizes a card has been plugged in.

I really appreciate your help.

Jim

[gjman]

Do you know how to get to device manager? If so, why not check there to see if your computer still recognizes that it has a card reader. And while you are there....hit scan for hardware changes and see what pops up.

I hope you still have the original CD that came with your machine, you might need that to reinstall the drivers.

[Zonieart]

Thanks,

I do have the disk. I'll give it a try.

[basroil]

Another thing that often happens is that an external HDD or a flash stick takes over the drive letter of one of the parts of your 15 in 1 (which are usually really 15 in 2 hardware/software wise ) , so the drive you use is also not shown. Again, "Manage" is the place to go for that (same way to easily get to device manager), this time disk management.

[Zonieart]

Problem solved. I'll post the solution in case anybody searches for the same issue at a later date.

The solution was quite simple. I opened the computer case, located the cable that ran to the reader and reseated it on each end. I restarted the computer and the drive was recognized. Problem solved.

[basroil]

Sounds like a bad case and vibration issues if the cable fell/broke.

[Zonieart]

It didn't fall or break. I think it just had a contact issue over time. I removed and reseated the cable.

[basroil]

It didn't fall or break. I think it just had a contact issue over time. I removed and reseated the cable.

By fell, it was meant fell out (since we were talking about the cable). And without stripping the cable entirely, it's hard to know if it is or is not broken. Just like headphones can have the cable break (usually where there is a major bend), so can computer power and information cables. If fidgeting around with the cable fixes it, could be either thing, but if it's a cable break, the fix isn't too expensive or difficult either.

[ChasP505]

Problem solved. I'll post the solution in case anybody searches for the same issue at a later date.

The solution was quite simple. I opened the computer case, located the cable that ran to the reader and reseated it on each end. I restarted the computer and the drive was recognized. Problem solved.

I was gonna suggest that the common "fix" for internal card reader problems is to open the case and disconnect the USB lead from the motherboard, then reconnect.