Computer does not recognize a 16GB CF card

Dear Board,

I have a PC running Windows 7 64 bit. It has never failed to recognize a CF card that I have installed in the built in reader but today it did.

I used a new 16GB card and formatted it in the camera. I took a number of test shots as the camera is a recent used purchase and they all displayed fine on the camera.

I installed the card in the computer tower's multi-format card reader and it never recognized that a card was installed. Thinking it might be a camera problem I dug out a 4GB and installed that in my new used camera. I shot a couple of test shots and as soon as I put the card in the reader the computer beeped and let me know it recognized the card.

My question is, is there any way to cheaply upgrade my computer so that it recognizes the larger CF cards? It does 8GB just fine but 16GB is out of the limit. It does however recognize 16 and 32GB SD cards so that makes me even more confused?

Any help that you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Tim Murphy
Harrisburg, PA

See if there is an updated driver for your card reader? Or maybe buy a new card reader?

what about just plugging the camera straight into the computer?

i've had it happen with an SD card before...i googled it and was able to fix it...not sure if this was the same steps i used, but may be worth a try for a couple seconds of effort
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=zVWExJ8wfT4

Dear Capt and Dre,

I checked the USB drivers and they say they are updated and operating properly.

The camera I bought is a Nikon. I have a ton of USB patch cables laying around and I will have to check to see if one is Nikon compatible and if that fixes the problem then all is well. If it doesn't I'll have to stick with 8GB or smaller cards I guess.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Out of curiosity, have you tried rebooting your machine? Every once in a very blue moon I've had my machine not acknowledge my CF cards. A quick reboot solved the issue. I'm running Win7 with a Rosewill internal card reader. I don't think I've updated the drive since I built the machine about six years ago or so.

Dear scatterbrained,

No I haven't but I will definitely give the re-boot a try.

Thank you,

Tim Murphy

Installed any new hardware or software lately? If the card has worked before, I would think
that a driver got mangled. I had an experience recently when I updated software for a Samsung
850 Pro SSD that crushed the drivers for my card reader...

Regards,

110yd

I've only had trouble with a 120gig card I bought from ebay. My camera would read it fine but my CPU wouldn't read it, or it will fail to read the card part of the way through copying files. I blame it on myself for purchasing the card on ebay. Sometimes those deals are to good to be true.

Two things, one a question and the other a procedure that might help.

When you say you checked the driver for the card reader did you check for any manufacturer specific driver? For example I have a Dell laptop and I can check for updates at Dell and get a report that everything is up to date. However, if I go into Device Manager, expand the tree and look at "Storage Controllers" I can see that my internal MMC/SD card is made by BayHub Technologies. I could Google BayHub and possibly find a driver more current than what Dell is offering.

OK, a procedure that might help...basically what you might need to do is check through the disk management tools and if the card appears there, assign a drive letter.

1. Start by rebooting.

2. Install the card into the reader.

3. Put the cursor on the desktop icon called "Computer" or "My Computer", right click and select "Manage".

4. Along the left panel, select "Disk Management" under "Storage". See if the card is listed (by name) but perhaps without a drive letter.

5. If it is listed, right click the drive name and then go through the steps to assign a letter. Go through the steps to assign a letter. I suggest a letter toward the tail end of the alphabet.

Report back if this doesn't work.

Dear John,

I rebooted and opened my computer and went to the device manager. I checked every single item associated with the card reader and USB ports and everything is operating properly and there were no available upgrades to any of the drives. I paid special attention to anything associated with mass storage devices and the drives designated with letters like "E", "F", and "H". When I insert a card that is recognized it usually shows up in the "E" drive. A 4GB card works perfectly as does the 8GB card I tried.

I have an external card reader around here somewhere. I need to find it and load the card in it and then plug it into one of the USB ports to see if that will work otherwise I have two new 16GB cards that are worthless to me.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

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How about calling the customer support department of the computer's manufacturer? Any time anything like this happens to me I just call Apple support and the person on the other end of the line gets it all straightened out for me.

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I had a similar situation once. Somehow that problematic CF card of mine can is only readable on the computer via the camera. I also tried different card reader that is working with other CF cards. So I'd say give it shot.

Sounds to me like the new 16GB card might be the item that is at fault. Have you another computer you can try the card in? The one CF card that I have had that has failed, was a brand new card, and it worked intermittently. It only seemed to like one camera, and took a couple of attempts to get the images from it. Since it had nearly 1000 RAW files from an airshow on it, that was very lucky for me. That card went straight back to the dealer for a refund. I bought it from a local dealer, not my usual internet supplier, as I had needed the card in a hurry, and could not wait for delivery. I still have, and regularly use, the 1 GB Jessops branded CF card that they supplied me with my original DSLR purchase, a 300D back in Jan 2005. oh and I avoid SD cards like the plague, as I seem to be able to kill one of those simply by touching it.

Alan

Everyone,

Thanks for the various tips. I connected the camera directly to the computer using a USB patch cable and the card can be read and the photos can be accessed with my PP software allowing them to be edited and saved to the location of my choosing.

It's not the most convenient way to work but it sure beats not being able to use the 16GB cards at all.

I still need to find my external card reader and try it but for now I'm in business.

Regards.

Tim Murphy

Did you ever format the card in camera and then attempt to use it in the PC?