Windows 7 - Having trouble with multi card reader.

I've installed 2 multi card readers to my desktop. The drives are listed under "computer" and the icon changes when I insert the SD card from my camera, but when I try to explore (either by double clicking or by clicking "explore"), it tells me to insert a disk. Has anyone seen this before? IS there something I have to change to get these to work? I'm assuming it's a Windows problem because it is the 2nd card reader I've installed. The first one gave me the same problem, I thought it was the card reader, so I bought I new one.

Hello pbhandy34, welcome to the forum.

I have seen a similar problem where each slot of a multi card reader shows up as a drive,, even when no card is inserted clicking on all, but the drive with a card will produce the same message you have. unfortunately I know of no fix for this
You could try inserting the card before you attach the device, or insert the card before starting the PC. (It maybe enough to just log off/on after inserting card) depending if your reader is USB or built in.

I hope this helps you

Thank you Pooch. Because my machine is only 11 months old, I contacted Dell (the makers) and afte an exchange of strong words from myself their technical support chap took remote control of my machine and carried out some work. He downoladed a driver in an attemt to rectify the problem.

At the moment, sometimes the reader recognises a card and sometimes it doesn't. I checked all my cards on my pals computer and they worked well with no problems. Dell are phoning back on Monday to see how the testing went.

One thing I would suggest is that it might better not to buy a Dell tower computer. I have two new motherboards in a year and countless other little minor problems too. Sometimes I wish I had never seen Dell.

Regards,
RonBin79

It could be that your Dell is having a problem reading the card, rather than a problem with the card reader itself.

Are you able to transfer images from your camera to your computer if the camera is switched on and connected to your computer with the camera's USB lead?

Have you considered updating your chipset drivers?

Is your card reader recognised in Device Manager? If so, is there any indication that a driver is required?

I have discovered that my on board reader will not read two Sandisk 8mb CF cards but it will read other 2mb ones. The external card reader will read all the cards so the problems seems to be with just the two 8mb cards.

I have attached a screen shot of the Hardware Media manager and you will see the reader is showing there. I can of course connect my Olympus E30 direct to the computer and download my pictures to Photoshop for processing if needs be however, I bought the computer primarily for photographic work and feel that if I have paid good money for it, I should get good results from it.

I will buy a couple of 4gb Exteme cards to replace the non working 8gb ones and wait and see what Mr Dell has to say on Monday.

Cheers,

RonBin79

You might want to check the Windows Compatibility Center to check for any hardware compatibility issues before you splash out on some new cards.

Windows 7 Compatibility: Software Programs & Hardware Devices: Find Updates, Drivers, & Downloads