My MMC / SD card reader is not working

Sander_6

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Apr 1, 2017
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https://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=60176&cat=CMO&cpc=CMObsc

This is the exact model I still have in my old HP Pavilion tower. It installs "Generic" drivers automatically to it and I can see the drive letters but it wont read anything from the SD card or USB I plug in.

When I plug in my phone to the USB 2.0 slot it starts charging after 3 seconds of insertion. The light in the middle does nothing. I know this device is really outdated but it could be a life-saver right now for me.

I have searched everywhere for a solution with no luck. Someone smart who knows these things, PLEASE help me!

Any help is appriciated!!

[OS = Windows10]
 
Solution
The thing about SD card readers is all of the electronics are in the reader, so they will only work with the largest cards available when the reader was made--so outdated is bad and you couldn't expect it to work with this 1TB SD card, for example.

CompactFlash, on the other hand has all of the electronics in the card, so even the oldest reader ever made still works with all the latest cards (the cards are Integrated Drive Electronics, or IDE, which you may also know is good old PATA)

The four drive icons are placeholders put there by the cardreader's driver. It's like if you put a shortcut to an empty DVD or floppy drive on the desktop and clicked on it, it would ask you to insert a disk. On the bright side that means...

Sander_6

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Apr 1, 2017
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No red or yellow icons, double clicking on "USB Mass Storage Device" says "This device is working properly."

What's weird is that now there's two of those when there used to be one. I guess it's just because I was trying to install other drivers. When I tried this same SD card on my laptop it worked fine. Connected right away.

Do you think it's a mechanical error?
 
mechanical would mean moving parts which the device doesn't not have.
if you go to MY PC you should see the different SD types showing as drives , do you see theses?
now while looking at this screen put your SD drive in the slot and give it a moment to refresh , do any of them show an error?
what operating system are you using ? and what files format is the SD formatted in ? (check on laptop)
 

Sander_6

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Apr 1, 2017
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I see 4 USB drives that ask for a disk when you try to open them. When I put the SD card in my drive slot, nothing happens. The format is FAT32 by default.

http://i.imgur.com/AOfiZLR.png
 

Sander_6

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Apr 1, 2017
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That could be it, it's very dusty at the moment. I have been up all night so I've given up by now but I will give it a try when I'm not as tired. I'll come back when I've done it.
 
The thing about SD card readers is all of the electronics are in the reader, so they will only work with the largest cards available when the reader was made--so outdated is bad and you couldn't expect it to work with this 1TB SD card, for example.

CompactFlash, on the other hand has all of the electronics in the card, so even the oldest reader ever made still works with all the latest cards (the cards are Integrated Drive Electronics, or IDE, which you may also know is good old PATA)

The four drive icons are placeholders put there by the cardreader's driver. It's like if you put a shortcut to an empty DVD or floppy drive on the desktop and clicked on it, it would ask you to insert a disk. On the bright side that means your cardreader is probably not miswired. The USB port may still be.

That light is not supposed to light up unless a card is plugged in and recognized. That motherboard header plug actually controls two USB ports and the 4 wires to the cardreader are completely separate from the 4 to the front USB port. Try a different device in the USB port--if for example a flash drive lights up but isn't recognized, it is possible that HP wired the data wires on the plug backwards to convention (the white and green ones) so look for the pinout colors in your motherboard manual. USB wiring is one of those things you have to be very careful of getting right because getting the red 5v wire mixed up with one of the other three could destroy both your USB device and the motherboard.
 
Solution