Card Reader Problems

[Remo Nonaz]

I have a Rosewill, internal, USB3 card reader on my computer. This is a handy device to import files with as it is fast and easy. Normally, as soon as you insert a card, Lr opens and you see your files ready to be imported from drive G. Recently it began having issues.

The issues are that the computer no longer sees the card when I insert it. Try as I might, there is never any drive G. The card is being read by the camera, so I assume it is good. I tried another card - same thing. I then tried an older USB2 external card reader - a few days ago, it saw the card and imported the data. Tonight, I tried it again and neither the USB3 internal nor the USB2 external card readers will see any card I insert. The computer is seeing the external USB reader as it alarms on connection and shows four drives, but none of the shown drives has data.  I can copy a card on another machine to a thumb drive and the thumb drive will get read by my machine.

If I connect the USB cable to the camera and connect it to any USP port, even the USB3 on the Rosewill card reader, Lr opens and I can import my images without a problem. After doing this I reformatted my cards, in the camera, and this did not make any difference.

What would cause the computer to suddenly not recognize cards that in the past have worked perfectly?

[degrub]

Uninstall the drivers for those USB controllers, disable the devices, re boot, then reload either 1) manufacturers drivers, 2) windows update search based drivers to eliminate a previous update or corrupted dll that is being loaded. Otherwise you may have a hardware issue with the card contacts in the reader or an isssue with the controller interface.

Frank

[Remo Nonaz]

I checked the Device Manager and there was one item with a !. It seemed to be USB3 related, though it was not in the USB group. I found a driver for it on Asus' web page and installed it. This removed the !. I now have two items in the USB group that I think were missing before; Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host Controller and Intel USB3.0 Root Hub. I updated the drivers for these with drivers from Intel.

I tried the SD card reader and it worked once, then back to this new, bad behavior. I got the external USB2 hub to work twice (not in a row) and now it will not work at all. I do not have any ! in my Device Manager, but the bad behavior persists.

I'm stumped.

OK, a little progress.The external card reader seems to be working better. I works when connected to the USB2 ports or the USB3, which is on the Rosewill card reader. It seems ok whether the card is inserted before or after you connect to the USB. Still no luck with internal SD reader.

[Alan Goldhammer]

the fact that the USB port on the card reader is working indicates that the the USB connection to the computer motherboard is OK.  This means that the problem is likely the result of a poor contact with the reader and the inserted card.  It could be something got bent at one point.  What type of card are you reading?  I had an internal card reader where the CF card slot had a bent pin and it was totally useless.  Even though I build my own computers I never install an internal card reader as they are problematic if there is a failure at some point.  I rely on an external Kingston USB 3.0 reader and it's not failed yet.

[Erland]

How many internal drives are you using, and do you perhaps have any drive letter mapping problems in device manager?

[Remo Nonaz]

Good suggestions, all. I don' think there is a drive letter issue as I have not changed the drive letters in several months (C,F,E+D-DVD). I do have three drives and a removable drive bay, so I have quite a few, but the memory card drive letters are always up in the G,H,I,J range.

The bent pin in the card reader is an interesting idea. It might explain why once in a while the card reader works. I does not explain why the external card reader is also intermittent. I'll have to pull the reader out of the system and have a look at it.

[Remo Nonaz]

Well, you won't believe this. I shut down my computer and removed the internal card reader, disconnecting the USB3 header as well. I pulled off the plastic bezel so that I could see inside. All the "pins" for the SD reader looked fine. They are actually more like bent-over wires, that make contact with the metal on the card. There was a little dust.

Without cleaning the dust, putting the bezel back on, or reinstalling the unit, I reconnected the USB3 header and started the machine. Guess what? It works perfectly. I blew out the dust and installed it properly and it is still working perfectly. I have no idea why it has been behaving this way. Loose USB3 header? Perhaps.


Update... after working fine for a few tries, the card reader is no longer seeing the SD card. I tired disconnecting the USB3 cable again and the card is still not read. Very weird.

[degrub]

If it works out of case without issue, then likely a mechanical stress causing circuit issues.

Frank

[Remo Nonaz]

No, it was working with the bezel off, the bezel on and in and out of the computer chassis. I figured I had it fixed (somehow). Now it is not working at all. I can't reboot the system right now as I am waiting for a Lr catalog to backup to an off-site location and it takes a long time. Later I'll remove the USB3 connector and try rebooting a few times to see if something changes. I don't believe there is an issue with the card reader itself. I think there is something going wrong with the USB3 drivers.

[degrub]

Replace the cable ? Can you use a regular usb3 cable to it from an external port ?
Or plug the internal cable into a usb2 header if the pinout matches correctly ?

Frank

[Remo Nonaz]

OK, I think I have it. I went into the Bios and found several settings relative to the USB3.0 controller hub and the eXetnsible Host Controller. I made the following changes:

1. Intel XHCI mode Auto>Enable

2. EHCI (eXtensible Host Contoller Interface?) hand-off Disable>Enable

After doing this, the blue light on the card reader is on all the time. It was off before. When I insert the SD card, a green light comes on and stays on as long as the card is inserted. When the card is inserted, Lr launches. This is the way it is supposed to work. I don't know what could have changed in the BIOS settings, I've not been in there for months, but for now, all is well.

[degrub]

Chance the  bios ram battery is weak if the motherboard is older.

Frank

[Remo Nonaz]

No. I don't think so. The board is less than 6 months old. More likely, something got hosed up in the OS and created a situation where the BIOS settings needed to be changed. No other settings were off, so it was not like the board was set to default, which is what usually happens when the CMOS battery dies. That and your clock/calender goes haywire.

Just an odd thing, I guess. Working one day - screwed up the next. At any rate, it is working well now. 

[EduPerez]

I also have an internal USB3 card reader; I do not recall the brand right now, but coincidentally mine also has a blue LED for "connected" and a green LED for "operating". I also experienced intermittent issues with this card reader: sometimes the blue LED will not switch on, and the OS will simply fail to detect the card reader at all.

My BIOS has the same options as yours; however, disabling both "Intel xHCI mode" and "EHCI hands-off" seems to fix the issue for me. I am not sure I am using the full potential of USB3 now, but at least it works, and downloading from a CF card seems "fast enough" to me.

On the other hand, when "Intel xHCI mode" is enabled, my BIOS takes about 10 seconds more to boot into the OS. After changing that parameter, the first time I boot the computer the card reader will work flawlessly; but after a couple of reboots, it will disappear again.

[Remo Nonaz]

It's a mystery. I checked the default settings for my motherboard and the way my settings were is the default. http://http://www.manualslib.com/manual/324987/Asus-P8z77-V-Lk.html?page=83

I suspect that if I put these settings back to their default and reboot, the system will still work find. But, the card reader has been working perfectly for a week, so I think I will just leave it alone.

[John R]

I have similar problem, but not the reader, it's the adapter that plugs into reader and the way the adapter contacts the reader. Sometimes right on, others not. When things aren't right the subtext menus don't appear, like "delete". It acts like the card is in "lock" position. The culprit in my case is the adapter that plugs into the USB reader. But the same thing can be happening with your reader. What I do is place a piece of tape over the lock switch and then insert. At first I thought the lock switch was moving, but it turns out that the tape stabilizes the card and sometimes allows the contacts to properly contact. My previous multi-card reader, also did not work properly. Frankly, I am tired of this and will be purchasing a reader that does not need an adapter. I don't believe these readers and adapters are well made. So many people have problems with them.

And thanks to Alan for the Kingston card reader suggestion.

JR

[Bearmann]

Those USB ports always seem flaky. My external CF readers on my home computer only see the card if it is already inserted when I restart or boot up the computer. Then I think it remains live as long as I don't boot up the computer with an empty card slot. At work, I have an internal USB port that was working fine until I added a hard drive dock which pushed it to a new alphabet letter location. Now it's like my home computer- it only sees the thumb drive if the thumb drive is present during boot up. I tried some of the fixes previously suggested and others, but nothing fixed it. Try putting the card in first, then booting up the computer (or choose restart).