I have an HP M7760N Media pc and it has a built in card reader, running vista home premium.

When I stick my SD card in from my camera, I get one of two reactions.

The built in card reader light comes ON and the card reader is recognized and shows in my computer as SD CARD SLOT.

And the other reaction is it does nothing (unless I reboot it) not showing in computer drive menus, no light comes on when card is inserted, acts dead so to speak.

I would say its a 50 50 sorta thing, if it doesn't "see" the drive or card i just reboot and suddenly the light comes on, the drive is found and works, but then 2 hrs later i go to insert a card again to dump more pics and same thing its hit or miss if it will work (no drive showing in computer list and no light on media reader showing card is inserted) until I reboot.

Any ideas what I can do or try to solve this from being so flaky?

Has worked in the past many times over no problems day in day out, even tried a different sd card, thought maybe it was just the card but no luck on that.

Bill

This is often caused by the USB device or memory card being removed before the operating system is ready for it to be removed. Optimizing for quick removal forces the OS to write to the device immediately instead of waiting for a later opportunity - which may never come. Even if it has nothing to write, it may think it has yet to flush the cache.

To minimize cache related problems, under My Computer, right click on the Removable Disk, then select Properties > Hardware. Highlight the removable device and select Properties > Policies, then ensure the "Optimize for quick removal" radio button is ticked, and "OK" your way back out. You still should wait a second or two to ensure the write is complete, but then you can just safely pull the stick, or other USB device, without going through the Safely Remove Hardware icon.

Thanks on that will certainly apply those changes...

I do wait for the card to get done dumping and such, but could have been my wife running in to zap pics quick oneday she does that often, ill be talking to her about that too just count to ten ill be tellng her hehe

Bill

Humm went in for all 4 if the removable disk icons and all were set at

Optimize for quick removal

sometimes the icons for the removable disks dont even show up unless i reboot. makes me wonder how that card reader plugs in, might look inside the case maybe something is loose or something i dunno, but it works when it wants to moreso at random, today all drives show and work tomorrow who knows...

It most likely just connects to a motherboard USB connection which certainly could have wiggled loose in shipping, vibration from fan and drive bearings, clumsy feet, and banging vacuum cleaners. It could be on the reader side too - loose connection, dust, etc. That said, I am not convinced the entire USB technology is very robust in first place, or 2.0 place. Hopefully, USB 3.0 will be more reliable, but that is still a year or two out.