Problem with USB 2.0 card reader on Vista
 

Hi,

I've just bought an unbranded memory card card reader from Novatech and when I plugged it into my Vista Ultimate PC, it was recognised and the drivers were automatically installed (it didn't come with a drivers CD or anything else).
However, when I insert an SD card, nothing happens. The drive appears in Windows Explorer, but if I try to access it, Explorer just keeps trying to access the reader/card (without success), until I kill it off.

I'm thinking that either the card reader is not compatible with Vista (?!?!?...it's just a frickin' card reader...how could that be?!?), OR it's a duff unit.

Anybody had any similar experiences with Vista? Any idea if/where I could get some working drivers?

There's no information about support on the packaging, not even a web site and the Novatech site has no further information.

Help...

There was another thread here the other day about issues with USB memory in vista. Some stuff is compatible, some is not.

Component swapping is the way to go to get the answer you need. Ideally get your hands on some other sd cards and see if the memory reader can use those in Vista. If it can, then you know that the card itself is faulty.

The only other thing you can do is contact Novatech to see if they know of any Vista issues concerning the reader you have bought.

Oh, one final thing. Update your motherboard drivers. Those drivers have the USB drivers you are relying on. Thats a long shot as Vista did recognise the reader, just not the card you put in the reader.

Thanks for the reply.

I went back to Novatech and tested the card reader on one of their laptops without any problems. Different memory card, but that shouldn't matter - my work laptop is Vista and can read the same cards.

So I think it comes down to the motherboard drivers, as you suggest. I've updated the Bios as a longshot, but there are no Vista drivers for my Shuttle SN95G5v2 PC, which uses the nVidia nForce3 chipset (and there never will be any, because nVidia have said so).

There are XP drivers, but I'm not sure of the possible ramifications of installing those. I don't want to totally f**k up my PC. OR have to spend hours sorting it out.

Does anybody have any ideas?

Yea don't install the XP drivers, they will either not install at all, or as you say feck it up.

Not alot you can do really, apart from asking for a different make of card.

My desktop is nforce3 to, Gigabyte mobo thou, but using standard Vista drivers. As you mentioned Nvidia have no Vista drivers for nforce3. Not had any issues yet. So not sure why yours isn't playing.

Do you mean to try a different card reader?

This is really annoying. I'm really p**sed off with nVidia...

They released beta Vista drivers for nForce3...said they would release full ones and then pulled the whole thing.

Thanks for the advice.

Yeh Nvidia sux ass, I won't be buying a mobo with their chipset from them again.

Wait for Vista sp1? you never know it might work. Or just go back to trusty old XP.

I'm currently tribooting XP, n Vista Enterprise/Ultimate just in case.

I'm still waiting for my nForce2 Vista drivers :lol1: :(

Something tells me they will never get around to doing them :cry: Apart from the lack of drivers, this machine flies in Vista.

As a last ditch effort, I plugged in my old USB hub and then connected the card reader to it.

Guess what? I can now see the cards connected to the reader...

Weird.

Anyway, that means I don't have to waste any more time on this problem, so I'm happy!

Hmm, could be a power issue then with the PC's USB ports. Most USB hubs come with a power supply. They use this to not only power the hub, but also the devices you plug into it.

When a device is directly plugged into a PC it relies on the PC supplying the power (unless the device has its own power brick)