Dimension 9100 card reader

"Martin Gerhold" <martin.gerhold@baesystems.dot.com> wrote in message
news:4822c055$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> "PDR" <peter.rieden@nospam.baesystems.com> wrote in message
> news:4822bdb3$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>> Thanks for all your help, peeps - problem is solved. As ever, I was
>> looking for a complex solution for a simple problem! I pulleed the side
>> panel off last night and had a good look at the unit. On the back of the
>> card reader there was a socket. Lying on the chassis frame directly below
>> it was a ribon cable with a connector which matched the socket remarkably
>> well. On plugging the cable onto the socket four new drive letters
>> suddenly appeared...
>>
>> :0)
>>
>> The connector is a double-row header type (the fifty thou pin-spacing
>> format) and it doesn't seem to have any positive retention in the
>> socket - I get the impression that winds above 10mph could disengage it.
>> I'm guessing that it became detached during shipping when I first got the
>> machine, but I never noticed until I tried to use the unit last week.
>
> One thing to watch out for: if you are used to using the Windows
> 'disconnect' tray thingy before removing external USB devices, don't do it
> for the card reader - it will effectively shut it down, removing the drive
> letters. Only a reboot will bring them back. I guess you just have to
> 'be sure' all file transfers have completed before you physically remove
> the card.

Thanks for that Martin. I'm amused that you're only a couple of floors away
from me and yet we find ourselves communicating via an american newsfroup!

PDR

Hi!

> One thing to watch out for: if you are used to using the Windows
'disconnect'
> tray thingy before removing external USB devices, don't do it for the card
> reader - it will effectively shut it down, removing the drive letters.

Windows XP (and presumably later, though I'd hate to assume that Vista got
anything right) is supposed to be "aware" of devices like USB attached
storage. This arrangement is supposed to let you remove the memory device
(or card) without explicitly stopping it. Most of the time it actually
works.

But if you really want to be sure, right click the drive letter in My
Computer that represents the memory card you are working with. Choose
"EJECT". Windows will flush out any data and you can remove the card a few
seconds later. This method doesn't cause the whole card reader to shut down.

William