I've had this system for a number of years now, and I ordered it with the
Dell multi card reader. Until now the only part of this reader I've used is
the firewire port that (IIRC) is on the same card (by which I mean that when
I originally ordered it I asked for a card reader and a firewire port and
they told me I didn't need the seperate firewire port if I had the card
reader). The firewire port works fine.
Yesterday for the first time ever I had occaision to use the card reader and
found that it didn't work - nothing at all. I'm not sure what I'd see, but I
was expecting a new device to appear in the "My Computer" screen - is this
right? I did some looking around in device manager to see if the card reader
was working, but I couldn't find anything that even looked vaguely like a
card reader - which category would it be listed under?
Anyway, before I go through the pain of ringing (or perhaps wringing) dell
support and following their techie go through the script (starting with
rewiring the house, then changing every item of furnature in the room etc
etc) I wondered if this was a known issue that people might be able to give
me a clue with.
> I did some looking around in device manager to see
> if the card reader was working, but I couldn't
> find anything that even looked vaguely like a
> card reader - which category would it be listed
> under?
It will most likely be a USB device. If it doesn't work at all, and
doesn't show up under the USB or storage device categories, it's time
to look inside the system and see if it is properly plugged in. It
will probably be a five or six pin plastic header that will plug into
a set of pins on the motherboard.
(It may not, however, be keyed so as to prevent improper insertion. If
this is the case, you should try to get a pinout for both the reader
and the connector on the motherboard. Some of this can be inferred--
thicker wires tend to carry power, where thinner ones will carry data.
If you get it wrong, you will probably "cook" the card reader. There
is a possibility that reversing the connection could also cause your
motherboard's USB controller to have "a bad day".)
> (starting with rewiring the house, then changing
> every item of furniture in the room etc etc)
You forgot the plumbing. Many USB problems are solved by removing,
cleaning and reinstalling all the drain traps.
<wm_walsh@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:381d1b78-2d37-418e-94f3-57824cca794a@24g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
> Hi!
>
>> I did some looking around in device manager to see
>> if the card reader was working, but I couldn't
>> find anything that even looked vaguely like a
>> card reader - which category would it be listed
>> under?
>
> It will most likely be a USB device. If it doesn't work at all, and
> doesn't show up under the USB or storage device categories, it's time
> to look inside the system and see if it is properly plugged in. It
> will probably be a five or six pin plastic header that will plug into
> a set of pins on the motherboard.
>
> (It may not, however, be keyed so as to prevent improper insertion. If
> this is the case, you should try to get a pinout for both the reader
> and the connector on the motherboard. Some of this can be inferred--
> thicker wires tend to carry power, where thinner ones will carry data.
> If you get it wrong, you will probably "cook" the card reader. There
> is a possibility that reversing the connection could also cause your
> motherboard's USB controller to have "a bad day".)
Thanks for that - I'll have a look tonight. I didn't realise it could be a
simple "physical" thing as well as a driver/config/phucked-hardware thing.
>> (starting with rewiring the house, then changing
>> every item of furniture in the room etc etc)
>
> You forgot the plumbing. Many USB problems are solved by removing,
> cleaning and reinstalling all the drain traps.
True enough - the last time I called Dell Support I'm sure they made me
change the brand of descaler in my boiler and switch to a non-bio detergent
in the washing machine (but I may be wrong because the memory was clouded by
the effort taken to move the house the required 7" to the north in case the
motherboard was sited over a lay line).
"PDR" <peter.rieden@nospam.baesystems.com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:48207d9f$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>
> <wm_walsh@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:381d1b78-2d37-418e-94f3-57824cca794a@24g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
>> Hi!
>>
>>> I did some looking around in device manager to see
>>> if the card reader was working, but I couldn't
>>> find anything that even looked vaguely like a
>>> card reader - which category would it be listed
>>> under?
>>
>> It will most likely be a USB device. If it doesn't work at all, and
>> doesn't show up under the USB or storage device categories, it's time
>> to look inside the system and see if it is properly plugged in. It
>> will probably be a five or six pin plastic header that will plug into
>> a set of pins on the motherboard.
>>
I have a Dimension 9150.
The card reader works problemless. I use it daily with Compact flash, SDcards and Sony
mem.sticks.
In Device Manager, I can see 4 lines under Storage devices.
They all refer to some "TEAC USB HS-MS card device"
I never use the firewire port. In fact I have disconnected it from the motherboard.
are you talking about an integrated (internal) card reader? sticking a card
into one of those will simply make the data available. the hardware is
already installed so no reason to expect a 'new hardware found' pop-up like
when you insert some external usb device. look in 'my computer' and you
should see a series of drive letters, one or more of which are for the card
reader... open those drives to see if you can view the contents of the
memory card.
"PDR" <peter.rieden@nospam.baesystems.com> wrote in message
news:48206e52$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> Dell Dimension 9100/XP-home/2Gb
>
> I've had this system for a number of years now, and I ordered it with the
> Dell multi card reader. Until now the only part of this reader I've used
> is the firewire port that (IIRC) is on the same card (by which I mean that
> when I originally ordered it I asked for a card reader and a firewire port
> and they told me I didn't need the seperate firewire port if I had the
> card reader). The firewire port works fine.
>
> Yesterday for the first time ever I had occaision to use the card reader
> and found that it didn't work - nothing at all. I'm not sure what I'd see,
> but I was expecting a new device to appear in the "My Computer" screen -
> is this right? I did some looking around in device manager to see if the
> card reader was working, but I couldn't find anything that even looked
> vaguely like a card reader - which category would it be listed under?
>
> Anyway, before I go through the pain of ringing (or perhaps wringing) dell
> support and following their techie go through the script (starting with
> rewiring the house, then changing every item of furnature in the room etc
> etc) I wondered if this was a known issue that people might be able to
> give me a clue with.
>
> All advice appreciated,
>
> PDR
>
Not necessarily. The built-in USB readers I have used and installed all pop up
with something to tell you that a flash stick of some sort has been detected.
The Dell USB readers I have seen are made by Teac, and they have no firewire
connection on them. The cable to the motherboard is a straight 9-pin one. But
Dell may use different variations of USB readers with and without firewire.
.... Ben Myers
On Tue, 6 May 2008 14:05:16 -0400, "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net>
wrote:
>are you talking about an integrated (internal) card reader? sticking a card
>into one of those will simply make the data available. the hardware is
>already installed so no reason to expect a 'new hardware found' pop-up like
>when you insert some external usb device. look in 'my computer' and you
>should see a series of drive letters, one or more of which are for the card
>reader... open those drives to see if you can view the contents of the
>memory card.
>
>"PDR" <peter.rieden@nospam.baesystems.com> wrote in message
>news:48206e52$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>> Dell Dimension 9100/XP-home/2Gb
>>
>> I've had this system for a number of years now, and I ordered it with the
>> Dell multi card reader. Until now the only part of this reader I've used
>> is the firewire port that (IIRC) is on the same card (by which I mean that
>> when I originally ordered it I asked for a card reader and a firewire port
>> and they told me I didn't need the seperate firewire port if I had the
>> card reader). The firewire port works fine.
>>
>> Yesterday for the first time ever I had occaision to use the card reader
>> and found that it didn't work - nothing at all. I'm not sure what I'd see,
>> but I was expecting a new device to appear in the "My Computer" screen -
>> is this right? I did some looking around in device manager to see if the
>> card reader was working, but I couldn't find anything that even looked
>> vaguely like a card reader - which category would it be listed under?
>>
>> Anyway, before I go through the pain of ringing (or perhaps wringing) dell
>> support and following their techie go through the script (starting with
>> rewiring the house, then changing every item of furnature in the room etc
>> etc) I wondered if this was a known issue that people might be able to
>> give me a clue with.
>>
>> All advice appreciated,
>>
>> PDR
>>
>
"Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:LOCdnUsy3OJAAL3VnZ2dnUVZWhednZ2d@earthlink.co m...
> are you talking about an integrated (internal) card reader? sticking a
> card into one of those will simply make the data available. the hardware
> is already installed so no reason to expect a 'new hardware found' pop-up
> like when you insert some external usb device. look in 'my computer' and
> you should see a series of drive letters, one or more of which are for the
> card reader... open those drives to see if you can view the contents of
> the memory card.
....and that's the point. There are no drive letters assigned to the card
reader (whether there are any cards in the reader or not). Putting cards in
the reader causes precisely nothing to happen - no "new hardware" pop-up and
no change in the My Computer screen giving access to the card(s). I've tried
this with MMC, SD and XD cards with the same result.
The reader is the option unit supplied with the system when new - I think it
was called a "13 in 1 card reader" (although the "13" could easily have been
any other number between 11 and 19 inclusive). It's physically an
"integrated" unit in that it sits in a drive bay below the two DVD drives,
but I have no idea whether it is *electronically* an integrated unit (ie one
that's connected to the disc controller or a card on the bus) or, as some
have suggested, an internally connected USB device. I didn't get to look at
it last night - SWMBO found me some urgent little jobs to fill my time, but
I'll have another look tonight.
"PDR" <peter.rieden@nospam.baesystems.com> wrote in message
news:48216287$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>
> "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:LOCdnUsy3OJAAL3VnZ2dnUVZWhednZ2d@earthlink.co m...
>> are you talking about an integrated (internal) card reader? sticking a
>> card into one of those will simply make the data available. the hardware
>> is already installed so no reason to expect a 'new hardware found' pop-up
>> like when you insert some external usb device. look in 'my computer' and
>> you should see a series of drive letters, one or more of which are for
>> the card reader... open those drives to see if you can view the contents
>> of the memory card.
>
> ...and that's the point. There are no drive letters assigned to the card
> reader (whether there are any cards in the reader or not). Putting cards
> in the reader causes precisely nothing to happen - no "new hardware"
> pop-up and no change in the My Computer screen giving access to the
> card(s). I've tried this with MMC, SD and XD cards with the same result.
>
> The reader is the option unit supplied with the system when new - I think
> it was called a "13 in 1 card reader" (although the "13" could easily have
> been any other number between 11 and 19 inclusive). It's physically an
> "integrated" unit in that it sits in a drive bay below the two DVD drives,
> but I have no idea whether it is *electronically* an integrated unit (ie
> one that's connected to the disc controller or a card on the bus) or, as
> some have suggested, an internally connected USB device. I didn't get to
> look at it last night - SWMBO found me some urgent little jobs to fill my
> time, but I'll have another look tonight.
>
> PDR
I have a card reader installed on my Dell XPS400...original factory install.
It will read 11 types of cards and has 4 card slots. Each slot is assigned a
drive letter which shows up in My Computer whether or not a card is
installed..in my case W,X,Y,Z. The device is conected to the MB via USB
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.
"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.
Dimension 9100 card reader 
Linear Mode
