OT Dell Vostro - compact flash card reader question

Hello

Dell Vostro running XP. I read the compact flash cards from my Canon cameras
in its built in multi card reader. Before removing the card I open my
computer and right click to eject the card. The CF card icon greys out and
then I pull the card out. But; sometimes the card reader disappears. The
computer denies all knowledge of said reader. I can't get it to see the
reader, even with a reboot. I have to pull the card reader plug out of the
motherboard, when I stick it back it the computer sees the reader.

So, how do I get the computer;

a) Not to lose the reader in the first place?

b) To see the reader again without having to pull the plug off the
motherboard?

Cheers

John

 

Best give Dell a call.
If it's a known issue they may well have a patch for it. If it isn't then it
may well be a fault with the motherboard.

The Vostro series of crap that Dell is now selling are real cheap and nasty
things I'm afraid. Being an Ex Dell engineer I'm rather glad I don't work on
them any more.
All their other stuff is very good, I really don't know why they put their
good name at such risk by marketing this rubbish.

--
Greybeard

FLHR -03 UK (95 cu-in Stg 2. Big Boy 2!)

Garmin Zumo 550, To get me home!

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

Fairly common problem with XP, it's just getting confused about which
bits of hardware are removable.

Try using the icon in the system tray with the little green arrow
instead. Or you could delete the pictures on the camera instead and only
copy them off onto the PC, then you wouldn't have to worry about
filesystem corruption and you could just yank it out without ejecting it
properly.

 

Swot I do.

 

+1

 

There's an option in Vista (not sure about XP) that tells the OS to
write directly to the card, (rather than some memory or cache
somewhere before dumping to the card) so that the data on the card is
always consistent.

I had a similar issue, in that eject ejected the reader, not the card,
but once the option is set, you can hot plug the card as much as you
like.

Paul.