M70Vm Internal Card reader - card stuck in it!

Hey there

I have a bit of a problem with my Asus M70Vm...

...basically I got a Sony Pro Duo (for the PSP) memory stick stuck in the reader, I inserted it by mistake thinking it was my usual SD card (I was half asleep) and in my attempts to retrieve it I seem to have pushed it right in, to the point where I've broken the reader, or so it seems (there appears to be a metal strip hanging loose in the entrance way), and I can't get at the card to remove it, I've tried inserting a paper clip (power off of course) and the card will move from side to side but it won't move out, normally cards will just pop-out (iirc) but this one won't.

I've tried to dislodge it by shaking the laptop, but that didn't work either, hope my HDD is ok, seems to be...

Anyway it got to the point where I couldn't boot into one of my OS, Vista works fine but I had to boot into XP (I have setup a dual boot) in safe mode, wait for it to load the STDP.sys and press escape to stop it loading that before I could get XP to boot, it just kept BSODing and I couldn't note the error.

Anyway I managed to disable the card reader in the device manager and XP boots fine now so I'm not to worried about the fact the reader could be broken, but I'd like my card back...

I tried opening the case up but I took all the screws out and it wouldn't come apart so I don't think I can get at the reader.

Please can someone offer me some advice other than RMAing the laptop, I don't have a replacement and I can't really do without the laptop for any period of time at all.

Thanks in advance, hoping someone can help.

 

Try using a paper clip, straighten it out and bend a very small hook on the end 1-2mm , it might be advisable to remove the mains power and battery before you do this, and be very careful as you don't want to pull the card reader pins out.

or try a pair of tweezers.

good luck

 

Thanks tinderbox.

I used a paper clip and some super glue (stuck the clip to the Pro Duo card) and pulled it out that way.

The reader appears to function ok but I have to insert a card twice now to get XP to recognise it's there (on startup and initial insertion of card I get a dreaded yellow ! mark in Device Manager.), haven't tried Vista yet but at least XP is now booting ok with the card reader enabled.

Oh well I never really used it anyway, I just wanted to see if I could store some bits on my SD card for a change. I shall have to make sure I don't do these things when half asleep.

 

Try single sided tape into the card reader in as far as possible into the slot getting as much of it stuck to the top of the Sony Memorystick Pro Duo card as possible using paperclips and paddle pop sticks etc, and then pull the tape out to get the card out. Worked for me once.

oh my gosh.... I typed too slow... like I posted and then your 'I fixed it' appears above my post..
Glad you got the card out already.