SD card reader issue: I'll Paypal $10 to the first person that can help me

First of all, I am not very good with computers so when you explain things, I would need to know step by step.

I have a Studio XPS 1640 and I'm having trouble with my built in SD card reader. I never used a SD card before but I'm guessing this happened after I ugraded to Windows 7 from Vista. I did not do a clean install and just upgraded so all the programs and drivers remained by the way.

When I insert my SDHC card into my computer, it makes a sound like when you plug something in the USB port which makes me think that the computer recognizes it but nothing pops open. Also when I'm in Devices and Printers under Control Panel, the SD card reader icon only shows up under the Devices section when my SDHC card is plugged into my computer. As soon as I remove the SDHC card, the icon disappears. When the SD card reader icon is showing, there is a yellow exclamation point by it and under the Device status it reads "This device cannot start. (Code 10)." I also pressed on Troubleshoot but that did nothing. Updating the drives did nothing as well.

Also when I go on My Computer, there is no icon for the SD card reader under Devices with Removable Storage. All I have is the Bluray player.

I also tried uninstalling the drivers for it since they might be corrupted. But I wasn't sure which drivers to uninstall so I uninstalled all the following below and reinstalled the new driver Ricoh from Dell's webpage.
-Under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers: Ricoh Memory Stick Controller, Ricoh SD/MMC Host Controller, Ricoh xD-Picture Card Controller.
-Ricoh 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller
-SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller

After I uninstall all the drivers above and after I restart my computer, everything gets reinstalled automatically once I plug the SDHC card in my computer and it seems like I always get back to where I was and this does not seem to help at all.

I also read online to go in My Computer>Organize>Folder and search option>and uncheck where it says Hide empty drives in the Computer folder, but this did not help either. What else can I do to get this card reader to work?

 

When you click uninstall in Device Manager, do you check the box to also remove the driver files? Try that until the devices fail to reinstall on reboot, then install the Dell Drivers.

 

yeah I checked the box to remove the driver files too but they all still reinstall automatically on reboot.

 

Try just a regular SD card (not SDHC) and see if it works

 

dont pay me if this works, but try blowing (like with your mouth or canned air) the slot on the laptop for the sd card to go in. this used to happen to me all the time on my m1330 and ive seen it happen on a few other models.

hope it works!

 

download and install this

Drivers and Downloads

 

The drivers probably doesnt support SDHC so try update it with proper W7 drivers.

Also check if it shows up in Disk Management.

 

I second this, this was always the missing device driver when doing a clean install on the SXPS16 series.

 

It was missing on my clean install on my 17 too. That's why it seems weird that it's not eventually finding no drivers when uninstalling and choosing to delete the driver files a few times.

 

This method also works great on a Nintendo Entertainment System.

 

Haha, yea that thing was so freakin picky. I had to put the cartridge in so it just cleared the front or it wouldn't load.

 

I uninstalled my old drivers and installed what you gave me before rebooting. Then once the new installed, I restarted my computer and it seems the old drivers are back on my computer?

Also the blowing trick did not work as well.

Thanks for trying though guys.

 

I formatted my 1640 recently, and I think the SD Card reader driver is Ricoh 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller.

 

^does your SD card reader work using SDHC's? I do have that driver you mentioned by the way but it doesn't work for me.

I have a feeling my drivers are corrupted but I can't seem to get rid of them completely without them reinstalling automatically after reboot. I seem to have like 5 drivers for my SD card reader which I don't understand at all.

I'm sure I'm suppose to uninstall all 5 of the drivers I listed. Then restart the computer and install the new driver but I can't seem to do just that.

 

Use this driver if you haven't already:

Drivers and Downloads

 

I would try this. I'm assuming you're using the downloads linked in this thread.

Open Device Manager (type into the seach bar in the start menu) and double click the SD reader. It should have a yellow exclamation point on it. It may have a question mark or red X.

Click on the Drivers tab, click update driver. Choose browse my computer. Next screen, click Let me pick from a list, click have disk, enter C:\dell\drivers\R227769 as the path (unless you changed this when trying to install the driver normally.) If you are prompted about a compatibility issue choose install anyways.

 

^I just tried doing that but when I enter C:\dell\drivers\R227769, it tells me that "The folder you specified doesn't contain driver software for your device. Select a folder that contains your driver software and try again." Nothing seems to work.

 

Did you try the link I provided? It supports win 7 for your laptop model

Edit: forget it. I didn't realize the exact same link was above my original post