How Does the SD Slot on the i9330 work?

I have two 32 mb San Disk MMCs and when I put either of them in NOTHING happens. I also don't see any icons or files indicating the existance of my flippin built in SD slot (sorry if I sound frustrated). I checked the device manager and the SD thingamabob is listed and is enabled yet nothing is going on when insert the cards. And SD = MMC so I don't see what the problem is.

Anyway, could ya help me out?

*SIGH*

 

Don't be insulted if any of these suggestions are overly basic (or not at al helpful-sorry then); the most inteligent people will get flaming mad at something that doesn't work only to realize it's not plugged in...

You may need to assign a drive letter in storage management (right click "my computer", click "manage", double click "storage" and see if it's listed there)

Maybe the drive letter is quietly appearing under my computer and you just didn't notice it.

Maybe the contacts are dirty or it's not being inserted fully, or upside down.

inspiron 9300
1.6GHz
1GB DDR2
X300 128mb
DVD DL

 

Sorry. None of that worked. It's not showing up as a drive for me to even change the letter of. Yet it's listed under device management.

So I tried the management trick and the only storage devices listed are the DVD drive and the Hard Drive. And when I plug in my usb flash drive it will show up too.

And you know the SD slot is built in so...

And it's label side up right?

i9300
~Nividea Go6800
~60 gb 7200rpm hard drive
~1 gb of ram
~DVD R/RW
~WUXGA (which I have no problems with except the dark spots and a dead pixel)
~Crappy SD Slot!

 

forgot more details:
sdbus.sys 66 KB 8/10/2004 5:00 AM

Dell 9300 * 2.0ghz sonoma * 1gig ram * 256mg nvidia wuxga * xp media center * dvd dual layer * 80gig 5400 * bluetooth * wireless a/b/g *

 

dumb question but are the sandisk cadddddddddddddddddddd ( hey look at that I just popped my "D" key out - my finger got under the key )
ok "D" key back in LOL

is the san disk locked ?
I put mine in just now ( 256mg ) and the "drive" window popped up right away.
In device manager it is listed as: Secure Digital host controllers
SDA Standard compliant SD Host controller
Driver: C:\WINDOWSsystem32DRIVERSsdbus.sys
version 6.0.4069.1 from Microsoft

look for that file

Dell 9300 * 2.0ghz sonoma * 1gig ram * 256mg nvidia wuxga * xp media center * dvd dual layer * 80gig 5400 * bluetooth * wireless a/b/g *

 

One more thing, open a dos window and type: echo %PATH%
and see if you have:
C:WINDOWSsystem32;C:WINDOWS;C:WINDOWSsystem32Wbem;
in there

Dell 9300 * 2.0ghz sonoma * 1gig ram * 256mg nvidia wuxga * xp media center * dvd dual layer * 80gig 5400 * bluetooth * wireless a/b/g *

 

do you have another card to try? or does the card work in other stuff but not in the 9300 ...
did you do a reformat install or is this the default dell install

Dell 9300 * 2.0ghz sonoma * 1gig ram * 256mg nvidia wuxga * xp media center * dvd dual layer * 80gig 5400 * bluetooth * wireless a/b/g *

 

Here's a screenshot and scan of the memory card.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/FuzzyShots/SDSlothelpshot.jpg

i9300
~Nividea Go6800
~60 gb 7200rpm hard drive
~1 gb of ram
~DVD R/RW
~WUXGA (which I have no problems with except the dark spots and a dead pixel)
~Crappy SD Slot!

 

I see, just saw where you said you have 2 of 'em.
maybe we can look into the brand of card reader it is and see if there is something with the MMC thing that is doesn't like -

Dell 9300 * 2.0ghz sonoma * 1gig ram * 256mg nvidia wuxga * xp media center * dvd dual layer * 80gig 5400 * bluetooth * wireless a/b/g *

 

Now where would I find that info at?

Dell perhaps? I tried digging up info but it was getting confusing and hard. I'm not down with confusing and hard.

i9300
~Nividea Go6800
~60 gb 7200rpm hard drive
~1 gb of ram
~DVD R/RW
~WUXGA (which I have no problems with except the dark spots and a dead pixel)
~Crappy SD Slot!

 

found this

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/flashcard-test/flashcard-test-p2.html

"Today, however, SD has replaced MMC almost entirely. SD controllers are compatible with MMC but as far as I know some players that excellently work with SD 256 refuse to deal with MMC 256."

Perhaps the 9300 has one of those players that like SD but don't like MMC ....

[ ]

Dell 9300 * 2.0ghz sonoma * 1gig ram * 256mg nvidia wuxga * xp media center * dvd dual layer * 80gig 5400 * bluetooth * wireless a/b/g *

 

awww monkey butts. That's what I was afradid of.

Thanks homie for the help.

Guess a usb cable is in order (the MMCs go into this really old mp3 player).

i9300
~Nividea Go6800
~60 gb 7200rpm hard drive
~1 gb of ram
~DVD R/RW
~WUXGA (which I have no problems with except the dark spots and a dead pixel)
~Crappy SD Slot!

 

that's it, too many weirdos (see above post) in this forum for my likes, i'm done at notebookreview.com

 

does anyone know where to get the drivers for the sd host controller?
i have the dell driver disk and i looked on dell's driver website but couldnt find it.

 

so i called dell tech support and they said that the laptop was bad.
i need to send it in for repairs and stuff.

does anyone have a better solution?
or what about asking for compensation? would that be impossible?
i use this for my work and going without it would be extremely inconvenient for me.

 

just the standard. i got the laptop on the 17th. so it hasnt even been 2 weeks yet.

 

now that i think about it, i think that 2 of the same model laptops having problems with the same component means one of two things: 1. their tech support doesnt know what they are doing and it's some really odd way of fixing the issue, or 2. this component probably shouldnt have been included into the laptop. i'm hoping it's #1. can anyone help tell me how they make the laptop sd card slot work? maybe the technical support person didnt know how to help me do it.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>
I will tell you that I don't know if my SD card slot would work effectively on the Dell I have that is defective (being picked up Monday) . But it is broken. My personal technician noticed after I pointed something out that looked wrong/broken. Quality control for any company in the world has some problems. Some win awards but they still do not check every single part!
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Don't get your hopes up on the replacement working. Mine has the same issue. No obviously broken parts, SD reader shows up in device manager. Impossible to understand tech support had me send the laptop in to replace the motherboard. Came back with a (supposedly) new mobo and an upgraded bios (v02). Same issue. Tech support claims it's obviously a bad laptop and issues me a replacement built new from scratch. Same issue. Hardware build is close to the same as yours. Less memory, smaller drive, same screen, same SD slot quality.

We'll see tonight what their customer service can do to save this sale.

 

did per chance both of you reinstall xp? I didn't and mine works perfectly in fact it is the fastest card slot I have used. I only use sd cards though not mmc.

The other thing I have had bad readers blow out the formatting of the card. You sure it isn't that it thinks the card isn't formatted cause some other reader blew it up. I had very odd results when I had this problem.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JustJimDelany

 

I have not reinstalled anything. I did remove some of the junk but that is all. The SD slot worked the first time I tried it and every time. But just to be clear I am using a sandisk 512mb card (sd not MMC) I use it in an IPAQ. I use the sd slot to back the thing up so I sometimes do this more than once a week.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

You said the device driver is loaded, once a card is inserted does the disk manager see it?

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JustJimDelany

 

Suppose I should note since it was asked earlier -

I have one Sony SD memory stick, two san disk pro duo memory sticks, and a converter to allow pro duo sticks to be used in a standard SD slot.

All three sticks of memory have been successfully tested in a separate PC as well as the two pro duo sticks having been tested (and regularly used) in a PSP.

 

Not that it helps whatsoever, but the original Ricoh unit that shipped with some 6000's and some other systems was a Ricoh R5C590 controller. Conveniently for users fortunate enough to have this chipset, ASUS has a laptop using that chipset which fixes the issue. Seems the current Dell chipset is R5C576A and seems to no longer be compatible any longer. It'll put a SD / MMC drive in your 'My Computer' folder, but none of my cards will read for me. Always prompts to 'insert a disk'.

Spent roughly four and a half hours on the phone with hardware and software support and paid to open a software ticket since they initially said they could resolve my issue before determining they couldn't (after having charged me). Last contact I had was with hardware telling me that a manager would be calling me in 5-10 minutes roughly an hour ago.

 

Have you tried a read sd card IE no adapter? Perhaps someone you know has one. It is possible it doesn't stand the adapter.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JustJimDelany

 

You keep saying stick, I assume you mean you have a sony product which uses Memory Sticks and you have one of those memory stick to sd adapters.

I mean don't use the adapter. Get a real sd card and try that.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JustJimDelany
I mean don't use the adapter. Get a real sd card and try that.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Perhaps I was causing some confusion then. The existing cards I had were Pro Duo sticks, the small cards roughly an inch long that fit in the PSP and require an adapter to be used in the inspiron 9300. The additional stick that I purchased is about another half-inch longer, a little wider, and is the same dimensions as the adapter. All cards have the SD image displayed on them (looks like a symmetrical M with three lines under it), two are made by Sony (one Pro Duo, one SD card) and one is made by SanDisk.

None of the three cards work in the Inspiron 9300, while all work in a separate PC I own with a multi card reader as well as the PSP.

 

Yea I forgot those small sd cards even exist. I have sandisk products and have no problems. I can see that with no card in the disk management thing does not even show up. When you insert the card is there anything there. If there is format it in there.

control panel - administrative tools - computer management - disk management

The drives are numbered so be careful what you do!!!!

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>When you insert the card is there anything there.<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

No, there's nothing in the disk management plugin. Inserting a SD card literally does nothing at all on the default SDIO drivers. Not even a momentary cursor change to a 'working' icon.

 

last nite my friend came over to help me w/ some stuff. he has one of those big ass phone/pda things that has an sd card slot. i stuck his sd card into my slot and it worked fine.

why would his work but the 2 sd cards that i use at the office not? we tried those 2 in at least 3 other readers and they worked fine there.

 

Well that is an interesting tidbit I think the pda can format them it would be interesting to see if they re-appear when formatted again. I had a problem kind of like this with mine that turned out to be a bad usb reader and it killed the formatting on the sd. Now I can't remember but one of them had problems. There couldn't be an option in the bios to turn that off could there be? That would be frustrating if there is.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JustJimDelany

 

the one that worked was brand sansdisk.
the ones that didnt were brands pny, viking, kodiak.
think they were all 32mb cards.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by pdk902

 

I use a sandisk 512mb card and the sd slot sees it no problem.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JustJimDelany

 

sda compliant sd host controller

date 10/1/2002
version 6.0.4069.1


but I lied about one thing the 512mb card is a kingston
on the bottom of the label it says 30330-004 a00 p736874x1

I do have a 256mb sandisk that ust be the one I was thinking of. I just tried it and it works too. I just tried both of them they work fine.

Sandisk card simply says SD card on the side. Kingston card don't really say much on it. This probably means that they are nothing special. At least in memory sticks the some of the Sony cards have encryption stuff in them and they will not read in other memory stick readers. I don't know how that related to the Secure Digital cards.

So the cards I am using are the standard Secure Digital cards not the small ones. Also I just checked the cards are formatted in the fat system (probably not fat32) I bet they don't have a partition table in them and they DO NOT appear in the disk manager for some reason. I know that this is not always the case because I wrote a program which read and wrote images of compact flash cards which had an odd format that could not stand the partition table. You don't suppose those cards have a partition table and this thing can't stand that. It seems odd that they don;t appear in the disk manager I know that the others did as that is where I figured out the disk number, you read and write then by that.
The driver is in it's own catagory (not in usb or something)

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JustJimDelany

 

And here I thought I was the only one having trouble.

i9300
~Nividea Go6800
~60 gb 7200rpm hard drive
~1 gb of ram
~DVD R/RW
~WUXGA (which I have no problems with except the dark spots and a dead pixel)
~Crappy SD Slot!

 

Well I don't know about sd cards but the memory sticks over I think 128 mb have some encryption stuff in them which actually burns up some of the memory and you can't get rid of it. I didn't know that any sd cards have any of that encryption stuff. I causes problems with the memory sticks.

Mine just works. I only have 2 cards so that is all I can test but at this point I have no reason to believe it will not work.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JustJimDelany

 

This seems so incredible that I wonder if we are talking the same thing about 2 different things. SD cards are about the size of a stamp, memory sticks (sony kind) are about as wide as a sd but 2" long (I think there are little ones now). Memory sticks (in my terms) generally are in sony things only. Sd cards are in some cameras, HP IPAQs and are in this computer.

SD cards and memory sticks are very close to the same width but they aren't electrically compatible I don't think. Could in all of this you be using these instead of what I am calling a sd card. MMC is yet something else and old though I thought they would work too. It is hard to believe getting s couple of computers and none work, not to mention a couple of people.

If you temporarily plug the sd usb adapter in to the computer does that work. You should not need any druver.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center