SD Card Reader (built in) Toshiba problem

Please excuse if this is the wrong place for this question, I've searched and read and searched some more. I have a built in card reader (Secure Digital Host Controller, SDA Standard compliant in device manager: A 5-in-1 integrated Bridge Media Reader) on a Satellite P105-S6024 Notebook, Intel Core Duo Processor T2050, 1.6GHz, with Centrino Technology, 2GB RAM, 100GB Hard Drive, 17-inch WXGA+ TFT Display, 8X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Media Center 2005. (Sometimes referred to as Windows XP Pro)

I insert my same two or three Kodak SD Memory cards with whatever data and they open immediately. Every time I attempt to insert someone else's SD card, whether a different brand camera or card or not, windows has found new hardware and wants to locate the drivers for it.... which it never finds. I cannot read the cards.

Is this normal behavior? On my old Dell Dimension 8200 with a USB attached card reader, it just opens the folder with the contents as it should. This is a very frustrating as I need to be able to access any SD Card that I insert, as this is what I mostly do with the laptop. I was wondering if anyone had any idea how to fix this problem, and is it Toshiba or is it Windows?

Since this is a Review group, while I'm here I might add that I love the laptop. It gets pretty heavy use, still working on the same battery the first year, and is fast and have had no problems except there was no remote control as listed on the description and Toshiba is extremely lacking in help and support.
I've had a few blue screens, but haven't had the time to pursue them, and rebooting seems to always fix the problem. All media laptops should have 4 GB of RAM with any heavy photo editing or video usage. It's also nice to play a DVD without turning on the computer, but difficult with no remote.

Thanks for any suggestions on the SD Card problem.
Tim

 

What capacity are your SD cards and those of your friends?

4GB or larger cards are SDHC which, as a minimum, may need an updated driver, or may not work at all.

John

 

I've used a 256, 512 and 2GB with success. My friends are usually 2GB Kodak and I tried a 1GB in another brand a while ago and could not read them on my laptop, but could on my desktop (USB Card Reader)
It seems that anyone else's card requires some type of hardware update, although I've never successfully achieved any installation because it can't find it.

Thanks
Tim

 

I've not encountered this type of problem but I wonder whether a driver update might fix it. Do you know what the card reader controller is (it can be difficult to find out)?

Also, have you updated to XP SP3? It contains a multitude of fixes.

John

 

Under device manager, it just says SD Host Controller: SDA Standard Compliant. The driver is Microsoft 10/1/02 version 6.0.4069.1. When I attempt to update driver it says there are none available. (Seems a little outdated huh?)
I have put off installing SP3 on advice by others and reading tech forums. I have updated everything else with Windows Update, which says that it pretty much covers everything that is in the SP3 upgrade. I've heard lots of nightmares.

 

install SP3 there are 4 different hotfixes for card readers that are not in SP2

if you are that worried about SP3,,, create a RESTORE POINT before doing the update,,,, even though it will create one when it does the update,,,

if you have bad problems due to SP3 boot into safe mode and uninstall it

but as john suggests.... SP3 is your best bet for a quick easy painless fix..

BTW i have been using SP3 since release candidate 2 came out in FEBUARY...
and have had no negative issues due to it.

 

I had a storage related problem on my Dell E1505, because my system wouldnt recognize large capacity SDHC cards. I installed a driver update which John recommended to me, and my sdhc cards work fine now. You can try it too, here is a link, hopefully it helps. (This is for XP)

http://www.woodclanland.co.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=520

K-TRON

 

I've updated to SP3 and it did not fix the problem. I'm trying to read a friends 1GB 'SanDisk SD Card and get a yellow exclamation mark in device manager as it will not start. Code 10. Now sure how you would ever find a driver update for a built in card reader.
It's odd, because I have lots of friends with laptops and they do not have the same intermittent problem.