Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

[casecutter]

Ok, I am sick of this damn USB 2.0 internal card reader. It just will not install properly. When I first put it in, it recognized and installed. THen after a few reboots, it disappeared off of "My Computer" aand appeared as an unknown device in "hardware manager". I have spent the better part of a week googling the subject looking for answers. The few suggestions I found were basically worthless. I tried starting in safe mode to clean out the USB stuff with the "show hidden devices" tab. That produced no results. In fact, it didn't even show any extra hidden devices. Anyone else get tortured by one of these things? I am ready to throw it out the window. And before I am asked, there are no drivers to load for it, WIN XP is supposed to do all that. And I even tried loading WIN 2000 drivers for it and it won't even start the install because it cannot be found. It is a Vantec USB 2.0 Internal Card reader. Anyone?!?!?!?

[casecutter]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

- bump -

Anyone?

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

My friend just bought a 1GB USB flash drive. Had no USB ports on the back of his computer left, so he plugged the ones on the front of case into the motherboard and then pluged in his usb device... XP found it as an unknown device. He then pulled it out of the USB port and it was HOT. He later found out he had pluged the USB cords in the wrong way and fried his flash drive.

Check to make sure it's plugged in the right way. You may have killed it.

[casecutter]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

I am 100% sure it was plugged in properly. It did actully install correctly when I first installed it and 4 removeable drives showed up in My Computer. I even transferred files from a SD, MMC and a Compact Flash card for 2 days before it stopped cooperating. I have had this issue before with other PCs and these damn flash drives. I have only built 1 PC that liked the flashdrive and it was a MATX MSI board. I have also read up on the subject on google and found many people with the same problem, just noone has a solution. Windows XP sucks and is a pain in the ass when it comes to USB problems. Oh well.

[[email protected]]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

Yup, I had the same happen with a different brand usb memory card reader. It showed 4 removable drives, but none of them worked. After working with it for about half an hour, I gave up and used a different computer. It worked fine on that one. I later turned off the computer and then plugged it in on the funky computer that put up the 4 removable drives. It worked for once. I'm not sure if it will work on yours, but atleast it's a stab at the problem. The problem is deffinately with the operating system, not the usb reader. Hope this helps.

[casecutter]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

I love how it states that no drivers are needed for Win XP, just plug and play. What a crock. I am looking into Windows alternatives as we speak. I am more that sick of the issues with Microsoft's garbage. I have had the same success as you, what works on one PC may not work on another.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

Have you tried Windows Update? It's possible, abiet unlikely, that XP does indeed have it available as a driver download.

[zorelak]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

Hi all, I was looking for a solution to this problem about a month ago and stumbled upon this forum just to find out there were a few more like me out there, but I have the solution now so I came back to share it with you all, I have WinXP running on my PC and all I did was update to Service Pack 2 and the problem is gone, I can use my card reader anytime I want now, it's a Vantec all in one reader, or the temporary solution for me was to go to Control Panel, System and Device Manager and erase the reader from there (wich has an exclamatino point on it) and reboot, it should recognize it again for about 1 or 2 more reboots, well my job is done hope this helps you all.

[casecutter]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

I already was onservice pack 2. My issue was never resolved and I just uninstalled it. I tried everything you mentioned and even tried some much more extreme methods.

[maximus7001]

Re: Unknown device - USB Card reader won't install

Those things are actually meant to be plugged into a usb port when the computer is on. But many makers use the same device and put connections on to plug onto the pins of the mobo instead of the intended usb plug. This make it hard to connect all of the pins at the same time like they are suposed to be.(that is if they are individual and not on a 9 pin block)(I soldered a 9 pin block onto one and that made it stay connected)

And yes these things are torture sometimes.