SD Card Reader Not Working

The first and foremost purpose of the SD card is to save digital media including images, and clips of videos in digital cameras, MP3 players, phones, and camcorders. In case your SD card is unable to pop up in Windows File Explorer the time users are about to plug it in with the system’s card reader, don’t be panicked. This error is caused because of some issue with Windows. In this article, we will recommend some methods through which you can resolve the computer, not the sd card not showing up error.

By following this article, there is a list and some recommended methods through which users can resolve computer of the problem which is Sd card readers not working:

1). Updating Drivers

2). Testing SD Card

3). Built-in Memory Card Reader

4). Checking USB Adapters

5). Tapping the Card a little Harder

6). No Drive Icon on my Computer

7). Checking Write-Protection

8). Formatting

9). Substitution of SD Card

1. Updating Drivers

One of the main reasons for an unidentified SD card is a corrupted, incorrect, or old card reader driver. So before going towards anything else you should go for checking the driver’s state first. It can be done with Automatic and Manual ways.

Manual driver update: Users can update their drivers on their own by visiting the manufacturer’s webpage and looking for the latest well-suited driver. Keep this thing in your mind that there are some drivers that you require to utilize both. The first one is the manufacturer of your system and the second is the manufacturer of the card reader. In case users don’t have time, stamina, and expertise to update drivers on their own, they can do it via automatic processing through Driver Easy.

2. Testing SD Card

In case the SD card is workable for your device but unable to work with your PC, it is better to think that the PC card reader has issues. You can fix it for time being and it would be able to interconnect with the camera, phone, or another device to the PC utilizing a USB cable with the SD card in the device.

The time it is connected, you can move the data from the device to the system without utilizing the SD card on your PC. No need to go and check the USB adapters to run troubleshooting and conclude a long-term method.

If you see the SD card is unable to work with your device, PC, or other card readers, the SD card might probably be corrupted. You can leave to check Write-Protection to run troubleshooting SD card relevant errors.

Note:  In case your smartphone has the ability to read and save data on an SD card, but you see that your SD card is not working properly in your smartphone, you should probably go for formatting the SD card by a device that can’t read by the OS of your smartphone (like Android OS).

3. Built-in Memory Card Reader

There are some laptop PCs and desktop computers that have a built-in memory card reader in them. It has a higher chance that the memory card reader is unable to work normally and unable to read the memory card.

In case you can get access to some other memory card, enter it into the memory card reader on your PC to see if it can be read by your system. If it doesn’t your memory card has been corrupted and might probably be changed.

If you see that by the built-in memory, the other memory card is also not readable then it means that maybe the memory card reader is not working. Here you just have an authorized service center to visit and go for replacing the memory card reader in your system. In place of it, you can also utilize an external USB memory card reader.

4. Checking USB Adapters

In case users are trying to gain access to the SD card by utilizing a USB card reader that interlinks to a USB port on the PC, go for the following recommendations.

Using back USB Ports:

In case you have a PC that has both front and back USB ports and the reader is interconnected to the front ports, just connect the reader to the back ones.

Disconnecting and Connecting USB Cable Again:

Let it confirm that the USB connector is attached to the USB port properly. Users can also check it for confirmation by disconnecting the USB connector and connecting it to the USB port again.

You should also be confirmed that the USB connector is connected to the card reader properly. In case this connection is not fixed it can be the reason that the card reader isn’t working.

Disconnecting and Rebooting PC:

Here you can disconnect the USB connector, reboot your PC and then connect the USB connector to the USB port once again. At times this fixes the connection and permits the device to read the SD card without causing any error.

Download Available Drivers:

There are a few USB card readers that may have drivers available on the manufacturer’s webpage. Mostly Windows does find and download standard drivers through automatic ways, but some card readers work better than others with drivers produced certainly for that device.

Testing Dissimilar Kinds of Digital Media Cards:

In case your USB card reader is able to read other kinds of digital media cards, try reading a dissimilar card to test the reader and solve the computer sd card reader not working problem. If you see that there are multiple cards that cannot be read, then there is this possibility that the USB card reader is corrupted and not able to read SD cards.

5. Tapping the Card a little Harder

Users can fix computer sd card reader not working errors by tapping it inside a bit harder in the case of some card readers. There is no need to push harder the SD card into the slot more, but try tapping in a little more than you usually do to confirm that it is entered into the slot properly.

6. No Drive Icon on my Computer

The time you just enter the SD card into your card reader, in case there is no drive letter in My Computer to gain access to the SD card, one of the main reasons might be that on virtual memory your computer is low. You can solve this error by closing all programs that are opened and permitting your system to take a rest for a while. After that, you can plug in the SD card once again and see in case the drive letter pops up or not.

You can also go for another option in case you have Windows Vista on your PC. Here you just require installing a patch to resolve a famous issue regarding errors with the help of reading SD cards in Windows Vista.

7. Checking Write-Protection

There are numerous SD cards that have a characteristic named write-protection toggled on and off by a switch on the left side of the SD card. With write-protection enabled mode, you can’t modify files.

In case your SD card has a write-protection switch, just confirm it that it is set to disable or in the opposite direction that it points to “LOCK” on the card. After that, you can try utilizing the SD card once more and see in case this solves the error.

8. Formatting

On the SD card, there are some card readers that utilize and save data, the card is formatted in exactly the same way as a disk drive is formatted when you utilized it in PC. Sometimes the device formats the SD card and it is only readable by that device and not anything else.

Note: In case you have an issue getting an SD card to work with your smartphone, there are possibilities that the card has been formatted for a device or some PC that your smartphone does not assist.

In case the device reads the SD card and the system can see that device utilizing USB, the PC can gain access to the media while disregarding the fact that it is formatted.

You can also format the SD card in the device you are utilizing to make it readable once again, but remember that it removes all the contents. Formatting should be the last option while trying to make your card workable again.

9. Substitution of SD Card

In case any of the above procedures don’t work for the computer sd card reader not working error, then it might probably be good to buy a new SD card as a substitute. SD cards expire over a certain time period like many other things as it is based on how much you are using it and the place of utilization. More than required usage and rough environments can also damage the SD card.

A computer sd card reader not working can be fixed through the above-mentioned methods. We hope that by reading this article users would be able to make their sd card workable again.