Solved memory cards on my usb ports

All of a sudden today my main personal computer will not see memory cards, no matter what I try.

When I plug the reader into a usb port on my computer, I get the tone right away. I think something changed because I think before I got the tone when I plugged in a memory card to the reader. Now I get the tone when I plug in the reader. I leave the reader plugged into a usb port full time. Well, up to today anyway.

I can take the same sd card reader with the same card to another computer and plug it in to a usb port and it operates as expected, so it's not the reader or the cable or the card. I can do this on several different computers.

I need my memory cards on this computer for my 3d printers so I'm kind of stalled out right now.

What happened? Was there some unpolished update that screwed with my usb ports? Any ideas on where I can look? I don't think I changed anything...

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
TIA

sdtag said:

All of a sudden today my main personal computer will not see memory cards, no matter what I try.

When I plug the reader into a usb port on my computer, I get the tone right away. I think something changed because I think before I got the tone when I plugged in a memory card to the reader. Now I get the tone when I plug in the reader. I leave the reader plugged into a usb port full time. Well, up to today anyway.

I can take the same sd card reader with the same card to another computer and plug it in to a usb port and it operates as expected, so it's not the reader or the cable or the card. I can do this on several different computers.

I need my memory cards on this computer for my 3d printers so I'm kind of stalled out right now.

What happened? Was there some unpolished update that screwed with my usb ports? Any ideas on where I can look? I don't think I changed anything...

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
TIA

Click to expand...

Try plugging something else into that port on your computer. I'm not sure, but something may have happened to the port itself.

Check in device manager and select show hidden devices, do you see any flagged with an '!'?

My SDHC Card Reader does the same but works properly if a card is in it first. I also have a Dual-Bay Drive Dock for SATA drives that does the same but won't show in File Explorer nor in the Safely Remove feature in the Notification Area until I put a drive in it. There is a setting in File Explorer, the 3 horizontal dots on the toolbar and Options about showing or not showing empty drives.

If you are using a front port, try one of the back ones to see if it makes a difference.
You can also go to device manager>expand Universal Serial Bus controllers. Right click on Intel USB eXtensible host controller>select uninstall device>restart and let windows reinstall it again.

Thanks everybody but I'm still stuck.
I checked my device manager and uninstalled Intel USB eXtensible host controller and let it reinstall.
I have tried different readers, cables, memory cards, and different usb ports.
But yet any of these will work as expected on my other computers, all running W11 22H2.
Maybe I'll start unplugging everything plugged in to the usb ports and plug them back in one at a time, starting with the reader.
Well no, starting with the mouse and keyboard, then the reader. :)
Any other suggestions or ideas?
TIA again

You might try running the hardware & devices troubleshooter to see if it will help.. Troubleshooters are being retired but you can still currently get to it this way.

1. Press Windows + R to open Windows Run dialog.
2. Type msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic in Run dialog and press Enter to open Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.
3. Click Next to run Hardware and Devices troubleshooter. It will automatically detect problems with your computer hardware and devices.

I tried that and I got
Windows Online Troubleshooting Service is disabled.
Windows Online Troubleshooting Service is not enabled for this version of Windows.

Hmm. It worked for me. I run Pro but do not know if that makes a difference.

I'm on Win11 Pro and just got this message:



And this is the result of running the tool:

I did get it to work when I copied and pasted. I must have fat fingered something the first time.
I got a couple of unknowns.
It was late. I'll look at it tonight when I get home.

In case any of you were wondering what happened, well so am I.

I am still in the same situation. Any memory card in any reader in any usb port in my computer and it just sits there. I even found a spare usb 2 port on my motherboard and plugged In a dual usb port rear panel thing and it behaved the exact same way.

Yet thumb drives work very well, fast and reliable, just like the memory cards did a week ago. Even through a 7 port usb hub. Through the front, rear, hub, it doesn’t matter.

I have a pretty good sd memory card reader. It’s a Lexar Professional Workflow SR1. I leave it plugged into a usb 3 port all the time and use it to transfer g code files to my 3d printer now. I bought it a few years ago when I was getting into photography.

It started this behavior about a week ago. I plug in a memory card and nothing happens, no tone, no led. I unplug the reader from the usb cable and even without a card in the reader I get the tone. I get the tone when I plug the empty reader back into the usb cable. This not how it acts normally. I used to get the tone when I plugged in a memory card and Explorer would open.

I can take the same reader to a different computer and it acts just like it used to on my computer. I get the tone when I plug in a memory card. I tried different readers, cheaper readers, and I get the tone when I plug them in empty too. But not on any of my other computers, just this one, my main, personal pc. of course lol. It is listed as system 2 down below.

I tried the troubleshooter and it found nothing wrong. It did find a couple of unknown devices, but I think they have been there all along. They have been there for more than a week, more like years.

I’m over it, I can use a thumb drive to transfer my g code files, but I still wonder what happened. I did a system scan with Bitdefender and it didn’t find anything thank God.

Weird huh

Your description of the issues does suggest the card reader is not working correctly. I haven't had mine fail but did throw one out some years ago as it was for the SD cards and couldn't work with the newer [at the time] SDHC 4GB and larger cards.

sdtag said:

In case any of you were wondering what happened, well so am I.

I am still in the same situation. Any memory card in any reader in any usb port in my computer and it just sits there. I even found a spare usb 2 port on my motherboard and plugged In a dual usb port rear panel thing and it behaved the exact same way.

Yet thumb drives work very well, fast and reliable, just like the memory cards did a week ago. Even through a 7 port usb hub. Through the front, rear, hub, it doesn’t matter.

I have a pretty good sd memory card reader. It’s a Lexar Professional Workflow SR1. I leave it plugged into a usb 3 port all the time and use it to transfer g code files to my 3d printer now. I bought it a few years ago when I was getting into photography.

It started this behavior about a week ago. I plug in a memory card and nothing happens, no tone, no led. I unplug the reader from the usb cable and even without a card in the reader I get the tone. I get the tone when I plug the empty reader back into the usb cable. This not how it acts normally. I used to get the tone when I plugged in a memory card and Explorer would open.

I can take the same reader to a different computer and it acts just like it used to on my computer. I get the tone when I plug in a memory card. I tried different readers, cheaper readers, and I get the tone when I plug them in empty too. But not on any of my other computers, just this one, my main, personal pc. of course lol. It is listed as system 2 down below.

I tried the troubleshooter and it found nothing wrong. It did find a couple of unknown devices, but I think they have been there all along. They have been there for more than a week, more like years.

I’m over it, I can use a thumb drive to transfer my g code files, but I still wonder what happened. I did a system scan with Bitdefender and it didn’t find anything thank God.

Weird huh

Click to expand...

This might help you . . . just grasping at straws here.

Have you actually used a different memory card reader in the computer in question?

Hi @sdtag

Try these:

1. Check whether automount is disabled and enable it if it is disabled.

Start > All Programs > Accessories > Right click on Command Prompt and Run as administrator.
Then
diskpart [ENTER]
Against the DISKPART prompt
automount [ENTER]
Does it say "automatic mounting of new volumes disabled" ? Then
automount enable [ENTER]
"automatic mounting of new volumes enabled"

Close Command Window.

Done.

2. Use the drive utility "drivecleanup" to remove all registry entries and drive letters pertaining to non-present devices.

Download v 1.6.4 of the drivecleanup.zip from Drive Tools for Windows (Roll down on this page till you see DriveCleanup v1.6.4 )

Unzip it to a folder, say drivecleanup.

You will have two folders Win32 and x64 each containing DriveCleanup.exe for 32 bit and 64 bit respectively.

Remove all USB plugged in devices from your system - Card readers,docks,printers etc, (except your Keyboard and mouse) and reboot. Disconnect internet/network.

Right click on the DriveCleanup.exe and run as administrator. (Use the DriveCleanup.exe file appropriate for your bit version of Windows.).

After the clean up act, reboot and check whether your memory cards are recognised.

( When you plug in your USB devices after this cleanup, these will be installed afresh. What you have done is to remove all non-present devices and drive letters associated with them and start with a clean slate. Hopefully that should resolve the problem.)

Note: This is a 'copy and paste' of my post here Must Assign Drive Letter Each Time I Swap Drives - Windows 10 Help Forums

Thanks again everybody. You guys and this board is awesome.
I read through Quickly fix sd card errors. Quickly. :)
Yes I did try different readers, but my card readers are all a few years old now.
I did the diskpart thing and automount is enabled.
Thats about as far as I got because I received my Amazon order. I ordered a new reader.
And it works! This reader has a usb plug on one end and a usb c plug on the other end.
Its just a small 10 dollar reader but it works just like it should. As expected.
So maybe my readers got old? I still think something updated without my knowledge, either windows or maybe the card reader driver.
I don't know, I'm guessing now, but the new card reader is working. And since it has a c plug I can plug it into my phone too. An added bonus.
Thanks again everybody. Big giant green check mark!

sdtag said:

Thanks again everybody. You guys and this board is awesome.
I read through Quickly fix sd card errors. Quickly. :)
Yes I did try different readers, but my card readers are all a few years old now.
I did the diskpart thing and automount is enabled.
Thats about as far as I got because I received my Amazon order. I ordered a new reader.
And it works! This reader has a usb plug on one end and a usb c plug on the other end.
Its just a small 10 dollar reader but it works just like it should. As expected.
So maybe my readers got old? I still think something updated without my knowledge, either windows or maybe the card reader driver.
I don't know, I'm guessing now, but the new card reader is working. And since it has a c plug I can plug it into my phone too. An added bonus.
Thanks again everybody. Big giant green check mark!

Click to expand...

Good to know, @sdtag.

Yuh huh, things do get old . . . I have some HDMI cables that work with one computer but not another. Probably depends on the age of the computer and/or the cable. Most likely the cable, since all my current computers came with Windows 11.

One of these days I will (maybe) check out all the HDMI cables and see what works and what doesn't. Then discard the ones that don't.