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Hi all,

We recently purchased a new Toshiba Satellite X205-S7483 with Windows Vista Home Premium already installed. The *only* problem to date is the fact that it refuses to read my older Sony memory sticks, the bluish ones about 1-1/2" long, not the tiny xD or Duo sticks.

I have verified that this laptop does recognize the older sticks
I have checked device manager, and the SD device is working properly
I have downloaded all applicable updates from the Toshiba/Windows sites
I have verified the stick I'm using is working
I have verified that I have this problem with all my sticks

When I insert the stick into the slot, nothing happens. When I check the "my computer" screen to "manually" access the stick, the DVD-R drive is the only "mass storage device" shown.

Please help; I don't want to have to buy a newer, upgraded camera just to use Vista.

Thanks,

Dan

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by chris5126

Dani AI

Generated

Following and , narrow the fault to one of three things: card-reader hardware, the reader driver/software, or an OS/drive-letter detection issue. The quickest way to isolate that is (A) see whether the card appears to the OS at all and (B) try a second reader so you can tell hardware from software.

Quick diagnostic checklist:

  1. With the card inserted, open Device Manager, choose View -> Show hidden devices, and watch for any new entries under "Disk drives", "Portable Devices" or "Universal Serial Bus controllers".
  2. Run diskmgmt.msc and look for a removable disk with no drive letter; if present, right‑click and assign one.
  3. If no device appears, uninstall the card-reader controller in Device Manager (choose the host/controller entry), reboot, then install the vendor driver from the laptop maker. Also update the system chipset drivers—card readers often ride on the chipset/USB stack.

If the card still isn’t seen:

  • Try a cheap external USB multi-card reader or a Memory-Stick-to-USB adapter on the same laptop. If the external reader works, the internal reader is either using the wrong driver or is faulty. If the external reader also fails, test that card/reader on another machine to rule out a bad card.
  • If vendor drivers don’t help, boot a Linux live USB (no install) to see whether Linux detects the card; that confirms a Windows-driver issue versus dead hardware.

Practical next steps: get the exact reader driver from the notebook vendor, reinstall it cleanly, and use an inexpensive external reader as a reliable fallback. Collect screenshots of Device Manager and Disk Management if further help is needed — they make diagnosing the exact error much faster.

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Member Avatar for chris5126

Hi,

It should work, I take it your laptop has a media/card reader on it or you are using an external one. Is this what is causing the problem, if it is go to device manager then right click on the device then properties then tell me what it says for manufacture.

Also have you tried pluging your camera in through usb (if your camera has that option) does it reconise the camera and let you download the pictures. If it does then that is basically vista reading the memory stick and so this isnt the problem. Let me know the answers and I will let you know what to do!!!

Member Avatar for UnofficialIT

Thanks for the reply.

"SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller Vendor" is what it says for manufacturer under the properties tab of the SD Controller.

The camera is USB capable, but I have lost the adapter cable to link it to the laptop.

I hope this helps; please let me know if there's any further info I can provide.

Dan

Member Avatar for UnofficialIT

PS: this is an internal reader that came with the laptop. It has all (3) icons depicting what sticks are compatible: sD, xD, and the little icon that looks like an upside-down speaker (what I have).

Member Avatar for chris5126

hi,

The reason i asked for the manufacture was to check the publisher of the driver installed as if it was microsoft then that could have been the problem but it looks like it is a Toshiba driver. Apart from a hardware fault (even though it isnt shown in device manager) i can think of very little else effecting it. I would suggest trying thier support drop them an email it might be a common problem, or you could go to the place where u bought it and try thier display one see if that has the same problem. If not then check the driver version they are using using device manager and roll back to that version on your one if the problem still persists then its definatly the hardware!

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