# SD Card reader not visible



## jcvamp (Aug 2, 2006)

I have an HP Pavilion dv7 and it's running Windows 7 64-bit. The SD card reader is visible in the device manager, but not in My Computer. I put an SD card in and it didn't appear in My Computer. I tried going into the folder options and making it so that the drive would be visible even if no media was present; it didn't work. I updated the device driver, it made no diffference.

Any ideas?


----------



## makinu1der2 (Jan 1, 2008)

Uninstall the card reader from Device Manager and Restart the PC.

After the restart check the drive.


----------



## jcvamp (Aug 2, 2006)

I did that. It still doesn't appear as a drive in My Computer.


----------



## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Go to Start/Search and type *diskmgmt.msc*. Right click *diskmgmt.msc* icon in your search results and *Run As Administrator*. In *Disk Management*, do you see your card reader? If so, it may be taking up a drive letter of another device. Right click it and choose to *Change Drive Letter or Paths*. Choose a drive letter not being used. If that isn't it, Is this an external (USB) card reader? Or internal? If external, with the drive plugged in go to Start/Search type *devmgmt.msc* and *Run As Administrator*. In Device Manager are there any device with yellow marks or under *U*niversal *S*erial *B*us Controllers is there an *Unknown Device*? If so, right click it and *Uninstall *it. Now unplug the USB cable and restart the computer. When the computer comes back up, plug in the USB cable to the _Back_ USB port of the computer not the front or into a hub as these are weaker ports. You should get a new Hardware Wizard and it should install the drive. Follow the previous steps if it doesn't have a drive letter.


----------



## jcvamp (Aug 2, 2006)

spunk.funk said:


> Go to Start/Search and type *diskmgmt.msc*. Right click *diskmgmt.msc* icon in your search results and *Run As Administrator*. In *Disk Management*, do you see your card reader?


No.



> Is this an external (USB) card reader? Or internal?


Internal.


----------



## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Boot into Setup (Bios) and see if the drive is showing up there. If there is a choice, see if you can* Disable* it for the time being. *Save and Exit* and restart the computer. Now restart again enter Setup and *Enable* the device *Save and Exit.* You should get a new hardware wizard at next bootup. 
It this still fails, Check the connections from the device to the computer. Make sure the IDE cables are plugged in correctly etc. If everything looks fine, then it sounds like there is power to the controller (shows in Device Manger), but the device itself has failed.


----------



## jcvamp (Aug 2, 2006)

It's a built in SD-Card reader in a laptop, so it's unlikely I can open the computer up to do anything. And it's a PCIE device, and therefore not connected via a IDE cable like a hard-drive would be.


----------



## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

> Boot into Setup (Bios) and see if the drive is showing up there. If there is a choice, see if you can* Disable* it for the time being. *Save and Exit* and restart the computer. Now restart again enter Setup and *Enable* the device *Save and Exit.* You should get a new hardware wizard at next bootup.


did you try the steps in the Quote? Try these steps Using and Troubleshooting Memory Card Readers HP Pavilion dv7-1055ea Entertainment Notebook PC - HP technical support (United Kingdom - English)


----------

