I have Vista home premium.

I have a Kodak camera (nothing special just a point and snap) which, when I put the card in PC did not recognise that a card was there although it had previously. I got a new card and it brought it up for the first couple of times I used it and now nothing. The laptop has no troubles bringing it up.

I also have another similar type of camera and card (Finepix) with which I have no trouble.''

Would anyone have any idea why this is happening. The Tower is not very old (couple of years - I suppose that is old in PC years) would it be the slot where the card goes in that gives trouble or the card itself or what else?

Thanks for any input. Zante.

That's a strange one because the Kodak's card is working with the laptop, so the card must be OK. The Finepix card works in the PC, so the PC's card slot must be OK. It would seem that there is some sort of compatibility issue with the Kodak's card. When you bought a new card, was it a different make or are both 'problem' cards of the same (Kodak?) brand?

You could try a USB card reader with the PC and see if that reads the Kodak's card reliably.

I bought the new card because the original was being recognised some of the time and then at others not at all until the last few times I wanted to use it it just wasn't recognised so I thought that it might have been damaged. The new one is the same as the original.

I haven't heard of a USB card reader - how does it work - does it plug into the PC and then card into the USB? Thanks for help. Zante.

Oh yes, I get the idea - have been online and had a look at one. I'll buy one as they don't seem to be very expensive and would be handy to have. In the meantime i will check back here to see if any other ideas have come up, Zante.

Bought a inca all in 1 USB card reader today. Still doesn't make the camera card come up. I can't work it out as it did (the camera) when I first bought it, once. I think it must be the camera card itself and I resign myself to putting those photos up onto the laptop. thanks for trying. Zante. The little inca only cost twenty dollars (ust) and it is a handy little gadget to have so all is not lost.

You could always try connecting the camera with the lead supplied, instead of inserting the card.

The camera (with card in it) should be seen as a drive and you can explore in the usual way. If it still is a problem this way, then it's the format of the card that is the problem, and maybe that's due to Kodak.

If the card is larger than 2GB, it will be an HCSD card (High Capacity SD card), which may require an HCSD reader or the installation of HCSD drivers in the PC. Do a search on Google for "hcsd driver".

Hi Mike, I'll do that although it has worked at times and this morning I put the card in and it worked and now it won't again and now neither will the other camera card as well! Does this mean that it is more likely now to be the slot the card goes in and if so can I just take that bit out and take it to be repaired without taking the whole tower (I have never pulled anything out of tower before - only taken case off to do a 'dust' with the air can) Thanks, Zante

Just looked at cards - they are both 1GB.

Zante,

Have you tried leaving the card in the camera and connecting with the lead supplied? That will be a USB connection so, if it works, will certainly point towards the card reader.

If it is that, then replacing it is an option.

I might be remembering wrongly but I was wondering do the cards have a little tiny "lock" on them ..... it's a very small tab that you slide to lock and slide back again to unlock ...

If it does have one try with it locked / unlocked see if it makes a difference.

Also, I have noticed with my built in reader that sometimes I have to push it in that little bit more for the pc to recognise the card ... without being too rough with it just see if it needs to go in that little bit further to make contact inside.

*If you connect the camera with the card in it you normally have to make sure the camera has good battery life.

Yes Anne, I did find the 'lock' on both cards but it didn't make any difference (hadn't noticed that before you mentioned it)

I just put the Kodak card in and it worked. I then put the other one in and it didn't so I put the Kodak back in and nothing!

I have decided that it must be the card slot/reader itself and have rung my trusty Geek and he has given me instructions on how to take it out to take to him so I don't have to take the tower itself. This way I can get on with everything else
while he is checking it.

I'll get back in a couple of days to let you know how I go. Zante.

Thanks Anne, yes I do use the safely remove feature.

I have fixed the problem!

It was definitely the card reader drive itself. I thought it was after having bought and used the external card reader with success.

So I bravely went into to the box! (I have no qualms about other stuff but so far I have stayed away from what is 'in there' and taken tower to my local Geek to fix drastic stuff!)

as it turned out and as the rest of you will no doubt know, it only necessitated taking a few screws out of the case - unplugging the card drive and easing it out backwards. Took it to local computer shop and purchased a new one for only $20.00 which was a nice surprise as I thought it would be more and then did the whole thing backwards again. I was impressed that the new drive - although it had no instructions in the box, did have two different 'fronts' for you to choose from, a beige one and a silver one. I only needed the plain black front that it already had.

So there you are, I have upped my PC knowledge once again because something went wrong! which, I have found, is when you learn, especially from the ideas on here and places like it.

Thanks again everyone and no doubt it won't be long before I have another problem for you to mull over. Cheers, Zante.

There you go, I knew it was going to be the card reader.

Glad to hear you got to the bottom of the problem Zante