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Windows 7/Vista and the greater then 1gb sd card issue.


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#1
Alysher

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i have searched all over the internet for answers to this topic, and the one thing i keep finding is that there are some internal sd card readers that work fine under windows xp that windows 7 and vista have issues reading cards larger then 1GB. now i have tested this on my emachine m6810 and my sisters Gateway MX7430(almost the same except for bios an processor speed) and an external reader will read my 2gb card but the internal one wont.

now i know that this is on a system that is unsupported for windows vista/7, so the issue may be with the reader its self, but why would said reader work perfectly under windows xp?

now does any one else know about/have had to deal with/know the fix for this problem?

(EDIT)changed phrasing and added info for more clarification.

Edited by Alysher, 13 February 2012 - 07:26 PM.

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#2
Digerati

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and the one thing every one agrees on is that there are some sd card readers that windows 7 and vista have issues reading cards larger then 1GB

No, everyone does NOT agree with that and actually, that is backwards. The blame should not be put on Windows, but on the interface (USB), the card reader, or the cards themselves. The communications protocols are established industry standards. Windows complies with those standards and the fact Windows works with the vast majority of card readers and cards larger than 1Gb is concrete proof of that. If the hardware complies with the standard protocols, and the drivers comply and are not corrupt, and the card itself complies, is not corrupt or damaged, then it should work.

It is not up to Microsoft or the OS to ensure compatibility with 100s of 1000s of different hardware devices. It is up to the OS to comply with industry standards, and, in turn, it is up to the hardware devices to do the same.

i have tested this on my emachine m6810 and my sisters Gateway MX7430...and an external reader will read my 2gb card but the internal one wont.

Well, there you just proved again the problem is not with Windows.

FTR, my 64-bit Windows 7 PC and notebook have no problem reading my two 8Gb SD cards.

When you say the internal reader will not "read" the card, do you mean it cannot see the files on the card, or the card does not even appear as a drive shown under Computer?
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#3
Alysher

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my apologies, it wasn't my intention to blame windows, and if you notice i did say that the READERS have this issue. i also didn't mention that the test computers were designed for windows xp and had xp installed before having windows vista or 7 installed. also while under windows xp the 2gb card would read and access...

as for the what i mean by not reading. from what i can remember(be kind i did this test over six months ago and since my personal computer is down with a messed up motherboard i cannot test it again atm) the cards show up in windows 7/vista as 128mb cards in drive management and as 0byte cards in explorer. now i know that the reader reads the card find under xp, but vista and 7 both seem to not like it. did the standard for the drive readers change when vista came out?

again my apologies, i should have added the pertinent info about the readers in question in the first post.

i will edit my first post as well because "everyone agrees on" is definitely the wrong phrasing for that sentience...might as well add the info for xp there too.

also i dont suppose its possible to change the topic any, cause the topic is misleading as well....

Edited by Alysher, 13 February 2012 - 07:24 PM.

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#4
Ztruker

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Since the readers worked under XP that tells me the hardware and the SD cards are okay.

I would think the problem is with the drivers being used under Windows 7.
What drivers are you using and where did you get them from? Are they Vista or Win 7 drivers?

Did you install a chipset driver?
What about a BIOS update?
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#5
Digerati

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...if you notice i did say that the READERS have this issue.

Actually, you said, "windows 7 and vista have issues" and my comment was primarily in response to you saying, "one thing every one agrees on...". No big deal and no apologies necessary - my goal is simply to ensure the blame, if there is any, is put where it belongs. It is easy to blame the OS when something fails, but so often it is not really the OS that is at fault.

Since Vista and Windows 7 supports millions of readers with no problems using industry standard protocols, Windows cannot be blamed for not supporting a few (relatively speaking) that don't work. I note too that Vista, and to a much greater degree, Windows 7 was NOT designed to support legacy hardware - hardware designed to run with XP (a legacy OS), and earlier operating systems.

did the standard for the drive readers change when vista came out?

I don't think that is how it works. Card readers connect via USB, or PCIe, or PCI or Firewire. There have been several standard updates for these interfaces over the years, and Windows has been updated to communicate via them. It is up to the device makers to ensure their devices do the same.

Unlike early Macs when everything and anything (hardware and the OS) you wanted to connect to your Mac was made and controlled by Apple. Microsoft does not make computers. 1000s and 1000s of hardware makers make computers and they all must comply to the same basic standards. Any deviation from the basic standard MUST be addressed by a unique driver, the responsibility of the hardware maker - not Microsoft. Before USB, Windows included specific drivers for 1000s of unique hardware devices and it became a nightmare for MS to manage. USB has made Windows hugely flexible - great for consumers but it opens up tons of opportunities for problems too.

I'm with Ztruker and think this is a driver issue. Of course the card reader is but one piece of the puzzle. The card itself must be good and readable by the reader.
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#6
Alysher

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they were/are the basic windows 7/vista drivers. the ones that came on the install disk for each operating system(yes both vista and 7 were installed on this laptop, altho 7 is currently installed) and i never installed any chipset drivers, nor are is there a bios update for the system

this is the reason i was blaming windows.....i was thinking the built-in driver was broke. could be tho that i need a chipset driver to access cards larger then 1gb...

thoughts?
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