Tech Tips

On this page I will provide some Technical Tips I've made use of. Its purpose is to help others who might have had the same problem, as well as remind me of what I've done, in case I need to do it again.
Some of these things I've researched on the internet and found solutions in some forum. Usually the ideas in forums don't apply to me. Some were resolved by what friends told me, and some I resolved on my own.
So, I guess I have to dig up some of the things I've done.





Media Card Reader Not Recognized



I have a Dell PC using Windows XP2. It has an internal Dell 13 in 1 Media Card Reader. I've been using it for a couple of years to read an SD Card from my digital camera. Then, suddenly, I'd put the card in, the LED on the card would flash as it is read, then go solid, and nothing would happen. A Windows Explorer window for the device did not open. It does not show in an Explorer window that I'd open.
The problem apparently was that a drive letter had been associated with the card. That drive letter either became associated with another device or the association was lost. You'd expect Windows to dynamically assign a drive letter to the device when the SD card is inserted. For whatever reason, this did not happen.
The solution is to assign a drive letter to the device. First, I inserted the SD card and went to Disk Management, in Computer Management. One of the disks it shows is a removable disk without a drive letter. Right click it, choose Change Drive Letter, and pick an available letter. The SD card now appears in a Windows Explorer window, and your back in business.
Computer Management is one of the tools listed under Administrative Tools in the Control panel.