SD card reader not working on iMac

scratch my previous post - stopped working again - tried the toothpick - bingo......I hope

Had the same problem. Based on comments in this thread, started Parallels, attached/mounted the internal card reader in Windoze (using the Parallels USB toolbar icon), then unattached/unmounted it. Now it shows up in Mac once again.

This actually worked for me...

Fixed the problem!! :-) :-)

i too had the same problem from i brought the imac!!

couldnt find the perfect solution, i browed in internet and find some intresting solutions!!!

none of them worked!!!

the problem causing sd card not to read is not software problem, its partial hardware problem!

the main problem is SD card, i belive those who have put "SanDisk" sd card have the problem,

it is sandisk sd card problem, i dont know what causing it!! it will stuck the sd to computer signal switch in sd card slot!!

just use a pin to unlock the switch, there are two switch, one on he end and another half way, try to pull lightly and push lightly, please do not break it! do it slowely,

put any other sd card freshly (not sandisk or the sd cause the problem), sure it will mount!!

Turning off dropbox worked for me....Toothpick trick didn't. Thanks. I would never have thought of that.

The toothpic trick worked for my Mid 2010 13" Macbook Pro!!

Thank you so much!!

apple do a recall in Canada a recall is mandatory for knowhen defecs get on with it

These are user to user forums - there are no Apple employees here - you'll need to contact Apple with your suggestion.

My imac had the same problem since I bougth it! I did what you wrote now it works. Thanks

http://cvil.ly/2011/10/30/imac-sd-card-reader-fix/

My imac had the same problem since I bougth it! I did what you wrote now it works. Thanks

MacTjerk wrote:

After more than 2 years, suddenly my build in SD card reader didn't work. Poking with a (soft) toothpick (see also picture in the article) worked inmediatly for me. Did the trick without switching off, or reboot.

GtrGuy005 wrote:

I had the same problem with my 21" iMac...SD card was only recognized after reboot or wake from sleep. I tried the toothpick trick I found in this thread and it seems to have fixed the problem, at least for now. I've been swapping cards in and out and they are recognized each time.

Here's another description of the problem and solution I found:

http://cvil.ly/2011/10/30/imac-sd-card-reader-fix/

I have a 2.5 yr old MacBook Pro. SD slot was working fine and then one day it just stopped. I tried booting and rebooting with the slot inserted in the computer- a no go. Tried the toothpick trick on the metal slabs located in the back of the slot and it worked once or twice. And then it stopped working. Its been almost a year now since I was able to use the slot, but just today decided to give it another go since I had to drive back to retrieve my usb cord this morning when I was already late...insane since I should be able to just stick my SD card directly in the laptop. I just read that CleanMyMac software might have something to do with this...which I downloaded *possibly* around the time that the SD slot stopped reading. But I just tried another suggestion of scraping a plastic floss stick against the left side of the slot and that did the trick immediately. Funny thing was the second window to pop up after the laptop registered the SD card was for CleanMyMac asking me if wanted to initiate a Cleaning session, which it NEVER does on its own... so at this point I have no idea if this is a hardware or software or BOTH, but its working again and I have no wish to spend anymore time on this!!!! Gah!!!! I'm just gonna keep that little plastic floss in my camera bag in case I need to whip it out again. If the floss stick against the left side was a one time trick, I'll investigate this further.

I too have a problem with my iMac and it's onboard SD card reader reading my SD cards. I have tried, zapping PRAM, resetting the SMC, toothpick trick, all with no success. I know the SD cards are readable and writeable because I'm capturing images on them in my camera.

I do remember an odd happening a couple days before I had this problem. I had launched iPhoto, to view my photoshare album. I left iPhoto running after I was finished viewing my photoshare album and inserted my SD card. I believe iPhoto asked if I wanted to import the contents of the SD card, I chose no. I then launched Lightroom, which is where/what I wanted to use/catalog/edit my images. At a certain point during the import process I had a popup notification stating that I had not properly ejected my SD card, and I clicked ok. Lightroom kept on importing from the SD card and I that was the last time I was able to read from the card reader.

Not sure if that has anything to do with my particular problem, but it's frustrating to see this seems to be a long running issue with no consistant or reliable solution.

it is usually the card and not the slot which is faulty

I don't think so in this case. I have two different brand SD cards I've shot with this week, and they've saved the images just fine. I also have reviewed the images via the camera as well, so read and write on the cards is working. I'll take them to my PC laptop, and see if they can be read there, though I hate messing with that thing now. 😉

So, the cards are good. I transferred the images to my PC laptop from both SD cards.