macbook not recognizing sd card and card reader

Question

macbook not recognizing sd card and card reader

I recently purchased a macbook - when I plug in my card reader insert card nothing happens. I plug the same card reader and card into my iMac and it works fine - meaning it shows up on the desktop to open card files. I tried 3 different card readers thinking that may be the issue - it was not. I tried 4 differed cards 3 SD and one CF card thinking that may be the issue - again it was not. They all work on my iMac. Not sure what's going on.

MacBook5,1, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - 4 GB

Posted on Sep 4, 2010 12:38 PM

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Answer 1

Lyssa

Level 8

41,327 points

Sep 4, 2010 1:40 PM in response to firefighter*17

What OS is on your iMac?

~Lyssa

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Answer 2

Sep 4, 2010 7:09 PM in response to Lyssa

OS X 10.6.4

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Answer 3

Lyssa

Level 8

41,327 points

Sep 4, 2010 9:46 PM in response to firefighter*17

Alrighty, not an OS issue then.

Does the card reader show up in a Finder window?

If not, let's take a look at your Finder preferences.

Click on a Finder window, then choose Finder>Preferences. On the General tab under +Show these items on the Desktop+ place a checkmark next to *External Disks.* On the Sidebar tab, place a checkmark next to the same item.

~Lyssa

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Answer 4

Sep 5, 2010 9:07 PM in response to Lyssa

Just went to preferences they were both checked on already

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Answer 5

Lyssa

Level 8

41,327 points

Sep 5, 2010 9:16 PM in response to firefighter*17

Create a new user account on your MacBook, log out of the current account & into the new one.

Any change?

~Lyssa

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Answer 6

Sep 5, 2010 10:06 PM in response to Lyssa

nope - no change

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Answer 7

b leo

Level 1

135 points

Sep 5, 2010 11:59 PM in response to firefighter*17

Open up System Profiler, click USB in the sidebar, is the card reader listed as connected to one of the internal hubs?

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Answer 8

Sep 8, 2010 8:17 PM in response to b leo

I went to the system profiler > USB > then plugged in the card reader and card. I didn't see anything change when I plugged it in.

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Answer 9

Lyssa

Level 8

41,327 points

Sep 8, 2010 8:52 PM in response to firefighter*17

Do other USB devices work?

Is the MacBook plugged in when you're trying to use the card reader?

~Lyssa

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Answer 10

Sep 15, 2010 12:23 PM in response to Lyssa

hey there i seem to be having the same problem, i've gone through a few of the steps. but once in System Profiler, it does show that the camera is connected. so where do i go from here? other USB devices work, all except for my card reader's and even connecting my camera directly through usb doesnt work. and i really doubt its the ports.

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Answer 11

b leo

Level 1

135 points

Sep 15, 2010 2:11 PM in response to Koo jinchen

I think I know what your problem is. If you can't see the SD card in Finder, try opening Image Capture from the Applications folder. Does the drive appear there with the photos?

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Answer 12

eldulli

Level 1

0 points

Sep 22, 2010 2:14 PM in response to firefighter*17

I have had my SD card disappearing on my iMac after i have imported photos to Adobe Lightroom 3.2. So far I can only get it back by shutting down and restarting OSX. I'm guessing the problem for me is with Lightroom, and it seems to be another cause for you, but did you try to restart?

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Answer 13

Sep 23, 2010 9:58 PM in response to eldulli

well after i followed the steps posted previously,and nothing worked even after the system profiler so then i and logged out then back in again to my user account, suddenly it started showing up in the finder again which is good. so problem solved!

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Answer 14

eldulli

Level 1

0 points

Sep 26, 2010 2:07 PM in response to firefighter*17

Yeah, but the problem is only solved until next time! Seems like this is indeed an apple error as per this thread: http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2459057&start=30&tstart=0

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