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MacBook Pro won't read Sandisk SDHC cards since Lion 10.7.1 update

Hi all, just wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I know there are dozens of posts about SD cards not working with MacBook pros, but mine seems to have started when I installed the latest Lion update.


I have a high-end 13" early 2011 MBP and the cards I'm having trouble with are all Sandisk 4GB SDHC. Two are 'Extreme III's" and one is an Extreme II. The card reader is showing up in System Profiler, and a really old 2GB Sandisk card gets read fine, so there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the MBP hardware.


Similarly, I can read the cards fine via a USB adapter, so it's not the cards that are causing the problem.


I had successfully imported photos from the cards before upgrading to Lion, and also before installing the 10.7.1 update. So, it looks like the problem may be linked with the update, but this is purely an educated guess.


I've tried resetting the SMC to no avail.


Has anyone else experienced something like this?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), 13" 2011

Posted on Aug 20, 2011 4:46 AM

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127 replies

Jun 6, 2012 11:33 PM in response to Supritha

I finally came back to this and have tried all of that. The first link did not work for me as it was for Lion but in the end i downloaded the one for XQuartz and it said I had the latest update. I even tried blowing into the slot but nothing has worked.


I dont know it his is an issue since a Lion update for I have always, since getting this MBP, had it happen the odd time where the cards did not mount properly. I would just copy the files to my desktop folder but I was never able to delete the files from the card and would have to reformat it once back in the camera. But most of the time it did work so I left it well enough alone.

But it seems to happe every time now. And all sizes of cards, even lowly 2gig cards.And tonight I need to transfer some MP3 files to a card and cannot accomplish this /sighs



Unless there are any new potential fixes, I am out of ideas. Has anyone else come up with any few fixes for this?

Otherwise I am just going to have to buy myself a USB card reader but I shouldn't have to do this and I wonder about Apple these days for it seeems they arent as on the ball as they once were!


Im on version 10.7.4


So, one last time, any new fixes out there? 😕

Jun 24, 2012 6:44 AM in response to aledco

@Supritha: Can you give us any insight as to why this works? I installed XQuartz and my card appeared immediately! How can these two things be related?


By the way y'all: XQuartz is a replacement for X11 which is a subsystem of OSX that is meant to run Unix Apps ported to OSX. It's like Rosetta in a way.. but not exactly. Anyway.. I suspect it contains some updated drivers or kernel code that affect how SD cards mount, but even so.. totally inexplicable to me.


Apparently Apple is dropping support for X11 entirely in OS 10.8 and suggesting people move to XQuartz.


http://xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/

Aug 1, 2012 5:09 PM in response to aledco

What the bejeesus?


I bought a 32GB Samsung Extreme SD card a few weeks ago and assumed it was faulty when I got it… until I established that it worked fine in a MacBook Air and another MacBook Pro. Assumed it was a faulty slot or etc until I got curious and did a bit more searching just now. I read through this thread with both eyebrows raised, but I installed XQuartz anyway. Rebooted, and the SD card showed up perfectly every time. Truly baffling, but hey, it works!

(This is on Mountain Lion, in case you were wondering. Pretty sure I had the same problem under Lion too.)

Oct 1, 2012 1:57 PM in response to aledco

okay so ive tried everything that has been posted here and none of it has worked. I'd like to point out that my simcard (SDHC 4gb) worked just fine a few weeks ago, and I didnt do any updating or make any changes to my computer between the time it worked and stopped working. Also, the memory card reads fine in othe computers, and my computer reads other memory cards fine, so its neither the card or the computer but rather the two together (as most of you have already pointed out). I downloaded xQuartz but when I clicked on it it didnt ask for an update, and when it opened it still opens under X11. I went to X11 > check for updates and it said I have the newest available version (2.7.4) but it seems like that worked for everyone else. how do I update it? I've tried everything else people have suggested. I dont know what to do!

Also if this is relevant, im running on OS X 10.7.5.

Nov 4, 2012 8:56 PM in response to aledco

What in the flying bajeesus? Updating XQuartz actually did solve my problem on 10.8.2...


I was trying to use a sandisk SD card (that I know is perfectly functional) and the OS was not picking up on the fact that I was plugging it in. No /dev files or anything, it was like the card was physically broken.


But lo and behold, after I ran the XQuartz updater, it suddenly worked. That should not happen ever. The fact that installing an X suite somehow fixed what seems to be a driver issue is incredibly alarming and warrants more investigation.


While I am glad that this fixed the issue, I now have serious reservations about the operating system itself, as this indicates to me a very poorly done driver.


Edit:

Picked apart the installer package. After a cursory glance, I did not find anything that I would imagine would directly affect USB drivers or do anything USB-related with the kernel. There did appear to be some filesystem library in the installer, but that shouldn't prevent the card from being recognized at all. Still at a loss as to why this did anything.

Nov 7, 2012 9:40 AM in response to wyager

I'm having the same problem w/ CF cards on my iMac running Lion and my daughter's macbook pro running mountain lion. All of a sudden neither computer will recognize and mount my camera. 2 4gb Sandisc memory cards, in the camera or in a card reader on 2 computers and suddenly they don't work. They both work fine on my PC at work. This is not dust. So is the fix the same as for SD cards? Has anybody ran across anything different for CF cards researching this?

Nov 27, 2012 2:02 AM in response to aledco

I have just got a 4GB sandisk micro sdhc card with adaptor, tryed it in my macbook pro retnia it did not work and tryed it in a 2 year old mac book no joy, i have been reading all the forums with no luck.

Went back to my macbook pro retnia put the card in and out a few times with no luck put it back in and moved it from side to side a few times bingo it worked, every time i insert it i have to move it from side to side to get it to work, i am using mountain lion 10.8.2

MacBook Pro won't read Sandisk SDHC cards since Lion 10.7.1 update

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