SD card reader not working on high sierra

I had similar symptoms both after initially installing High Sierra, and after the 10.13.2 Update. There was no response to plugging any cards into the reader (including the Transcend JetDrive which is what was there when I Updated). In my case, the System Report said "This computer doesn't contain any Apple Internal Memory Card Readers". Multiple Restarts didn't fix anything. However, the card reader re-appeared after a full Shutdown, unplugging all USB devices, and powering back on.

I've been testing the betas and going back and forth reporting issues with the SD card. In my case at least I'm pretty sure it isn't an OS level issue.

I worked this out by completing a series of troubleshooting steps:

• Cleaning the SD card slot
• Looking for an actuator switch in the slot that tells the OS a card is present (which can seize up). Pressing is several times with a cocktail stick can release it. Note: this switch only appears in earlier SD card slots on Macs and not in my 2.2ghz Macbook Pro.
• Blowing compressed air into the slot.
• PRAM/NVRAM reset.
• SMC reset.
• I tried a range of sleep settings, including disabling hibernate.

After the last step I considered that I must have a hardware failure, but instead I tried the following:

• Booting into safe mode and then testing the SD card slot.
• I found that with certain kernel extensions disabled, the SD card worked normally.
• To test further, I downloaded the latest OS installer and then installed High Sierra on an external drive.
• I found I didn't have the issue when using this drive!

I discovered that there is a flaw in the current version of the Jetdrivetoolbox software (used for ejecting SD cards made by Transcend before system sleep) that seemed to push the card reader off the hardware profiler after the machine wakes up. Note: the SD card should appear in the card reader and USB bus sections. After I uninstalled Jetdrivetoolbox, my SD card is working perfectly and behaves as expected. The only advantage of the software was that it allowed the system to hibernate (usually a Mac can't do this with an SD card present in the slot).

You may discover that it's a hardware issue or merely dust - or you have incompatible extensions or startup items that are interfering. Another option (I don't know for sure) is that using an installer to do a clean install on an external drive rather than using the recovery partition may force firmware updates to be applied. I also had an iPad charging issue (cycling between mount, charge and unmount) which was resolved installing the OS on an external drive that could be explained in this way...

Those using Transcend drives - my advice is uninstall the toolbox software. I experimented with a fresh High Sierra install on an external drive and found my SD card issues were solved. I then uninstalled their software and my main install now works fine. Filed a bug report.

If you open System Information (Apple Menu > About This Mac > System Report) and look under Card Reader, what do you see? Try this with both a card inserted and no card inserted.

If the card reader is recognized, you should see at least a Vendor ID, Serial Number, etc. Otherwise, it's a hardware or Firmware issue. If you see card info with a card inserted, then the card is recognized but no being mounted, and most likely you've got a software problem.

First reset the SCM: How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

and reset the NVRAM: How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

If that fails to fixe the issue hold down the Option key and select the  ➙ System Information menu option.

Under the USB section see if the card reader is recognized:

It the card reader is still not recognized boot into Safe Mode, Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode, and try the reader from there.

I faced same issue after upgrading to MacOS Sierra version. 10.12.6. Ever since my card reader was

not mounting in finder. Following trick solved my issue.

Reset NVRAM:

Reset NVRAM/PRAM. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18761

or

Launch Applications->Utilities->Terminal.App

Type terminal commands

nvram -p

nvram -c

nvram -d

-p : print all firmware variables

-c: delete all variables

-d : To delete the specific named variable listed by -p flag.

I had same issue after upgrading to mcOS Sierra 10.12.6. After resetting NVRAM I solved this issue.

Here is solution,

Steps:

Reset NVRAM/PRAM. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18761

or

Launch Applications->Utilities->Terminal.App

Type terminal commands

nvram -p

nvram -c

nvram -d

-p : print all firmware variables

-c: delete all variables

-d : To delete the specific named variable listed by -p flag.

I called Support and they had me restart in Safe Mode (hold down shift as it restarts), login and insert the card again. The card showed up in safe mode. Then I restarted without taking the card out and it showed up. Hope this helps!

Hi guys

OK

to remedy this is easy....

Mine didn't work 2 issues found

iMac 27" 5k I turned the Mac round and with a torch and toothpick/cocktail stick

I found part of an SD Card label at the back of the Slot..

After getting it out, still didn't work!!!!!

Bottom taskbar opened Launchpad ( the grey Rocket )

Opened Image Capture, inserted Micro SD card in an Adaptor it showed in image capture!!

Next you have to do this exactly as written.

Eject SD from the computer in the image capture App, close app, re-insert SD Card into back of Mac and you should see it.

If you don't open Finder, goto Preferences

make sure in General

External Disks and CD,DVD,ipods are both ticked, Then goto the Sidebar Tab and make sure they are both ticked there.

You should now have your SD

Sounds like there are a few different issues going on here. The OP was about card readers that are suddenly inaccessible, and don't even appear on a System Report (meaning the System thinks the SD Reader doesn't exist) following the High Sierra update. This is likely a firmware issue, probably the result of a firmware update bundled with the OS update. Because Apple no longer releases Firmware Updates individually, there's no way to reinstall the update (even reinstalling the OS won't reinstall the firmware bc the machine is already running that version).

If you can see your card in Disk Utility but it's not mounting, that's a separate issue. It could be the card, a damaged Card Reader (coincidentally with the OS update – that will happen sometimes), dust buildup, etc. I've personally always had trouble with my card reader mounting and keeping a volume mounted. I usually have to remove and quickly reinsert with force.

I hope everyone with the OP's problem will submit feedback, because if it's a firmware issue, there' nothing we can do but get Apple to do another update to fix the problem. Feedback

Meanwhile, get an external reader, or for photos, use Image Capture to get the files directly off the camera via USB. these are always a nice backup for if/when the card reader does actually fail.

That's interesting. If it's working again after the downgrade, I think that would disprove my firmware theory, unless the downgrade restored the earlier EFI firmware (maybe it would need to downgrade the firmware because 10.12 isn't compatible with APFS???)

Mr. ToR wrote:

ok, I downgraded my Mac mini (Mid 2010) to 10.12.6.

Now the sdcard is working.

Also the benchmark shows proper speed, not like how it was in 10.13.1

however, there is another problem now. the write speed is slow now.

initially internal ssd write speed was ~104MB/s

after upgrading to high sierra, write speed became ~14.7MB/s

after 10.12.6 clean install write speed became ~33.4MB/s

maybe it's because of the updated EFI/bootrom.

I will try to downgrade and post the result here.

I have found on Apple support:

1) About This Mac -> System Report -> Card reader turn it ON.

my comp displayed:

Vendor ID: 0x14e4

Device ID: 0x16bc

Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x106b

Subsystem ID: 0x0000

Revision: 0x0001

Link Width: x1

Link Speed: 2.5 GT/s

2) 2) The second is action{ TurnOff computer. Turn ON and hold: Opt + Command + R + P.. Drop the at the beep sound. I found this method at Apple support forum. It suppose to reset memory. So far it looks that it is permanent fix.

LL Leo

L

So my issue went away when i purchased and tried a new card reader. However connecting camera still doesn’t work. Less of an issue as I prefer to only lug around card when possible vs. camera body. Would still be nice to be able to read right off my cameras tho

I had the same problem - did a cold boot (shutdown, power off, startup) solved the issue right away :-)

Hi - I’ve emailed transcend about this. My advice is to uninstall their toolbox software. I’ve found normal SD card functionality is restored if you uninstall their software.