Card reader not recognized - Realplayer NOT installed

G

Guest

Today, I suddenly wasn't able to download photos from my Compactflash and
Memory Stick. In My Computer, the drives aren't showing up. I went to
Windows XP help, and it suggested I update, but I know for a fact that my
driver for my internal 6-in-1 reader isn't supported - I get a message saying
"cannot run in this operating system" every time I turn it on when using SP2
(long story, different problem).

After I updated everything but SP2, I was able to read files from the cards,
and during the middle of a transfer, the drives disappeared and the transfer
to HD failed.

I found this forum, and thought the Realplayer fix would do it, but when I
went to Control Panel to uninstall, Realplayer wasn't listed as an option to
remove.

Any suggestions? I'm a semi-professional photographer, and I have to get my
pictures! I have an older computer, but it's only a 256, and I can't run
Photoshop CS on it. I also tried another USB external card reader, and it
wouldn't install - it used to just plug-n-play, but now it goes through the
install process, looks for drivers, then fails. It's as if the USB ports
aren't recognizing anything plugged into them anymore, either, as well as the
internal reader plugged in inside (yes, I checked the connections inside,
too).

Thank you for any help you can give!!!

Shannon
 
G

Guest

Also - I'm using a Canon Digital Rebel with a Compactflash card and a Sony
DSC-F717 with a Memory Stick - thanks for any help!

Shannon
 
Y

Yves Alarie

If you connect these cameras, with a memory card in them and some pictures
on the memory card, directly to your computer via a USB port, can you see
them as an external drive?
 
G

Guest

Yes - I can see the camera when I plug it in using the USB port - thank
goodness! At least I can get my pictures.

Any clues to why my internal card reader isn't being recognized? I went to
device manager, and there aren't any flags where I think my 6-in-1 is
installed. All my USB devices are reporting that they are working properly,
which doesn't seem to be the case.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Shannon
 
Y

Yves Alarie

If you can see the camera as a drive, right click on it and click on
Autoplay on the opening menu and Autoplay should open.
If you can see the camera, I would try to repair with autofix.exe (see
below) first. If this does not work, I would then uninstall and reinstall
the USB (see below).
On one hand, USB does not seem to be your problem since you can see the
camera as a drive. Autoplay is the problem. On the other hand, you tried
with an external card reader and it did not work. If you still have this
external card reader, connect it, then insert a card with pictures on it.
Check if you can see it as an external drive. If you can, USB is not your
problem. Autoplay is and autofix.exe should fix this.

How to repair Autoplay:

If you recently installed Real Player 10, this is the likely culprit
preventing XP to automatically recognize the camera or card reader and open
the Autoplay window . You will have to uninstall Real Player and maybe do
something else as described below. After you uninstall Real Player 10,
reboot your computer and then try with your camera or card reader again.
Real Player is aware of the problem and a fix is on the way. If you do not
want to remove RealPlayer, you can go around it to get Autoplay, as given
below.

If you do not have Real Player 10, read below for different ways to download
your pictures and repair the Autoplay.



Several ways to download your pictures, from your camera or card reader.





Before you connect your camera to your computer, make sure you have enough
battery power or better yet use your AC connector if your camera came with
one. Then, check your camera manual. With most cameras you simply power
them on and set them to take pictures, with some you need to set them to
something like connect to PC or set PTP. After connecting, power the camera
and wait about 15-20 seconds for XP to recognize the camera, you will hear
some sound "ding-dong" and the LCD screen on your camera will change (the
change is dependent on the type of camera you have) and you are now ready to
transfer, even if the Autoplay window does not open automatically. If you
do not hear a sound or the LCD screen of your camera does not change, the
connection with the USB port is not correct. Go to the bottom of these
directions to repair the USB connection.



After you hear the sound:


1. Open My Computer, look under devices with removable storage. Your camera
(or card reader) will be listed there as an external drive with a drive
letter E, F, G or H (probably listed below your CD drive). Right click on
your camera listed as an external drive. A menu will open, click on Autoplay
listed on the opening menu. This should open the Autoplay window to download
your photos the same way as when the Autoplay window opens automatically
when you connect your camera. If you want to keep Real Player 10, this would
be the way to do it. The Autoplay will not open when you connect your camera
but you can still get the Autoplay from your camera listed as an external
drive.



Or

2. Open My Computer, look under devices with removable storage. Your camera
will be listed there as an external drive (probably listed below your CD
drive). Double click on it to open it.
You will see a folder, double click to open it, then another folder, double
click on it to open it and you will see the list of photo files. Select all
files
and copy to a folder on your hard drive. To select all the files, hold the
Ctrl key down and press the letter A. Or, click on Edit on your top bar and
then click on Select all on the opening menu. When files are selected, their
names are highlighted in blue. You can then look at the menu on the left
of the file names and click on Copy and then select the folder you want or
make a new folder.

If you want to repair the automatic Autoplay window you can try the
following.

Different ways to try to repair the Autoplay window for downloading from
either a camera or card reader. Also the same procedure can be used for a CD
drive Autoplay.

Go from steps I to V, although step V may not be needed.

I. Connect your camera (or card reader) to your computer, and make sure you
have
pictures on your memory card. Make sure your batteries are good or better
yet, use your AC adapter if your camera came with one. If you are trying
with a card reader, just connect it with a memory card inserted and with
pictures on the memory card. Power the camera on, wait 10-15 seconds for XP
to recognize it, you should hear a sound and the LCD screen of your camera
will change, the change is dependent on the type of camera you have.

Click on My Computer and look under Device with Removable storage. Your
camera will be listed there, probably below your CD drive, and a drive
letter will be assigned to it (something like H, G, etc.) You will use this
drive letter in a step below, so just note down what the drive letter is.
If you do not see your camera listed there you will need to repair your USB
connection (see below for repair) or you are on a network and the network
drive is Z and XP cannot assign a drive letter to your camera. You will need
to take care of this
first. The steps below will not work if XP cannot assign a drive letter for
your camera. In some cases, your camera may be listed but with no drive
letter. Try the drive letter after the CD or DVD drive under which your
camera is listed.

II. Click on Start, click on Run and type the following in the textbox:
REGSVR32 SHIMGVW.DLL
and press Enter
Note that there is a space between ...32 and SHI...
This will take a few seconds to run.

III. Download the autofix.exe file from the site below. At this Microsoft
site, you have the option of downloading the autofix.exe file in one of your
folder (or make a new folder and save the file there), then open the folder
and double click on the file and then follow directions on the screen. Or,
let Microsoft scan your computer to make the repair. You will need your
camera drive letter during this step. After this, reboot your computer.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...b6-e8fa-45c4-a171-1b389cfacdad&DisplayLang=en



IV. After rebooting, power the camera on, wait 10-15 seconds for XP to
recognize it, you
should hear some beeping sound and the Autoplay window should now open
giving you the option of downloading photos from the camera.

V. You may have to set the options for this window.
Click on My Computer, your camera should be listed there under Devices with
Removable Storage. Right click on it and click on Properties. In the opening
window, click on the Autoplay tab and under Select, scroll to Pictures to
select it. Select the button Prompt me... Do the same thing for a CD drive.



Another solution posted here (on page 3):



http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfo...message.id=3681&view=by_date_ascending&page=2



Another solution posted by Bill, using a Nikon camera.

I installed the camera via the control panel add hardware function. It went
to a point of requiring a file called ptspusd.dll from service pack one. I
found the file via search on my hard drive. Typed the path in the window
that asked for it and it took. Solved the problem. Check your set up menu on
the camera to see your USB setting is PTP.




To repair your USB connection:

Go to Control panel>Performance and maintenance>System>Hardware>Device
manager>Universal Serial Bus Controller, click on the + sign to see the list
of installed devices. If your camera is connected, it should be listed there
with a yellow flag (the yellow flag indicates that although the connection
is there, it is not working properly).

Right click on it>Properties>Troubleshoot. See if the troubleshooter can
help. If not, click on Action on the top bar and then Uninstall. Leave your
camera on and connected and reboot. XP should now recognize the camera and
install it (I am assuming here that your camera is fully compatible with XP
and according to your manual you do not need to install a driver, this
should be true for cameras of 2001 and up). If you needed to install a
driver, disconnect the camera, reboot, install the driver and then connect
the camera (important to install the driver first). If you lost the driver,
go to the manufacturer web site and download the driver from there.



Also, check the software you use for photo editing. When you open the
software, click on File on the top bar. Look at the opening menu. You
probably have an option for downloading photos from a camera or scanner or
card reader.



Something else may be the problem (This is a more recent, June 2004,
problem) as reported here:

There are a lot of messages here about the camera wizard suddenly not
working. Same for me after having it work for at least a year. One of the
messages mentioned upgrading Real Player seemed to cause the problem. I
recently upgraded that also. Just uninstalled it and my camera wizard came
back immediately - this after weeks of trying to figure out what went wrong!
--
Brigit



(Note: some have reported that uninstalling Real Player 10 works fine,
others have reported that they had to use the autofix.exe after removing
Real Player 10. Real Player is aware of the problem and working on a fix).
Apparently there was no problem with Real Player 9.



Another possible solution.

Click on Start, click on Run and type the following in the opening textbox:

cmd

and press the Enter key

A window will open (black and white) and will display the following:

C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\

Type the following at the end of the above line after the \

Net start stisvc

And press the Enter key

You will get a message that service is already started (if so this does not
solve the problem) or that it is starting (if so this may solve the
problem). Then try connecting your camera after you close this window. To
close this window, type EXIT at the end of the displayed line and press the
Enter key.
 
G

Guest

I'm not sure this is the problem - I'm beginning to think the card reader or
the port on the motherboard is bad.

You helped me solve the primary problem of getting images onto my hard drive
by connecting the camera. I've tried another USB reader (external) and it
works fine, detected by autoplay, etc, etc. Thank you so much for that!

The problem I'm having is that I have a Mitsumi internal 6-in-1 card reader
plugged into my computer in three places (one for power, and two data
connections, I think), and in Device manager, it says everything is ok, but
on My Computer, there are no removeable drives listed. When I put a card in
the reader, nothing happens. I can't see the images on the card from that
drive at all. It worked perfectly for several months, then yesterday it
stopped showing up in My Computer. I didn't do any updates or install any
new programs to cause a change.

I tried autofix.exe, and I can't pull up the drive I want to fix - doesn't
show up as a choice even though it's plugged in.

Got a Christmas party tonight, so I'll try again later with your other
suggestions - thanks for your help!

Shannon
 

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