Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Resolved SD card reader misbehaving.. :/

Thrash911

Thrash911

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 14, 2006
297
4
Jutland, Denmark
Hello good people,

As the sig says, late 2013 iMac. Running 10.9.2 (Mavericks).

I have an annoying problem. When I insert an SDcard into the SDcard slot on the back of my iMac, the card does not show up on the desktop. If the machine is booting up with the card already inserted, it shows up every time! It's stupid having to reboot the whole system, when I have to use an SD card. I have tried with two different SD cards - both Kingston. This is very annoying, and "un-Apple".. I have googled this, so I know I'm not alone with this problem. I did not have this problem in 10.8.

This is what I have tried so far, WITHOUT success:


  • Cleaned the SDcard slot (compressed air).
  • Resetting SMC.
  • Resetting PRAM.
  • Uninstalled quite a few apps, ex.:
    Wine, TeamViewer, Avast!, Little Snitch,
    Dropbox, Android File Transfer.
  • Running maintenance scripts and cleared caches with Onyx.
  • Checked 'System Information'.
    The slot shows up as 'Card Reader', with these details:
    Vendor ID: 0x14e4
    Device ID: 0x16bc
    Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x106b
    Subsystem ID: 0x0000
    Revision: 0x0001
    Link Width: x1
    Link Speed: 2.5 GT/s
  • Cursing loudly.

Vmware Fusion and Parallels have been known to hijack the SDcard slot - none of these are installed. I guess I COULD reinstall the whole OS, but I'd rather not take such drastic measures, unless I really have to! Plus, then I would not know what the problem was..

Could some of you have any suggestions, as to what I can do? Any thoughts? Anything, really.. :roll eyes: Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
what do you see in DU when the card is inserted but not visible? I know this is an old one, but have you checked finder preferences to make sure that each box is checked...IE: DVD, Externals etc...It's easy to miss.
 
Macman45 said:
what do you see in DU when the card is inserted but not visible?
Click to expand...

Nothing. The card reader, nor the card is visible.

Macman45 said:
have you checked finder preferences to make sure that each box is checked...
Click to expand...

Everything is checked. Keep in mind, I DO see it on the desktop, after I boot the machine with the card inserted.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions! :)
 
Thrash911 said:
Nothing. The card reader, nor the card is visible.



Everything is checked. Keep in mind, I DO see it on the desktop, after I boot the machine with the card inserted.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions! :)
Click to expand...

What format is the card in? Just a wild one as this is baffling, I can only think that either something on the card itself to it's format is causing this.
 
Macman45 said:
What format is the card in? Just a wild one as this is baffling, I can only think that either something on the card itself to it's format is causing this.
Click to expand...
Oh, indeed this is baffling.. :D It was in FAT. I freshly erased the card in Disk Utility, with 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'. But everything is still behaving the same. So.. Nothing to do with file-system on the card either.
 
[[ Could some of you have any suggestions, as to what I can do? Any thoughts? ]]

Well, if nothing else seems to work for you, why not spend about $10, and get an external USB card reader?

Yes, I -know- you're thinking "why should I have to do that when the Mac already -has- a card reader?"

My rock-bottom philosophy regarding computing is:
Find the solution that WORKS, then go with it.
 
Fishrrman said:
Well, if nothing else seems to work for you, why not spend about $10, and get an external USB card reader?
Click to expand...
Yes, I could do that. Personally, I'd reinstall everything from scratch first. Then, yes. Maybe.

Fishrrman said:
you're thinking "why should I have to do that when the Mac already -has- a card reader?"
Click to expand...
Dead-on, man! ;)

Fishrrman said:
My rock-bottom philosophy regarding computing is: Find the solution that WORKS, then go with it.
Click to expand...
Yes, well.. It does work now. Kind of.. Maybe you understand my hesitation for buying an external card reader right away.

I don't use SD cards daily. Maybe weekly or even semi-weekly. So I could buy a card reader, or reboot the damn thing when I have to use an SD card. Judgement call. I don't know yet.

Thanks. :)
 
Using the terminal, type the command:
Code: 
ls -l /dev/disk*
before and after inserting the disk. Are there any differences? Also type the command
Code: 
mount
before and after and look for differences. Post your findings.
 
ScoobyMcDoo said:
Using the terminal, type the command:
Code: 
ls -l /dev/disk*
before and after inserting the disk. Are there any differences? Also type the command
Code: 
mount
before and after and look for differences. Post your findings.
Click to expand...

Thank you for trying to help me. Okay, here goes. I rebooted the machine, with NO card inserted.

Typed the command "ls -l /dev/disk*". Output:

Code: 
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   0 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk0
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   3 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk0s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   7 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk0s2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   5 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk0s3
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   1 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   2 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk1s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   6 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk1s2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   4 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk1s3
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   8 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   9 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk3
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  10 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk3s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  11 24 Mar 17:05 /dev/disk3s2

Typed the command "mount". Output:

Code: 
/dev/disk2 on / (hfs, NFS exported, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
/dev/disk3s2 on /Volumes/Time Machine (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
//admin@LS-QVL41A/Buffalo on /Volumes/Buffalo (smbfs, nodev, nosuid, mounted by Thrash911)

Now, I inserted the SD card. Waited 30 secs, and repeated both commands. Output was 100% identical.

--

I rebooted the machine, with card inserted. It appeared on desktop.

Typed the command "ls -l /dev/disk*". Output (SD card on disk3):

Code: 
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   0 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk0
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   3 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk0s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   7 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk0s2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   4 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk0s3
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   1 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   2 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk1s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   6 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk1s2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   5 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk1s3
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   8 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk2
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   9 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk3
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  10 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk3s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  11 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk4
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  12 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk4s1
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,  13 24 Mar 17:13 /dev/disk4s2

Typed the command "mount". Output (SD card on disk3):

Code: 
/dev/disk2 on / (hfs, NFS exported, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
/dev/disk3s1 on /Volumes/test (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled, noowners)
/dev/disk4s2 on /Volumes/Time Machine (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
//admin@LS-QVL41A/Buffalo on /Volumes/Buffalo (smbfs, nodev, nosuid, mounted by Thrash911)

Then I ejected the SD card from desktop, and repeated the commands. Disk3 was missing from both. I re-inserted the SD card, waited 30 secs, and repeated the commands one more time. Disk3 was still missing. It failed to mount (as expected)..

Does all this mean anything to you? Thanks again. ;)
 
Last edited:
ScoobyMcDoo said:
Have you looked at the console when you insert and remove the SD card to see if it has any hints?
Click to expand...
No, just tried that now. I looked at "All Messages" under "SYSTEM LOG QUERIES". Nothing happens, when I insert the card. Am I looking in the right place?

----------
Macman45 said:
I'm thinking that this is a faulty card....It's all that's left.
Click to expand...
I highly doubt that. :( It behaves like this with both Kingston cards. Actually, I found a third card just now. It's a Class 10, 30MB/s, SanDisk card. I use it in my camcorder. This card works (as does the other two).

Macman45 said:
Try it in an identical machine if you can and se what happens,
Click to expand...
No can do, unfortunately. But all three cards work on my roommates PC, in my camcorder and in my 1541 Ultimate (C64 retro device). PLUS on the mac, if I reboot it with the card inserted.. Hehe..

This is all a whole lot of weirdness.. Should I laugh or cry?! I'll laugh now. Cry later, maybe.. :D
 
I solved it! I'm glad I didn't give up. :)

It had nothing to do with ANY of the stuff mentioned in this entire thread so far.

Please see this short video I made: http://youtu.be/EX-OAq7esVE

If you just glance into the port with no extra light, it's damn near impossible to see! How did I get it out? Turned machine off (!!), and used a bent twist tie.

Now it mounts the cards perfectly! Well.. One card does not work, even if plugged in during boot. Why? Because that's the card the plastic came from, so it can no longer press the little "activation" switch in the port. BUT I DON'T CARE about that one card! Now it works, and Mac life is good again!

Thanks to all you guys, who tried to help me! ;)
 
Thrash911 said:
"Normal" speed, I guess. But after reading your post, I have tried everything from very fast to very slow, while eyeballing the screen. But no change.. Thanks a lot for the idea, though! ;)
Click to expand...

It was worth a shot; inserting them too slowly causes problems, and if they worked on reboot...

Good to hear that you sorted it out though :)
 
Thrash911 said:
I solved it! I'm glad I didn't give up. :)

It had nothing to do with ANY of the stuff mentioned in this entire thread so far.

Please see this short video I made:

If you just glance into the port with no extra light, it's damn near impossible to see! How did I get it out? Turned machine off (!!), and used a bent twist tie.

Now it mounts the cards perfectly! Well.. One card does not work, even if plugged in during boot. Why? Because that's the card the plastic came from, so it can no longer press the little "activation" switch in the port. BUT I DON'T CARE about that one card! Now it works, and Mac life is good again!

Thanks to all you guys, who tried to help me! ;)
Click to expand...
this helped me in 2016! thanks
 
Calpos said:
this helped me in 2016! thanks
Click to expand...
Fantastic! I'm glad it helped you! Posting the solution to your own problem, has paid off once again. Too many people don't do that, or they just write "Forget it, I solved it.". Then, 3 months later, a guy with the same problem screams into the monitor "GOOD FOR YOU!! HOW?????" :)
 
very much so.. and i was scheduled to bring my mac in today actually.. and i decided to look to see if there was anyone with a similar situation.. and surprisingly enough i had a piece of plastic stuck in the right corner of the slot!! man was i excited to see it wasn't a problem with my mac!
 
Calpos said:
this helped me in 2016! thanks
Click to expand...
I have signed up to say I think you are my Mac Superheor my sd slot has not been working for months thought I had a mac problem, tonight decided to look at it found your thread within 3 mins, found the broken piece of plastic within a minute, watched your youtube clip and felt your pain as you sighed at the end after all your painstaking efforts to solve the problem and said a huge thank you to you for saving me the stress…. then spent about 15 minutes getting the plastic out…. and it all works perfectly…. mine was in the bottom right corner…… THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
 
rktgirl said:
I have signed up to say I think you are my Mac Superheor my sd slot has not been working for months thought I had a mac problem, tonight decided to look at it found your thread within 3 mins, found the broken piece of plastic within a minute, watched your youtube clip and felt your pain as you sighed at the end after all your painstaking efforts to solve the problem and said a huge thank you to you for saving me the stress…. then spent about 15 minutes getting the plastic out…. and it all works perfectly…. mine was in the bottom right corner…… THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
Click to expand...

Wow, you are very welcome. I'm glad you solved your problem. I'm extremely happy to see this thread is helping people like you! :)
 
OMG I Love you so much!!!! I thought my mac was faulty and hadnt been working for months. I had literally tried everything and was so angry. I ended up using an usb sd card adapter. And just when i needed it i had left it somewhere. So I had a look at my mac sd port again and somehow found this thread!! Words cannot describe how happy I am. the plastic was stuck in the left corner :mad: Relieved now that its gone . THANKYOU!!
 
Thrash911 said:
I solved it! I'm glad I didn't give up. :)

It had nothing to do with ANY of the stuff mentioned in this entire thread so far.

Please see this short video I made:

If you just glance into the port with no extra light, it's damn near impossible to see! How did I get it out? Turned machine off (!!), and used a bent twist tie.

Now it mounts the cards perfectly! Well.. One card does not work, even if plugged in during boot. Why? Because that's the card the plastic came from, so it can no longer press the little "activation" switch in the port. BUT I DON'T CARE about that one card! Now it works, and Mac life is good again!

Thanks to all you guys, who tried to help me! ;)
Click to expand...


This still works in 2018!

My SD card the front broke off and fell into the far back of the SD Slot on my iMac 5K. Imagine taking it to Apple to fix it!! It would have cost me a fortune! Thank you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back