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Sorry- I wrongly posted this in general video topics:
card reader

Postby barrieBalfe on Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:00 pm
Hopefully there are still some older-timers who remember the Claro model which has served me faithfully for several years. The card reader for photo transfer has given up the ghost half-way through a project which consists mainly of digitised film slides. I have reinstalled photo transfer and card drive from the claro software cd and checked the card reader connection on the machine which seems OK. The sd card reads quite OK on my PC reader and was doing the same in the claro until it came up with greyed-out operating icons. I have a portable card reader with a usb connector. Presuming the photo transfer program is ok after the reinstall, should the portable reader work if connected to a claro usb?

barrieBalfe

Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:58 pm
Location: hobart, tasmania, australia
Casablanca Unit: Avio DV with pro pack SE 3.3 40 gig HD. Columbus. Photo Transfer. Panasonic MX350 camera. Panasonic DMR E-20 DVD stand alone burner-player. AMD Athlon 64 processor 2.21 GHz 2GB RAM with Casablanca link.
Claro with SE V5.2 Arabesk V3.2c, Pro Pack, 3D Shapes Professional. title effect pack 1.

Hello Barrie,

Yes, I do remember the Claro -- don't have one now to test with you, but I believe it should recognize the card reader/drive. It is possible (though unlikely, I believe) that your card reader should go out on you, especially during a project. But stranger things have happened! As I believe you suggested, I would try a different card drive (even prior to OS re-installation). The other option is to delete (from Install Product) in the System Settings Menu the Card Reader software , power down, and the re-install the software just to see if that will get her going again. You could also try this with the Photo Transfer software as well.

Other than that - I don't have any thought/suggestion why it wouldn't work any longer.

Regards,
Chet

I have no direct knowledge of the Claro card reader, but does the indicator light(s) on the card reader still work?

If not, then likely it is either a simple matter of the electrical contact internally has broken or the little circuit board on the reader itself has failed.

If the lights are working, but no one is home then it's likely the card reader's internal contacts have become corrupted (tarnished, or gunk, etc.).

You could try cleaning the internal contacts of the card reader to test this.

Power down the Claro and unplug it to play safe.

Then apply a little rubbing alcohol or other vaporizing cleaner to the contact points on a memory card and insert it in and out multiple (a lot) times into the reader.

Attempt to wiggle it a bit horizontally and vertically on several of the insertions and ejections to make sure the metal contacts make good contact internally with the cleaner fluid.

Then give it a good hour (should really only take seconds to minutes as long as you are using a proper vaporizing cleaner fluid, but play safe) and then plug it back in, power up and test it.

That should fix it if it was a internal surface corruption issue.

Thanks Chet and Tim. Chet: Will try a different card drive. I've already reinstalled card drive and photo transfer with no effect, but forgot the power down step. Will try again.Tim: Will try cleaning the reader contact points. Will isopropanol alcohol head cleaner do? The reader lights flash during power-up. Will report progress after having to record a compulsory vote in today's federal election.

Yes, Iso would be fine.

Thanks again fellahs--the card reader is now happily humming away downloading 124 digitised slide files. Apparently it was a corrupted Photo Transfer program and my forgetting to power down after uninstalling and then reinstalling is the only reason I can think of that got things working again. As usual, of course, I probably will go to my grave (I'm 81 next month) never knowing what the hell caused the program to corrupt--like so many things that do just that in this enigmatic electronic wonderland. And, also as usual, I am again indebted and grateful for the help of this truly great bulletin board.