Thinkpads Forum

I have a TP Z60m with a Digital Media Card Reader (on the right front corner).
An SD card has now become stuck in the reader.

I was doing some photo exposure tests, taking the card back and forth between my camera and the TP .... then suddenly it has become firmly stuck in the reader.
I have tried wiggling it about; I have tried pliers - gently - without success.

Any suggestions, please?

Have I to strip the box down and replace the reader? - Assuming that is an orderable spare part.

My wife had done this thing several times on her once owned Z60m. I never looked into it but she always had success with nail cutter clips to take the SD card out.

I suggest you download the Hardware Maintenance Manual from here and see if you can remove the SD card by removing the digital media card itself.

Thank you.
I did look at the HW MM first and saw that removal of the media reader entails prior removal of many other components - not a task to undertaken lightly, especially if there is an easier, quicker trick.

I note from a Lenovo spares page that the card reader is not listed as an orderable spare part ( http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 61358.html ). In a call to the IBM/Lenovo service here in the UK, the rep was also unable to identify the FRU. She is going to investigate further. (From her accent, it sounds as if she might still be Greenock based; glad they are still hanging on to a small part of the PC business up there.)

The nail clipper idea sounded neat, as it would clasp the card firmly and allow a bit of sideways wiggling but unfortunately my wife's just don't quite open wide enough to grasp the card.
I have been using a pair of tweezers but the card refuses to budge. I don't want to pull too hard for fear of making matters worse.

If your wife can offer any tips on how she released the card, I would be grateful.

Does anyone know where I can find a diagram or description of how the card is held in a reader? If I can see how the push/release mechanism is supposed to work, then I stand a better chance of freeing the card. On which side is the retaining spring? Is it on the right? I have tried poking with a needle on that side without success.

Davidhs wrote:I have tried wiggling it about; I have tried pliers - gently - without success.

You should keep doing this. It should come out eventually. I had the exact same problem with my Toshiba Portege R100. By persevering, I finally got it out.

I'm sorry to bother you with this, as it does not solve your problem, but I am wondering with those built-in card readers, do you still have to use the Safely Remove Harware icon on the taskbar?

Purcy wrote:I'm sorry to bother you with this, as it does not solve your problem, but I am wondering with those built-in card readers, do you still have to use the Safely Remove Harware icon on the taskbar?

When the card is in, Yes.

Davidhs wrote:If your wife can offer any tips on how she released the card, I would be grateful.

Ok, I just asked her and she said if you can somehow put a long paper made hard cover under/top of the SD card and then try to push it, it might come out easily.

She also said tweezer is a very good idea and you might also try it while the hard cover is still in.

Good Luck mate.

This is precisely why I am looking for a spring loaded card reader, like the ones pansonic makes.

Thank you for the responses.

I eventually pulled harder - and it came out.
The card works OK in other readers.
But it appears that the reader in the Thinkpad has something out of place around the sensor spring that detects if the write protect or lock switch is set. If I push this card in with the lock off, it gets stuck and when I pull it out lock is set. So something is bent. Perhaps some foreign body has got into the slot at some stage and the little metal detector spring has become distorted.

I will probably give up using the reader in the TP and use another reader.

Davidhs wrote:I eventually pulled harder - and it came out.
I will probably give up using the reader in the TP and use another reader.

I'm glad it did. I think it's a common problem with thinkpad card readers especially those on Z-series.

Purcy wrote:

do you still have to use the Safely Remove Harware icon on the taskbar?

Perhaps it depends if you have been just reading or also writing to the card.
At first I used the icon. But that caused problems with a card not being recognised when next inserted until after a reboot.
Now I just remove the card and with reads have no problem.

As I often reformat a card in the camera before the next use, write issues have not been such a concern. But I ensure any write I/O has completed first; I point Explorer away from the drive; I move my image software away from the drive or better still close it, I count up to ten, etc..

It might be argued that Windows may not flush write buffers to the disk until later, but I am out of date on that debate as far as Win XP is concerned. Surely with these devices, writes will be pretty much immediate?

Davidhs wrote:Surely with these devices, writes will be pretty much immediate?

I believe that is generally the case, but you should be able to verify. Open My Computer, right-click on the drive and choose: Properties > Hardware > Properties > Policies. The radio button should be selected: "Optimize for quick removal".