Cardbus SDHC reader for T60P - SOLVED

[Grebbler]

Hello.

I just picked up a pair of T60Ps and I am digging them but the lack of SD slot is an issue. A trip to Amazon and I now have a pair of Cardbus readers.

Unfortunately, they won't read a card over 2GB. Despite much playing with drivers and trying other tricks I am still stuck at 2GB cards.

The readers are the un-branded gray and white with little squares all over model and they have the gold band and dimples.
WinXP sp3 with all patches applied. The reader shows up as Ricoh SD under Disk Drives in device manager.

Has anyone gotten these to work on the T60 or know of a verified working adapter I can use?

Cardbus or Express ok but adapter must sit flush with the case. SD card also flush preferred but can stick out a bit if no other solution is available.

Thank you for your time.

Ed

[dr_st]

Some CardBus readers that support SDHC were mentioned in this thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=100502

If you prefer ExpressCard, there's this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SanDisk-Express ... 43a86dcb09

I have it, it reads SDHC, and sits flush with the laptop, although the card itself sticks out.

[Grebbler]

Thanks for the reply.

I read that thread before I bought my useless readers -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Speed-SD-S ... 4152cbdec6
-BECAUSE it has the gold band.

Now I am a bit gun shy unless a fellow T60 owner can confirm a working reader with WinXP.

I don't know if my issue is the T60p or WinXp.

You have the Express card version and it works on your T60, correct?

[rumbero]

I read that thread before I bought my useless readers -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Speed-SD-S ... 4152cbdec6
-BECAUSE it has the gold band.

I have multiple of exactly this very same reader on different machines and we successfully use them with SDHC cards of up to 16GB mostly in Linux, but we had them also work just fine both in XP and Vista. I would and do always recommend this specific SDHC card reader to anyone who asks.

Your problem is possibly not the reader, but lacking XP SDHC support, which is a known issue. Try if this Microsoft Hotfix solves your problem: support.microsoft.com/kb/934428.

[Grebbler]

That patch is also listed on the back of the reader. Sadly, it was already applied and cannot be re-installed.

Still stumped. I like the reader as everything is flush but I can't get SDHC working.

My other laptops have Express and/or built in readers so I cannot test them in anything else at this time and my return window is closing.

[dr_st]

Contact the seller and say that it just doesn't work. It's clearly advertised as SDHC-capable. If it doesn't work - let the seller solve the problem for you.

[Grebbler]

Rumbero said they work so I kept digging.

I found the info in a tip for the T61. In Device Manager, I had to find the Ricoh entry under drive controllers and change it to SDA standard controller. BUT, since I didn't have a card loaded, the entry was missing. ARG.

When I dusted off my old Dell and tried it (XP SP2) I had to apply the patch and it worked.
I did not know that the entries are dynamic. When I checked the DM on the Dell is when I found this out. Learn something new all the time.

Back on the T60p I loaded a card and POOF - the Ricoh entry appeared and I changed it. Still no change and computer did not tell me to reboot. I rebooted and now it works.

The entry in DM under drive controllers is gone and there is a new Secure Digital Host controllers section.

All so confusing. Either way all is good for now.

ps Down with people that don't post their resolutions.

Thank you all for your input.

[cksubs]

Can you post pics of what this device looks like in your ThinkPad?

I'm looking for an SD Card reader to fill the slot in my T60... I think it has 2 card slots though? Are there any two cards that sandwich together well there, flush with the case edge and completely filling the hole?

[rumbero]

ps Down with people that don't post their resolutions.

Thanks for clearing this up and sharing the solution for this riddle!

[Grebbler]

Can you post pics of what this device looks like in your ThinkPad?

I'm looking for an SD Card reader to fill the slot in my T60... I think it has 2 card slots though? Are there any two cards that sandwich together well there, flush with the case edge and completely filling the hole?

There are 2 slots in the opening. The lower is PCMCIA / Cardbus and the upper is Express 34.

The way I fill them all is the new WORKING card reader (which just read my 8GB camera card to post the pics, Muahaha) and an HP Express card Bluetooth mobile mouse & laser pointer. It sits and recharges in the slot.

Here are some pics of the mess in a Google/Picasa album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/grebbler/2 ... directlink

If Picasa doesn't show arrows to navigate the pics you can use your arrow keys.

[cksubs]

Cool, thanks. The SD card reader looks good but that green light on the mouse would drive me insane