cannot read SD cards in xp, vista, 2000

[tarvoke]

previously here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=48754

re-posting here since the problem has expanded and this seems a more appropriate forum for the topic.

to sum up:

-- certain cards do not work in the built-in sd slot of the x61t (7764-cto) in vista, nor in a pcmcia sd reader in my x31 in xp (nor when trying the pcmcia reader in the x61t/vista, nor with the pcmcia reader in my 600X with win2k)

-- all of the cards DO work in the built-in sd slot of a different x61t (7767 series). using the pcmcia reader on this machine, the 2gb card again does not work. the built-in reader is using sdbus.sys whereas the pcmcia reader is using atapi.sys.

-- all cards work fine in usb sd readers.

attempts to date:

-- in vista, tried ms hotfixes 936825 and 939772. with the second fix, the sd card yellow exclamation point in dev.manager is gone; now shows up in disk management and 'my computer' but says it needs to be formatted. formatting always fails.

-- in xp, tried hotfix 923293 and got exactly same behavior as in vista. waiting for ms to send me hotfix 934428 so I can try that.

-- in 2000 no hotfixes appear available; card shows up properly in device manager, disk manager, but again same behavior as xp/vista: wants to format but format fails every time.

ideas:

-- try getting the sdbus.sys from the working x61t over to the non-working one. painful but do-able. non-working one has newer drivers for sdbus.sys, sffdisk.sys etc. and yet they don't work. wtf microsoft.

-- requested a hotfix updating atapi.sys on xp (current driver is dated 2001+2003, hotfix driver is dated 2006)

-- if any of the xp hotfixes work, I may try files from them in 2000.

but if anyone has gone through this before and has ideas or solutions, that'd be much appreciated.

[RealBlackStuff]

I can't remember where I read it, but some SD cards only function correctly if not larger than 1GB.
Have you tried a different brand of SD card?

[tarvoke]

I'll see if I can't try some other >1gb cards, thanks for the suggestion. it's just highly annoying that a card will work 100% in usb reader (in the case of the 2gb it has a built-in usb reader!) but not built-in reader on 1 out of 2 nearly identical x61, nor pcmcia ata/atapi reader.

I should mention the card so others can steer clear:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820211152

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ok, ms sent me 934428. did not help; should have realized that, it updates sffdisk.sys and sdbus.sys; whereas the pcmcia reader uses atapi.sys (not sdbus.sys) and the sd card when in the reader uses disk.sys (not sffdisk.sys)

also tried beta 3205 of xp service pack 3, no dice.