SD Slot not working on X41T

[skrypj]

Hi,
I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate on my X41T. Everything seems to be working great except that the SD card slot will not read my cards. It shows up in device manager as functional with drivers and everything. When I plug in an SD card it blinks 3 or 4 times and then nothing. It acts as if i never put a card in. Any ideas?

I really wanna use my 4gb SDHC card for ReadyBoost to try and speed things up.

Thanks a lot!

[loyukfai]

Got any USB stick? Try a Live Linux distro and see if the reader works there, if not, it maybe a hardware issue, like dirt on the contacts.

Cheers.

[skrypj]

I really hope its a dirt connection, because it did not work in linux either. Thanks for the advice.

[skrypj]

so i took apart my X41t only to discover that there was damage to the motherboard. The metal cage aaround the PCMCIA slot had been deformed and 3 or 4 of the pins had been bent and were touching. I did not see any physical damage to the sd reader itself but who knows what else is wrong with the thing. Im a little mad because I bought these from someone selling a ton of them and It was said that there was only some minor cosmetic wear and tear issues(there was a small chip in the corner of the plastic around the screen). Im not sure how I should go about this, Is it worth pursuing the buisness I bought it from on ebay?

Thanks

[loyukfai]

If it's significantly different from what's been described, then you may file a claim with eBay and PayPal. But you may contact the seller first and see how it goes, maybe ask for a discount...?

However, eBay Buyer Protection is valid for 45 days after the payment so beware.

See http://pages.ebay.com/coverage/index.html for more information.

BTW, did you take photos of the damaged parts...? Those may help you in the claim process.

Cheers.

[skrypj]

Im pretty sure its been almost 60 days(1/26/2010) so I might be out of luck. The thing that annoys me is that its not something I would have ever figured out until I attempted to use my SD card reader and found out it didn't work. I have not taken pics but the tablet is still in pieces on my living room table so I will do that as soon as i get a chance. Hopefully my cell phone can take good enough pictures cause my camera is at home(im at school).

Thanks for the help

[skrypj]

Is it possible that the screwed up pins on the PCMCIA plug could have damaged the SD Reader? They are both on the PCI bus correct?

[loyukfai]

I would still contact the seller and see how he respond.

BTW, if you paid using PayPal, I read that you can initialize a charge-back with the credit card company within 60 days...?

You could surely try fixing those pins, they should be relatively easy to fix (?), just use a small screwdriver and carefully straighten them.

Cheers.

[skrypj]

Well I was never able to resolve this. The dealer would not help me out as it was out of the 30 day warranty even though it was sold to me broken.

The pins on the pcmcia we broken and mangled, not just bent. i separtated the ones that were touching but it did not fix it. I guess its not a big deal.

Jay

[loyukfai]

Sorry to hear that.

Still ,you may like to post your experience in details at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewforum.php?f=11 so that others can be aware of it.

Cheers.