NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, June 2012
Microsoft FixIt
By Ted Wirtz, Member,
ORCOPUG (Orange County PC Users’ Group), CA July 2011 issue,
nibbles & bits
http://www.orcopug.org
twirtz (at) pacbell.net (click to email author)

My home computer is an HP Pavilion running Vista SP2. It has a memory card reader built into the top faceplate on the front of the computer that is capable of reading many of the common memory cards used in a digital camera. I commonly use it to transfer images from my digital camera which happens to use either SD or SDHC memory cards. (SD cards come in capacities up to 2 GB per card. SDHC cards come in capacities greater than 2 GB.)

Recently I inserted an SDHC card, and instead of seeing pictures, Vista saw it as a blank card and wanted to format it. Not good. Obviously I didn’t want to format the card because I knew there were images on it. I ejected it and inserted a SD card. Vista saw images. Reinserted the SDHC card. No images.

I put the SDHC card back in my camera fearing the worst. All the images were there. Whew!

Okay, the card is good, but for some reason, now my system would not recognize SDHC cards. Bummer. Why SD but not SDHC? I didn’t have time to mess with it then. I needed to get to my pictures. I connected the camera via a USB port and transferred the images that way. Clumsy but effective.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to attempt a fix for my reader. I opened up Device Manager and looked at the readers. No exclamation marks. Windows doesn’t see any problem with the devices. Okay, maybe I need to update the drivers. I asked the system to check, and it reported later drivers were available. I installed the updated drivers and tested the reader. No joy. I still could not read SDHC. Tried an SD card. Oh great, now Vista can’t read either type!

I went back to Device Manager, and selected “Roll Back Driver.” Vista reported the driver was successfully rolled back. Time to test. Uh Oh. I still can’t see any images on either type of card. I’ve gone from the frying pan into the fire!

Time to Google my problem. Google found something that sounded a lot like my problem. Solution: use Device Manager, delete the devices, reboot, let Vista re-discover the devices and all should be well. Only it didn’t solve the problem.

Device Manager found the devices, reinstalled them, no exclamation marks, but they still can’t read any of my cards.

Time to search the Microsoft site. I found a somewhat similar problem listed, where somebody was having a Firewire problem. Recommended solution: Use the Microsoft Fix It program.

I downloaded and installed the program. The program opened up showing a series of problems that it could check. I scrolled down until I found “Hardware devices not detected or not working (Figure 1).

I clicked the Run button and crossed my fingers. The program reported it had found hardware changes might not have been detected, and had successfully updated. It also checked that Windows Update was configured to install drivers (Figure 2).

Okay, time to see if my problem was fixed. Yes! I can now read both types of SD cards just like when the machine was new. Problem solved.

I don’t know if the Fixit program can solve other problems as easily, but I’m definitely going to keep this program installed on my computer. It’s a keeper.

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