Android reads tf card Windows 10 does not see it….

[Hans Sprungfeld]

This is some kind of hardware bug you wont be able to fix it. My bed is, there is something wrong with sd card current or voltage which will damage it over time until it is damaged fatally and wont recognize any cards anymore. Or there is a bug in the Android or/and Windows driver which leads to a hardware failure.

[Riccardo]

Guys, I’ve got it!

It is indeed some kind of hardware bug because I’ve read this post here

(Hardware) fix for non working SD reader

and I’ve tried to do the same thing: remove and reinsert in the slot my 32gb SD card with different pressure. I did it for many times and once, for a brief moment, Windows detected it!

Unfortunately, it won’t last… the SD card icon showed up but no operations was possible because the physical connection with the memory went lost and I’m unable to recreate the phenomena. I think the right spot to reach require pinpoint accuracy, indeed.

I don’t know why this bothers only the Windows O.S. so far and, more than this, I don’t know how to fix it… I see no easy way to open the tablet :/

 

P.s.

I’m not sure, but I start to think my old 2Gb Micro SD Kingstone card (still readable on Windows) is somehow slightly bigger than the 32Gb Micro SD Toshiba card. Perhaps that’s the reason why it could be still readable and perhaps it’s not the continue switching between Android and Windows that corrupts the internal reader (as someone says here: http://techtablets.com/forum/topic/micro-sd-issue/page/4/#post-47694) but the normal insert/remove operations that, with time, screw something with the sd-detect pin inside the metal case…

[Riccardo]

I’ve decided to open the tablet and see for myself how bad was this sd-detect pin thing.

I’ve tried to move the sd-detect closer to the connector, but that won’t work: apparently, the issue is not originated by a false contact, as I supposed and, unfortunately, I failed at find again a fortuitous spot that makes the SD card readable again.

So, my guess is it’s not the sd-detect micro lever that does the trick but something inside the SD reader itself, perhaps the plating mating and termination.

As a matter of fact, I start to think ther’s nothing we can do to solve this issue except find someone capable of physically replace the internal SD reader with a new one (hoping for the best).

What upset me is this issue seems to be common to a great variety of chinese tablets, no matter which brands, so assuming I’m going to buy another tablet from Cube, Teclast, Chuwi and so on, how could I avoid to face this issue again? It is unclear what triggers it…

Is it just a matter of time before the issue present itself? Is it switching too often through the two O.S.? Is it setting the MicroSD as the default drive for Windows Apps? Is it just an high temperature damage? And why it affects Windows and not Android (in most of the cases)?

 

[JIB]

Riccardo wrote:

I’ve decided to open the tablet and see for myself how bad was this sd-detect pin thing. I’ve tried to move the sd-detect closer to the connector, but that won’t work: apparently, the issue is not originated by a false contact, as I supposed and, unfortunately, I failed at find again a fortuitous spot that makes the SD card readable again. So, my guess is it’s not the sd-detect micro lever that does the trick but something inside the SD reader itself, perhaps the plating mating and termination. As a matter of fact, I start to think ther’s nothing we can do to solve this issue except find someone capable of physically replace the internal SD reader with a new one (hoping for the best). What upset me is this issue seems to be common to a great variety of chinese tablets, no matter which brands, so assuming I’m going to buy another tablet from Cube, Teclast, Chuwi and so on, how could I avoid to face this issue again? It is unclear what triggers it… Is it just a matter of time before the issue present itself? Is it switching too often through the two O.S.? Is it setting the MicroSD as the default drive for Windows Apps? Is it just an high temperature damage? And why it affects Windows and not Android (in most of the cases)?

I had an internal card reader in a PC do the same thing. I twas connected to an internal USB pinout. The problem was Windows screwing up how it queried the reader for its ID info. After some Windows updates it would work again and then after some it would stop working. It would switch back and forth along with updates. Eventually I got fed up and removed it. Hopefully, this issue gets fixed and your reader will begin working again.

[Riccardo]

JIB wrote:

After some Windows updates it would work again and then after some it would stop working. It would switch back and forth along with updates. Eventually I got fed up and removed it. Hopefully, this issue gets fixed and your reader will begin working again.

I hope so… but that explanation doesn’t cover it all: if it were just a bunch of Windows updates that screw up something, why on earth rolling back to factory system image doesn’t solve the issue? :/

Must be something else: I do agree this is a Windows driver issue (Android is unaffected), but it also must have something to do with the BIOS settings; otherwise I don’t understand how a fresh flash of the entire system can’t fix this (assuming this is not an hardware failure but, then again, the internal reader works flawlessly on Android and with certain old SD cards…)

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Of course it’s nonsense. It doesn’t has anything to do with Windows updates. Read what I said on the other topic in the iwork10 forum. The problem gets triggered if you boot from Android to Windows or Vice verse, maybe even just rebooting Windows in a row (thats why he thought it was updates causing it). It’s as if loading the driver causes some bug, maybe triggers some current fluctuation leading to permanently damaging the slot. The fix above with the pressure isn’t related to this totally, maybe it adds to it.

[Riccardo]

Hans Sprungfeld wrote:

The problem gets triggered if you boot from Android to Windows or Vice verse, maybe even just rebooting Windows in a row (that’s why he thought it was updates causing it).

It could be, but is it relevant the physical presence of the SD card inside the slot while performing those operations? Or, perhaps, doing so with the empty slot could prevent the emerge of the issue, in your opinion? I’m asking because I think my tablet have still warranty and I’m going to ask a replacement. Problem is, I’ll be afraid to use it if I’ll risk to screw up everything again just booting/rebooting the device!

 

Hans Sprungfeld wrote:

It’s as if loading the driver causes some bug, maybe triggers some current fluctuation leading to permanently damaging the slot.

Speaking of which, can the slot be replaced with a working one? I mean, I’ve opened the tablet and I saw the slot welded to the board. Shouldn’t be too difficult to remove it but where to find a proper replace part?

 

EDIT

I think I’ve found it: should be this one, for what I see inside the tablet

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/9pin-Micro-SD-card-slot-connectors-size-14-15mm-TF-card-deck-fit-for-phone-tablet/32480835303.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.1.yYnCfF&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_10,searchweb201602_2_10057_10056_10065_10055_10054_9998_10059_10058_10017_107_10060_10061_10052_414_10062_10053_10050_10051,searchweb201603_4&btsid=35a656d8-5c75-4160-9a74-83be81134f1b

 

 

 

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[Riccardo]

Ther’s nothing to do…

Gearbest sent me another iWork8 Air (since mine was still in warranty) but, after some days, the issue with the internal SD card reader come up again 🙁

I avoided to boot from Android to Windows and viceversa (I always shut down the terminal to do that), I avoided to take out the microsd too, but ther’s something that triggers this problem anyway…

[Riccardo]

All right, I don’t want to speak too soon but I think I’ve solved this damned issue!

The trick is to execute Windows with the “Disable driver signature enforcement” option, disable the automatic updates, uninstall the existing drivers under “Host SD” – “Intel Controller Host SD” and force the installation of some older drivers for Windows 8.1 I’ve found here:

Reading SDXC Card. (Solved – Drives Fix Inside)

That worked!

Now, how to prevent the resurface of the issue and how stable will this older driver be, on a Windows 10 enviroment, only time will tell but, for now, my 32gb SD card works again on my Windows partition and that’s a relief!

[Slinkyg]

How did you manage to get the replacement driver installed? I have uninstalled all the drivers on the SD host controller/adapters but after every reboot or when scanning for hardware changes the drivers just reinstall. There is no option to delete driver files when uninstalling either. I tried downloading software to delete driver packages but this hasn’t worked either. I cannot see how to replace the pre-installed non working driver with the older unsigned one (linked above) that apparently fixes this sd card issue. I know how to install the unsigned driver but cannot get near that stage as I cannot uninstall the existing drivers or update over them (Windows determines the best driver software is already installed). grrrrr lol

[Riccardo]

As for now, I avoided to reconnect the tablet to the internet because I fear a forced update will vanish my efforts. Rebooting the O.S. without connection to the internet, however, doesn’t overwrites the older drivers, in my case.

 

The only thing I did so far is this: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/15989-device-driver-automatic-installation-turn-off-windows-10-a.html and please note that I’ve disabled (not uninstalled at first) the present drivers in the “Disable driver signature enforcement” enviroment, when I was not connected to the internet. Then, I clicked on the disabled “Sd Host” and force the installation of the older driver. That works out smoothly, for me.

Please note that I’m not a technician, so probably not all the steps I went into are really necessary. I don’t know. But it worked that way.

 

Now I’m going to try some of this advices here, too: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8013-windows-update-automatic-updates-enable-disable-windows-10-a.html when I’ll have some more time to dedicate to this issue.

 

I’ll let you know how it goes.

[Riccardo]

I’m doing some testing: I’ve disabled the automatic updates and I’ve connected the tablet to the internet. I’ve also upgraded the O.S. with the latest patch (KB3176938) and all was fine with the SD cards reader.

So, out of curiosity, I’ve enabled again the automatic updates and forced the drivers update on the “Intel – Controller Host SD”; there are three of them: the first two needed no updates but the last one yes and THAT messed up with the SD again.

So I’ve disabled the automatic updates once again, I’ve uninstalled the latest cumulative patch and I’ve reinstalled the working drivers (by the way, the version of the working driver is: 10.0.14393.0 rs1_release.160715-1616).

I’ve installed the latest cumulative patch KB3176938 for the second time via Windows Update and I think all is fine, since my SD is right there on the Windows File Explorer .

From what I’ve so far understood, the issue is a banal driver problem that probably occurs when we force the updates of the O.S. on the tablet (this tablets were not meant to be upgraded, I think…) so it’s important to disable the automatic driver updates under ‘Control Panel’ – ‘Devices’ – <PC name> – ‘Device installation settings’  and select  “No (your device might not work as expected)”

This way you’ll get the O.S. updates but (I think) your existing drivers will not be overwritten with the newest ones, unless you decide to do that manually.

[Riccardo]

So far so good, Windows Update is working and the internal reader still works.

One thing I don’t understand is, If this is just a driver issue (as it seems) why if you flash the original firmware on the tablet you still have troubles with this driver…?

[silverstar]

Actually when I flashed the original windows again, everything worked. After a while intermittent errors started to appear (guessing some updates slipped in b4 I disabled them). Will try the drivers above.

–in case this helps others–
right clicking the sd controller and choosing update driver software does not work.

after disabling driver signature, right click the driver and choose properties, then drivers, update driver –this will allow u to choose the driver you downloaded

 

[Riccardo]

silverstar wrote:

Actually when I flashed the original windows again, everything worked. 

That’s odd, I’ve flashed the original firmware plenty of times but, in my case, that never worked to restore the internal reader functionality. I suspected an hardware failure, in fact.

 

 

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