LG Gram 17 2021 SD Card Reader stopped working

[Steerpike]

The SD Card Reader on my LG Gram 17 (2021 model - 17Z95P) just stopped working; no obvious cause (no updates applied, no physical issues, etc).   Tried two cards; both cards can be read in an external SD card reader.  Device Manager 'Disk Drives' shows only the two SSDs that I have installed; I'm guessing that - if the card reader were working - there'd be an entry for the card reader there. 

 

Any thoughts? 

[aldarxt]

On 1/14/2024 at 12:08 AM, Steerpike said:

The SD Card Reader on my LG Gram 17 (2021 model - 17Z95P) just stopped working; no obvious cause (no updates applied, no physical issues, etc).   Tried two cards; both cards can be read in an external SD card reader.  Device Manager 'Disk Drives' shows only the two SSDs that I have installed; I'm guessing that - if the card reader were working - there'd be an entry for the card reader there. 

 

Any thoughts? 

Have you tried to reinstall the drivers and in device manager try view, show hidden devices to see if it's there, if not sound like it died, versus it being dirty/damaged contacts

[Steerpike]

2 hours ago, aldarxt said:

Have you tried to reinstall the drivers and in device manager try view, show hidden devices to see if it's there, if not sound like it died, versus it being dirty/damaged contacts

I did try 'show hidden devices', and under 'disk drives', there are two 'Generic Mass-Storage USB Devices' and one 'SMI USB DISK USB Device' - non indicating any problems. 

 

It would be interesting to know what exact device 'should' be there for future reference! 

[aldarxt]

31 minutes ago, Steerpike said:

I did try 'show hidden devices', and under 'disk drives', there are two 'Generic Mass-Storage USB Devices' and one 'SMI USB DISK USB Device' - non indicating any problems. 

 

It would be interesting to know what exact device 'should' be there for future reference! 

I don't have an LG Gram, but there are a few on this forum. Ask if they can show you their Hardware IDs to figure out if it is there or which one

[John Ratsey]

On 1/14/2024 at 5:08 AM, Steerpike said:

The SD Card Reader on my LG Gram 17 (2021 model - 17Z95P) just stopped working; no obvious cause (no updates applied, no physical issues, etc).   Tried two cards; both cards can be read in an external SD card reader.  Device Manager 'Disk Drives' shows only the two SSDs that I have installed; I'm guessing that - if the card reader were working - there'd be an entry for the card reader there. 

 

Any thoughts? 

I've just tested my Gram 17 and the microSD card reader shows up as a storage drive but only after I've inserted a card. Consequently, a dirty contact which stops a card from being recognised would prevent the reader from showing up as a storage drive. This is much more plausible than a hardware failure. Contacts are always one of the troublespots in electronics.

 

How to clean it? I would start by trying to blast the slot with some canned air. The next step would be to make a small piece of good quality cardboard with a thickness to suit the slot and cut to a suitable width cut but longer than a micro SD card. I would then wet the bottom side of this card with some Isopropyl alcohol and jiggle it in and out of the slot to try to wipe off any dirt.

 

IIRC the ports on the right side of the computer are on a daughter board connected to the mainboard by a ribbon cable so disconnecting / reconnecting that cable is another troubleshooting option.

[extremecarver]

I wrote about the same problem. However I thought it happened when I put the LG Gram on a hot kitchen stove. Could be unrelated to that incident too. For me nothing shows up in device manager - however if I insert a card device manager refreshes but doesn't show any other defice. I also booted up Ubuntu from USB and it wouldn't find the card reader - so it's clearly dead and no software issue - and as something refreshes I'm pretty sure it's not dirt either. Tried cleaning it already. The cable doubles up for the power button or was it keyboard backlight - if that is the problem there are more problems if I remember it correctly (yeah the power button cable is really finicky on attachment).

 

(to be more exact, I put the gram on the oven when it was cold and got the wrong knob switching on the plate with the Gram instead of the one with my food and only noticed 1min later when it smelled like burnt plastic. Lucky it wans't induction hob as those would have fried way more I guess).

[Steerpike]

On 6/1/2024 at 4:23 AM, extremecarver said:

...

 

(to be more exact, I put the gram on the oven when it was cold and got the wrong knob switching on the plate with the Gram instead of the one with my food and only noticed 1min later when it smelled like burnt plastic. Lucky it wans't induction hob as those would have fried way more I guess).

Funny you should mention that; our electric stove has symbols to indicate which knob controls which 'ring', and I always have to double-check the choice - it's just not 'obvious' to my brain at first glance.  I ruined a lovely ceramic item that was sitting on the 'wrong' ring one time!  I've considered more than once applying stickers with 'Front' and 'Rear' on the knobs! 

[John Ratsey]

Induction hobs somehow sense that there's enough suitable metal sitting on a ring before it will apply power. However, I'm not planning to try cooking a computer to find out what happens.

[extremecarver]

I'm pretty sure a computer contains enough metal. Induction hobs power on automatically, but it's the metal on top that heats up. So the only detection is that if there is no metal on top. Needs to be magnetic metals, so alumium doesn't work. I'm pretty sure any laptop would be fried within seconds! But yeah you can place your hand on an induction hob no worries if it isn't hot yet. I really prefer gas. Induction hob destroys your frying pans if you try to heat full power without water to disperse the heat quickly or loads of oil. And while they heat up much faster than the old coil/infrared ones - they don't cool down as fast as gas as the glas plate keeps residual heat. Damn, I really hate kitchen stoves without a big gas flame for cooking with a proper Wok... No wonder basically all professional kitchens/cooks still use gas. Not to mention that virtually all induction hobs come with touchscreen panels that once wet cannot be controlled and switch off. The worst usability ever mainstream in a kitchen....