Vaio VGN-TX1HP does not recognize PCCARDS

[wolfchristian]

Hi,

my new Vaio does not recognize PCCARDs.

I have tested it with three different cards, when I plug in the card, there is no beep, and the pcmcia-status /operation-led is still off. The PCCARD-Slot Driver ist installed correctly, when I uninstall the PC-Card-Slot by the Device-Manager and restart the Vaio, Windows recognize the PCCARD-Slot and installs the Driver automatically without any Problems. Windows says, that the Device is installed correctly and now ready for work, but it does not work....
I tested all possibilities: WLAN on and off, Bluetooth on and off, BIOS-Settings...... I dont know...

Thanks for your help!
**sorry for my bad english***

[rich912]

Hi wolfchristian and welcome to the forum.

The installation procedure varies for different cards but as a general rule you should insert the card before booting so that Windows detects and installs the drivers for the card, try this first.

Alternatively some cards require that you install the drivers from the supplied CD before inserting the card – do you have any documentation?

[McMagnus]

I had problems with one card (I only have one card which is a 3G UMTS data card). Anyway, the driver added a COM7 port which was already added by the new Toshiba Bluetooth stack.

So I disabled the BT COM7 port and after that, the card driver could access the card correctly.

The Toshiba BT driver adds a myriad of COM-ports so it might interfere with other cards as well.

[jetti]

Hi,

do you have a solution for your problem?

my Sony Vaio VGN-TX1XP also does not recognize any pc-card I insert.

br
Juergen

[wolfchristian]

Hi,

do you have a solution for your problem?

my Sony Vaio VGN-TX1XP also does not recognize any pc-card I insert.

br
Juergen

Hi,
I have news, bad news...
the PC-Card-Slot ist not working by ca 50% of all VGNTX1 HP/XP - Notebooks!
My Notebook is a Company-Notebook, so I have the 3Year Warranty with next Day response. This is the reason why I have a special Phone-Number for Business-Support. And this Support has told me this Problem. I have asked to change the Notebook for a new one and they say, that they don't know wich one is working, because 50% of the Notebooks are damaged!
And they are working on a solution with Japan now, they will have a answer next week.
To be continued...

[altair1979]

I' ve got the same problem but for me it worked quite well till last friday and then suddendly it desn t recognise anymore the cards... I called sony they are sending me a tech but i doubt he can do anything more

[wolfchristian]

Hi,

a few days ago, Sony has send a Technican with a new Notebook. He has replaced the new Harddrive in the new Notebook with the older one from my Notebook (ca 1 Hour), than he gave me the new Notebook to test anything - thats it. Everything is fine now...

[altair1979]

Guess what ? They changed my motherboard (2 hrs) it worked fine and now it's broken again... Unfortunately i'checked just before going aboard and it's now too late to fix it (even with the 24hrs business warranty) but i am wondering if sony pcmcia port only have a one month life time ? The other question is : am i really unlucky or people never use their pcmcia port ?

[jetti]

My Vaio is working now. They repaired it in december and I have now no problem. I use it every day for work.

[Sonny_Jim]

My TX1XP's PC slot seems to be working fine, I'm relieved to say!... but, I recognise this particular problem, which I think is unrelated:

McMagnus wrote:
I had problems with one card (I only have one card which is a 3G UMTS data card). Anyway, the driver added a COM7 port which was already added by the new Toshiba Bluetooth stack.

So I disabled the BT COM7 port and after that, the card driver could access the card correctly.

The Toshiba BT driver adds a myriad of COM-ports so it might interfere with other cards as well.

This problem with 3G datacards has also been discussed here:
http://www.club-vaio.com/clubvaio/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=30283

I believe there is a bug with the Bluetooth Manager which potentially causes problems in installing *any* device (PC Card, USB) which uses a COM port. Disabling the duplicated Bluetooth COM port may stop an existing device from working; but, manually reassigning the new device's COM port, so that multiple devices are no longer assigned to the same port, should provide a safe fix.

See this thread for the original explanation & solution:
http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/archive/index.php/t-30543.html
(in particular, the seventh posting by 'VodaGuy').

Regards