SmartDisk card reader won't eject

[Walt Atwood]

I also purchased a refurbished SmartDisk Universal Card Reader, (see other
thread: "MacOS X, iBook and Floppies") only I'm beginning to suspect the
card reader should've been a little more refurbed than it is.

I inserted our camera's 128 MB SmartMedia card and iPhoto read the card just
fine. Then I tried to eject the card from the reader. The card's icon
disappears from the iBook's screen, but the Reader won't release the card
itself. The card is stuck in there, fast. I put in an e-mail to SmartDisk,
but I haven't heard back from them yet.

The refurbished products arrived with a note saying they ship "as is", no
warranty, and that I have 48 hours from time of shipment to verify whether
they work or not. I have the option of returning the unit, but I'd really
like to know how I get the card out of it first.

--WA

[Walt Atwood]

On 9/3/03 10:36 PM, in article
[email]siegman-141581.19364703092003@news.stanford.edu[/email], "AES/newspost"
<siegman@stanford.edu> wrote:

> I once had a PCMCIA card reader for SmartMedia cards that had a small
> "plunger" (for lack of a better word) that would pop out of the end of
> the reader, beside the card slot, if you pushed the SmartMedia card in a
> little further than normal. Pushing this plunger back in would then
> eject the SmartMedia card.

No plunger to be found on this one. :-(

> With all of the several other SmartMedia card readers I've used (USB
> types, etc) you just physically pull the card out of the slot, maybe
> after first pushing it in a little further, kind of like a ballpoint pen
> button action.

I just tried that. The card won't move in either direction.

> There's nothing on the SmartMedia card itself that anything in the
> reader can physically hook onto, is there, other than just simple
> friction?

I doubt it. That's what is so perplexing about it. It's stuck fast.

--WA

[Nigel Blatheringstock]

In article <608b6569.0309040433.6036626e@posting.google.com >, Lewin
A.R.W. Edwards <larwe@larwe.com> wrote in part:

> Take a piece of thin, stiff plastic (e.g. mylar) and cut it to be the
> same width as the SSFDC card. Push the card into the reader as far as
> it will go. Slide your plastic into the reader underneath the card
> (i.e. along the side where the contacts are). This will disengage any
> stuck contacts. Pull the card out. Pull your plastic out. Return the
> reader :)

BRILLIANT! -- in the affirmative current British usage of the word, of
course. That was a splendid suggestion.

Nigel

--
Nigel