Laptop not reading SD card, Flash Drive or camera plugged in my camera.

[JKeith002]

I am a photographer and there is a TON of pictures on my laptop. Usually when I put in my SD card I use in my camera, it reads it and I'm able to upload pictures to my editing software. Now, out of the blue it has quit reading my SD card. I thought storage was an issue so I got some flash drives, as well as a USB cord to connect my camera directly to my laptop. When I plugged in the first flash drive to export pictures from my laptop to the flash drive to free up space, it worked for a little bit and allowed me to transfer some, but now when I plug in a flash drive it connects and re-connects over and over and then tells me there is an issue with my flash drive. When I connected my camera to my laptop via USB cord, at first it read my camera, I had to allow it to "install" my camera which it did with no issue, and I was able to get to my SD card that's in my camera to try and transfer pictures & edit them but then my laptop quit reading the USB camera connection. I have 3 total USB ports on my laptop, 2 on the left, one on the right. The left ones are the ones I've always used, the right one never reads anything when I plug something in. 

[Irfan_06]

Hi @JKeith002,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.

Thank you for posting your query, I will be glad to assist you.

I see that you are facing an issue with the SD card and flash drives not getting recognised on your Laptop.

-Perform a power drain on your PC.

1) Unplug the power cord from the PC & wall.

2) Disconnect the power cable from the AC adapter if it is a detachable part and keep it aside.

3) Press and hold the power button down for 15 seconds and release the power button, wait for about 30 seconds.

4) Plug the power cord back into the AC adapter, then connect it to the wall and to the charging port on your PC.

5) Power on the PC and wait for the PC to boot into Windows.

-Update the BIOS for your PC by clicking on the link.

Make sure you keep only the charger plugged in while updating the BIOS for your PC.

Click on the + sign next to BIOS and then download the file.

Open the file and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the update.

-Install all the pending updates for the Windows operating system following the below steps and let me know if that resolves the issue.

Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and select Check for updates. If the upgrade is available for your device and you want to proceed, download and install it.

Please mark this post as “Accepted Solution” if the issue is resolved and if you feel this reply was helpful click “Yes”.

I hope this helps.

Take care and have a great day ahead!

Irwin6

HP Support

[erico]

I will be completely frank with you.

The reason you are having problems is because you are using an entry level laptop with a bottom end processor ( Intel Celeron) that has minimal memory (4GB).

Upgrading the BIOS isn't likely to help for long, if it helps at all.

You would be better off spending money on certified refurbished Enterprise grade laptop. I suggest budgeting about $300-800.00 for a refurbished HP  ZBook. They have Core i5 or i7 processors and 8-16GB of installed memory and an SSD.

https://www.google.com/search?q=certified+refurbished+zbook+laptops&sca_esv=8a06bdaa2719f1fe&sca_upv...

NewEgg ( gives a 1 year warranty)

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=hp%20certify%20%20zbook%20laptop&N=4016&Tpk=hp+certified+refurbished+z...