SD Card Reader won't work but now it does. Interesting solution.

It functioned a few days ago but now it doesn't. The SD cards are new, they can be read in two other PCs and also in the device (a trail camera) they were formatted on. No Device Manager issues, drivers are all updated, cards were properly ejected, so what could the problem be? I even restored an earlier backup (easy with Macrium Reflect) just to be sure this wasn't caused by an update.
Looking through the Dell Support Forum (it's a 5 year old Dell 8700) I noticed a simple solution that worked for one user back in 2017. Shut down the PC, unplug the power, and hold the start button down for 10 to 15 seconds. Well what do you know, it worked! It appears that a static charge rendered the 4 in 1 reader card nonfunctional (it's a USB Realtek Card BTW). Beware static charges especially in winter.

hsehestedt said:

Worse yet, I was plugging an SD card into a laptop and a spark jumped from the the SD card to the laptop. Totally fried the SD card. So now I also touch a grounded piece of metal to discharge myself before handling SD cards.

So sorry that happened. I just measured the relative humidity in our house and it’s 35.7%. Dry skin, chapped lips, and lots of static charges. I’ll be doing the grounding thing from now on.

SoFine409 said:

It functioned a few days ago but now it doesn't. The SD cards are new, they can be read in two other PCs and also in the device (a trail camera) they were formatted on. No Device Manager issues, drivers are all updated, cards were properly ejected, so what could the problem be? I even restored an earlier backup (easy with Macrium Reflect) just to be sure this wasn't caused by an update.
Looking through the Dell Support Forum (it's a 5 year old Dell 8700) I noticed a simple solution that worked for one user back in 2017. Shut down the PC, unplug the power, and hold the start button down for 10 to 15 seconds. Well what do you know, it worked! It appears that a static charge rendered the 4 in 1 reader card nonfunctional (it's a USB Realtek Card BTW). Beware static charges especially in winter.

Once I was in the airport in Chicago, with a long wait between planes. Late Saturday night. My Lenovo would not start. Quick call to Lenovo service. I got the same advice as you, and the the laptop worked just fine.

Static electricity is evil.

x509 said:

Once I was in the airport in Chicago, with a long wait between planes. Late Saturday night. My Lenovo would not start. Quick call to Lenovo service. I got the same advice as you, and the the laptop worked just fine.

Static electricity is evil.

We’re both lucky that nothing was permanently damaged. Now I have two reasons to dislike winter, cold temps and more static electricity.