How to get your card reader and its SD card back to life

[FeodorF]

Hello everybody!

Have you ever heard 'our' new slogan?

'If you are going to use Puppy Linux for some some years, make sure you have some WD-40 spray at home!'.

What that is all about?

Well, it took me two days to find out why my Precise Puppy 5.4.1 wouldn't work on my card reader.
I had pluged and unpluged the mini usb connector and the SD card 'many' times while trying to get that son of a bitch back to work.

No go!

I was ready to throw it into the trash - fortunatelly I didn't do so. Instead I took the plastik cover off and
checked the inside while I firmly connected cable and card to the reader. It started working for some moments
and failed again.

Ah! Got You! The connectors didn't connect propperly - both sides. I decided to give my WD-40 spray a try.
Yeah! Great stuff that WD-40. (We used it very often on our 'Key Telefon Systems' to get them back to work.)

Card reader works fine again.

Regards
Feodor

[boof]

I don't doubt it works, but AFAIR WD40 is an insulator...... of points anyway.

[Flash]

Nope, oil and grease work very well to facilitate static connections and protect them from corrosion (passivate them.) Not so well on moving contacts, apparently because the movement forms a film of oil between the contacts, and, as you note, oil is a very good insulator in addition to being a good lubricant.

If you have some WD-40, try it on your card reader contacts. What have you got to lose? Just spray a bit on the exposed contacts that will be easy to wipe off, and plug it in. It shouldn't be dripping, though that really wouldn't cause a problem.

[Barkin]

I'd try rubbing (polishing) the contacts with a lint-free cloth first, before adding any chemicals which could damage (soften) plastic ...

Q. What surfaces or materials are OK to use WD-40 Multi-Use Product on?

A ... Polycarbonate and clear polystyrene plastic are among the few surfaces on which to avoid using a petroleum-based product like WD-40

http://www.wd40.com/faqs/#a98

There is a gadget cleaning the connectors in the SD slot, it looks like a bit of plastic shaped like an elongated SD card which you wrap in the "microfibre" cloth used to clean lenses ...
http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/130687096936?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&cbt=y

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIGITAL-CAMERA-CANON-MMC-SD-MEMORY-CARD-SLOT-CLEANER-/5755301696