Card reader issue

[Osem]

Hi guys - I'm trying to copy some pictures onto memory card via a a 6 in 1 USB card reader/writer attached to my old Dell PC (running W98). The card reader (Carry UISDMC1S) worked fine (if a bit slow) last time I used it many months ago but now doesn't seem to be responding at all.

The power light is on and the 2 additional external drive icons (I&G) have appeared in the 'my computer' window but when I click on either of them all that happens is that a grey box immediately appears saying "I/G is not accessible - drive not ready" and offering a retry or cancel option. At the same time the 'busy' hourglass is showing constantly yet nothing is hapenning.

Can anyone shed any light as to what might be wrong or what I can do to fix this problem?

Many thanks.

[punky]

Have you tried cleaning the slot and the memory card? Give the card a wipe, but blow very hard into the slot.

If there's nothing on the card you want, you could try seeing if it will let you reformat (right-click the drive and then format). There might be some corrupted data there.

[Osem]

Hmmm will try blowing into the slot but I don't think the card is the issue since I've tried 2 different ones so far and the red 'access' light on the card reader isn't coming on at all when i click on the icon. I am actually trying to move some pics from the PC to another via the card.

I have just tried disconnecting the card reader and the I/G icons have now disappeared so it seems the reader is being picked up but then it all goes pear shaped....

Have also tried the card in another PC and it seems fine but it does have both jpg and avi files on it so could that be a problem for the older W98 machine??

Just tried copying files to the card via the reader/writer but again it won't let me..

Thanks