I've installed SuSE 9.3 incl. all updates on my HP nx7010 laptop, which features a built-in SD card drive (Winbond).

WBSD module is loaded, but I can't mount the card in the drive. I've done a search in this forum, but none of the explained solutions did work on my system.

When I issue the command mount -t autofs /dev/sda /mnt (or vfat--or sda1 or sdb or sdb1), I get following message: ... is not a valid block device

fdisk -l does **not** list the device, though the card is inserted and the mount WBSD -l had been issued.

What am I doing wrong? In XP the card mount perfectly and can be read and written to...

Kind of driving me mad.

Any help is appreciated.

take the card out

run "dmesg -c"

plug the card in

wait a few seconds

run "dmesg -c"

show us what the output of the 2nd command is

First of all thank you very much for your assistance!

OK, have done it as you said. First command produced a long list, second command returned the prompt and nothing else.

Then I wanted to repeat the procedure, but didn't get anything else - just the prompt after removing and inserting the card.

right ok, so currently there is nothing at all being picked up when you plug the card in. not handy. normally you'd get a driver claiming the device or such like. show us what modules you currently have loaded by running lsmod. i forget which modules will be relevant, i'd not be suprised if it is actually a usb device, if so, "modprobe usb-storage" may well show up a few things on each plug-in.

this is what I get with lsmod:

sarah:/home/designer # lsmod
Module Size Used by
ipt_LOG 6912 7
ipt_limit 2432 7
ipt_pkttype 1792 1
usbserial 28008 0
cpufreq_userspace 4316 1
speedstep_centrino 7508 1
freq_table 4484 1 speedstep_centrino
thermal 14088 0
processor 23736 2 speedstep_centrino,thermal
fan 4868 0
button 7056 0
battery 10116 0
ac 5252 0
rfcomm 36636 6
l2cap 23556 5 rfcomm
nvram 8200 0
snd_pcm_oss 57888 0
snd_mixer_oss 18944 1 snd_pcm_oss
radeon 72320 1
drm 60052 2 radeon
af_packet 20744 2
usblp 12160 0
hci_usb 14088 5
bluetooth 47108 13 rfcomm,l2cap,hci_usb
usbhid 41312 0
joydev 9664 0
sg 36256 0
st 37788 0
sd_mod 17936 0
sr_mod 16548 0
scsi_mod 125384 4 sg,st,sd_mod,sr_mod
evdev 8832 1
8139cp 19712 0
mii 4864 1 8139cp
pcmcia 24072 2
edd 10080 0
ipt_state 2048 12
yenta_socket 21128 1
rsrc_nonstatic 10112 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 47024 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
ip6t_REJECT 6784 3
ipw2100 136516 0
uhci_hcd 30224 0
firmware_class 9472 1 ipw2100
ieee80211 37156 1 ipw2100
ehci_hcd 31624 0
ieee80211_crypt 5320 2 ipw2100,ieee80211
intel_agp 21532 1
agpgart 32296 2 drm,intel_agp
usbcore 108760 7 usbserial,usblp,hci_usb,usbhid,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
i2c_i801 8588 0
i2c_core 21776 1 i2c_i801
ipt_REJECT 6656 3
iptable_mangle 2816 0
iptable_filter 2944 1
ip6table_mangle 2432 0
ip_nat_ftp 3072 0
iptable_nat 22236 1 ip_nat_ftp
ip_conntrack_ftp 72592 1 ip_nat_ftp
ip_conntrack 42168 4 ipt_state,ip_nat_ftp,iptable_nat,ip_conntrack_ftp
ip_tables 20352 8 ipt_LOG,ipt_limit,ipt_pkttype,ipt_state,ipt_REJECT,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter,iptable_nat
ip6table_filter 2816 1
ip6_tables 18304 3 ip6t_REJECT,ip6table_mangle,ip6table_filter
ipv6 236672 9 ip6t_REJECT
parport_pc 38212 1
lp 11076 0
parport 33864 2 parport_pc,lp
snd_intel8x0 31808 5
snd_ac97_codec 77564 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm 92680 5 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 24580 3 snd_pcm
snd 60292 12 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 8928 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 9988 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
video1394 17612 0
ohci1394 31492 1 video1394
raw1394 28140 0
ieee1394 97976 3 video1394,ohci1394,raw1394
capability 3256 0
nls_utf8 2048 2
ntfs 167184 2
dm_mod 56316 0
reiserfs 243056 1
ide_cd 37892 0
cdrom 36640 2 sr_mod,ide_cd
ide_disk 16640 5
piix 9988 0 [permanent]
ide_core 120020 3 ide_cd,ide_disk,piix

modbprobe usb-storage doesn't return anything, though all connected USB devices work flawlessly.

Are you using a 2.6.x kernel with udev ? Check you /dev directory. Most certainly, you will not find a sdax (x 1 to 15 or so) as long a s your card is not inserted.
Also, when you insert you card check your messages file (as root): do a "tail -25 /var/log/messages" . It should say something about your USB device and how it is called.

You should be looking for something like:
Note: this is for my SD-card reader, but it should be quite similar.
If you can't find it, it might be something missing in your kernel.