card reader auto Respironics not working?

[angela6]

I have the M series Respironics auto with A flex. I think it is three years old. Can the card reader stop working even though the machine still works? I use Encore Basic to download data.

I know that sometimes the card reader or the card skips a night of data. This has happened to me occasionally. About a month ago I couldn't get data past a certain date. So I formatted the card and started from scratch. Since then I seem to get data every other night, or I don't get data for several nights in a row.

I make sure the card is inserted correctly in the machine. I have taken an eraser and rubbed over the metal contact part of the card also.

Do these symptoms mean my card reader is dying, or is this just a quirk with my machine, or the DT Mako card reader, or the card?

Thank you

[JDS74]

You're talking about a separate reader for the card that gets written in your machine???
If that's the case, then the answer is yes card readers fail.

It is also possible that the reader inside the CPAP machine is failing since the symptom you report could be accounted for by intermittent failure of the reader/writer in your machine and the data never gets to the card.

[Pugsy]

It could be any of the 3..
the machine
the card reader
the smart card

My first thought would be try the cheapest thing first..the smart card. You can buy a new one for $12.50
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... -card.html

New card readers cost around $45...that's the DT3500

[ablong]

I have a strange problem with a HP desktop running win 7. about 3 weeks ago I went to read card with Encore pro 2.xx
which has been working a couple years and It could not find the card. I missed guessed the reader was bad and replace it.I tried
to uninstall encore p but it would not let me reinstall it again Pugsy's suggested going to encore Basic and I installed it and every thing worked fine Today I went to read the card and
the same thing could not find the card. I went to my daughters laptop running Win Vista software installed Encore basic
and it read the card. Then I uninstalled Encore basic on desktop and reinstalled it and it worked fine. I must have picked up a conflict somewhere But I have too much software to be
Playing with it would be easer to set up a machine to just read the card. Can any one send me the workaround for Win 8 ( I hate the thought win 8 is its own problems) or any others ideas
that might help.
Thanks Allen

[Wulfman...]

I have the M series Respironics auto with A flex. I think it is three years old. Can the card reader stop working even though the machine still works? I use Encore Basic to download data.

I know that sometimes the card reader or the card skips a night of data. This has happened to me occasionally. About a month ago I couldn't get data past a certain date. So I formatted the card and started from scratch. Since then I seem to get data every other night, or I don't get data for several nights in a row.

I make sure the card is inserted correctly in the machine. I have taken an eraser and rubbed over the metal contact part of the card also.

Do these symptoms mean my card reader is dying, or is this just a quirk with my machine, or the DT Mako card reader, or the card?

Thank you

I've been using the same card reader (every day) for over eight years and it's still working fine.
The M Series had some REAL flaky issues with data recording and the data on the cards.
One way to clean the contacts in the machine and the card reader is to cut a piece of "cardboard" from the back of a legal pad about the size of the smart card. Then, apply some rubbing (or higher grade) alcohol to the area of the cardboard about where the contacts are on the smart card. Then, put it into and pull it out of the slots in the machine and card reader. (I've done this a few times with mine.) That may clean the contacts and narrow down the list of "usual suspects" of possible problems.
You might try blowing (with your mouth) into the slot on the machine before doing the card cleaning routine in case there might be any loose dust in there.

Usually, a problem with the card reader will result in error messages generated by Encore. And, if there's a problem with the card or insertion, the machine will usually beep when inserting the card.


Den

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