I have newly bought a 6 in 1 cardreader/writer. under W2k pro i must install it's software. but under XP pro SP1 is that necessary. Right?. but why sometimes when i boot up the Pc then It wont light on and the Drive wont appear under the Explorer ?. must i install its driver? ;(

What do the instructions say?

Some card readers probably have their drivers shipped as part of Windows. Others won't.

The one I have required that you installed some software first, rebooted, and then plugged the card reader in (I think that's right anyway).

is that the "in dash" one or the usb plugin.
shouldnt need drivers for either in w2k or xp

u prolly wont see the drives in explorer until u put sunthin in em

I have done after the instuction under W2k pro and it works well. as i change the system to XP pro before i install the software for it. the XP pro with Sp1 has recognized it , i mean as removable storage and can read/write from it. so i thought i can save the installation of the software which need about 5mb as a process. but sometimes when i bootup Xp the logical device will disappear and the cardreader/writer wont light on. I havent try repluggin the USB Port, may be it's just some sleep funtion from the XP, or not? or another bug of SP1