In trying to figure out what might be wrong, I first am concentrating on some sort of mechanical thing. Two areas that I wonder about are the:
LED switch and the
Mechanical switches.
First the mechanical switch. There are two switch contacts on the back of the card reader. Both of these switches appear to be activated as the card passes through the reader.
One switch is activated by the card striking a small tab on a rocker that stick out into the path of the card. As the card passes this rocker, it strikes the small tab and rotates the rocker which causes the switch to snap up and contact the circuit board. This appears to function ok.
The second switch contact is essentially the same design. But there is no tab and there does not appear to be anything missing or broken on the rocker. My confusion on this switch is that I don't see any way that this switch contact can be thrown. Nothing sticks out into the path of the card so this switch does not appear to be functional.
The only other thing that I can see that could go wrong mechanically, is the LED light beam (IR ?) switch. Not sure what the purpose of this is and if it is out, I wonder if that could be the source of the problem.
So here are my questions:
1) Are both of these switches functional in the 41?
2) I see only 2 switch contacts but there are 3 slots. Is this 3rd slot just unused with no switch contact?
3) What is the purpose of the LED?
If the reason that I cannot read cards is not mechanical, then I'll have to concentrate on the electrical side.