dropped phone, now SD card isn't recognized most of the time

[ccrs8]

I dropped my Optimus S last night and initial inspection showed that nothing broke (cell and 3G data worked fine, phone itself seemed to operate fine). Unfortunately, this morning I had a notification telling me that my SD card was safe to remove. I popped it out and popped it back in again, and it was not recognized. I rebooted the phone, both with the card in and then with the card out before popping it back in again, and nothing. If I open up music or the camera, I'm told that I have no SD card. Same goes for navigating with root explorer or any other file browser. Same goes for trying to mount the SD card in recovery. The only time the card is recognized is if I use my finger to push it in as far as it goes. If I do that, the phone recognizes that there is a card in there, but either trying to play music or just browse the files with a file browser only gets about 10 seconds in before the phone just starts sitting there "thinking" but not able to read the card any further.

I'm guessing this is a physical problem and not a software problem, but just in case, I'm running Gingerbread gROM 2.1.

Anyone have any experience ripping this phone apart or fiddling with the card reader?

EDIT: I tested a second card in the phone and it also was not recognized. Additionally, I tested the card that normally goes in my phone in a computer via an SD adapter and it worked fine.

EDIT 2: I opened the back and took out the battery and can clearly see the SD component. Nothing appears loose, and I can hear no loose bodies rattling around when I shake it. I even blew in to the slot like one of the original Nintendos. That may be the extent of my abilities. Heh.

 

[ccrs8]

Well, I took the phone apart using some instructions I found in this forum, but the microsd card reader is just soldered on to the main board. Nothing appears loose, but unless I use my finger to push the card all the way in, it simply is not recognized. Oh well. There are a few Optimus S phones listed on Craigslist in my area for between $75 and $100 that I think I'll investigate. The biggest shame is that if I do buy a "new" phone from Craigslist, once I activate it I'll have lost my grandfathered status and need to start paying the $10 monthly premium. Oh well - my contract is up in a few months and hopefully by then or shortly after, Sprint will have the next Nexus phone and I'll be paying the premium anyway. I was able to go in to recovery, and while pushing in the card all the way with my finger, do a nandroid backup. So hopefully once I get my "new" phone I can get it rooted with a custom recovery and then restore via this most recent backup.