I have a toshiba a210-198 and i am trying to put in my sandisk micro sd card with adaptor and its not recognzd

I put my sandisk 1gb micro sd card in my micro sd adapter then put in the front of my laptop, the memory card light illuminates for about 5 secs then goes out and it does not show up onmy computer screen as if it has not been recognized. Anyone got any ideas as to why its not picking it up or anything i may not be doing right.