Invisible USB

[Guest]

I am using XP (Service Pack 2) at work in Liverpool, England.

I put a Flash storage device in a USB port this morning, but the device
didn't appear in My Computer like it normally does.

I looked in the device manager, and the memory stick was listed normally
under 'USB controllers', and described as working properly in the status box.
The stick is fine: it works in my boss's computer. I've followed the device
manager troubleshooter right the way through to uninstalling the USB drivers,
but to no avail.

The problem might have arisen last week, when I plugged a digital camera
into the USB port without having installed the camera driver. I've since
installed, and then uninstalled the camera driver, but it made no difference.

When I plug the flash memory stick into the USB, the stick lights up as
normal.

Why isn't it appearing as a removable storage device in My Computer?

 

[Anna]

Alec:
It's possible your flash drive lost its drive assignment letter. Access Disk
Management (Start > right-click My Computer > Manage > Computer Management >
Disk Management) and see if the drive is listed there. Right-click on it and
see if you can assign it a drive letter.
Anna

 

[Guest]

Hi Anna,

I've just been into the Disk Manager, but the flash card was not listed -
although it was listed as a mass storage device under USB controllers in the
device manager.

Weird, isn't it?

 

[Anna]

I am using XP (Service Pack 2) at work in Liverpool, England.

I put a Flash storage device in a USB port this morning, but the device
didn't appear in My Computer like it normally does.

I looked in the device manager, and the memory stick was listed normally
under 'USB controllers', and described as working properly in the status
box.
The stick is fine: it works in my boss's computer. I've followed the
device
manager troubleshooter right the way through to uninstalling the USB
drivers,
but to no avail.

The problem might have arisen last week, when I plugged a digital camera
into the USB port without having installed the camera driver. I've since
installed, and then uninstalled the camera driver, but it made no
difference.

When I plug the flash memory stick into the USB, the stick lights up as
normal.

Why isn't it appearing as a removable storage device in My Computer?

Alec:
It's possible your flash drive lost its drive assignment letter. Access Disk
Management (Start > right-click My Computer > Manage > Computer Management >
Disk Management) and see if the drive is listed there. Right-click on it and
see if you can assign it a drive letter.
Anna

Hi Anna,

I've just been into the Disk Manager, but the flash card was not listed -
although it was listed as a mass storage device under USB controllers in
the
device manager.

Weird, isn't it?

Alec:
Not so weird as you might think. We've been running into problems similar to
yours for too many months now without any plausible explanation as to why
these type of problems arise with USB 2.0 devices. You could try
uninstalling the USB "Enhanced" controller and rebooting. We've found that
sometimes works. BTW, you are plugging the device *directly* into one of the
computer's USB 2.0 ports and not into an external USB hub, right? We've
found that a problem at times.

In some instances we found no other recourse but to perform a Repair install
of XP (with SP1 and/or SP2, of course). And that didn't always correct the
problem.

Perhaps others might have some suggestions for you to try. If you do find
the answer, please post the solution.
Anna

P.S.
Alec, it's a good idea when responding to a posting to include the previous
posts bearing on the issue, or at least the relevant portions of the prior
posts, so that all can follow the thread.

 

[Treeman]

Alec:
Not so weird as you might think. We've been running into problems similar to
yours for too many months now without any plausible explanation as to why

 

[Guest]

Hello Treeman,

I've followed your suggestion through to looking at the properties of the
Usbstor.pnf file, but there's no security tab: just a 'general' tab (opens
with, attributes); and a summary tab.

Anna, I'm not sure what an external USB hub is. Let me put it like this: my
computer has two holes in the front and two holes in the back. That's where
I put my memory stick.

I've tried deleting the enhanced controller and rebooting, but it doesn't
seem to have had any effect...