Pen drive, USB memory stick not working on Vista

[Guest]

I have recently upgraded from XP to Vista and my Pen Drives have stopped
working. They still work on other computers. But when inserted in to my
Vista machine it say new hardware detected and invites me to load drivers!
The USB ports work with other devices, even other storage devices such as
cameras and mp3 players. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Trekdigit

 

[PvdG42]

I have recently upgraded from XP to Vista and my Pen Drives have stopped
working. They still work on other computers. But when inserted in to my
Vista machine it say new hardware detected and invites me to load drivers!
The USB ports work with other devices, even other storage devices such as
cameras and mp3 players. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Trekdigit

The solution to this annoying problem (I have it on one PC), seems to be to
locate and delete the file INFCACHE.1, which may be corrupted and causing
the problem. To delete this file, you will first have to modify its
permissions so the users group can access it (right-click on the
file->Properties->Security).

INFCACHE.1 file. It's located at C:\Windows\inf (scroll down to the file).

That said. It didn't work for me, but appears to have worked for many.

Good luck!

 

[Ace]

Aloha,
I just wanted to thank you for this solution to the flash/pen drive problem.
Windows Vista Ultimate was freezing everytime I tried to use a USB port and
I almost gave up on it. The only thing it affected were the flash drives.
Everything else worked fine. The first time I used the flash drives, they
worked fine. It was configured to allow removal without "safely removing
hardware". All of a sudden, Windows started freezing and since following
your advice, everything works fine. The only difference was that the option
of removing without permission is grayed out. Now I must use the "safely
remove hardware" option when using the flash drive.
Again, thank you.

 

[PvdG42]

Aloha,
I just wanted to thank you for this solution to the flash/pen drive
problem. Windows Vista Ultimate was freezing everytime I tried to use a
USB port and I almost gave up on it. The only thing it affected were the
flash drives. Everything else worked fine. The first time I used the flash
drives, they worked fine. It was configured to allow removal without
"safely removing hardware". All of a sudden, Windows started freezing and
since following your advice, everything works fine. The only difference
was that the option of removing without permission is grayed out. Now I
must use the "safely remove hardware" option when using the flash drive.
Again, thank you.

Thanks for the feedback
I'm glad it worked for you.

 

[Guest]

Well, I glad it worked for Ace, Sadly it didn't work for me. Anybody got any
other suggestions?

Trekdigit

 

[Spirit]

You might try deleting them in device manager and/or reinstalling them......
not sure what that would do however..............

 

[PvdG42]

You might try deleting them in device manager and/or reinstalling
them......
not sure what that would do however..............

Heh...
Thank you!
After deleting INFCACHE, I still could not use USB memory sticks, but based
on your suggestion, I went back and deleted INFCACHE.1 again, then removed
my USB hubs from Device manager and rebooted.
Now Vista can find the drivers and my sticks can be used.

 

[Guest]

I have this Plug and Play BIOS Extension under System Devices in Device
Manager. Is this a standard device of Windows Vista? Can I remove it?

I have the same problem with Windows Vista not regconizing my PenDrive. may
I know what do you mean by "deleting them in device manager and/or
reinstalling them .. "

Thanks

 

[PvdG42]

I have this Plug and Play BIOS Extension under System Devices in Device
Manager. Is this a standard device of Windows Vista? Can I remove it?

I have the same problem with Windows Vista not regconizing my PenDrive.
may
I know what do you mean by "deleting them in device manager and/or
reinstalling them .. "

Thanks

Just delete the USB hubs from Device Manager. Vista will rediscover and
reinstall them.
Be sure to delete INFCACHE.1 first.

 

[Guest]

Just to make sure that I do not do the wrong things, I have 2 "USB Root Hub"
and a "Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller" and a "Standard OpenHCD
USB Host Controller".

Which on should I delete? or do I need to remove them all?

 

[PvdG42]

Just to make sure that I do not do the wrong things, I have 2 "USB Root
Hub"
and a "Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller" and a "Standard
OpenHCD
USB Host Controller".

Which on should I delete? or do I need to remove them all?

In my case, I just removed the two root hubs in Device Manager and Vista
rediscovered and reinstalled them right away (no need to reboot to have the
rediscovery happen). All this *after* I had deleted INFCACHE.1. I then
rebooted, inserted my memory stick, and Vista found drivers.
As you seem to be following these steps, please remember that a fix for one
person may not work universally. YMMV!