Strange behaviour with USB Memory Sticks

[Guest]

We have a client's PC that will acknowledge a USB memory stick being plugged
in, will correctly install the driver, and will list the drive in MY COMPUTER
as a Removable Disk, but will say "Insert Disk in Drive E:" every time you
try to access it.

If you reboot the PC with the stick connected, you can then gain access to
the contents normally, but if you unplug it, then plug it back in again
you're back to step one.

We have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the USB chipset drivers, tried
uninstalling and reinstalling the Generic Volume entries under device
manager, and have even tried a repair install of windows, but all to no avail.

Has anyone any ideas how to resolve this frustrating little problem?

 

[Guest]

My guess would be a corrupt system file of some kind. Go to start/run, and
type:

SFC /SCANNOW

 

[Guest]

One would assume that doing a repair of windows would have had the same
effect.......

 

[Guest]

Yes, if the stick works in another machine, the registry is probably
corupted. If not, the stick is probably bad.

 

[Guest]

Pens do work in other machine, and will work in this machine with a reboot,
so yes, the registry is corrupted. What I need to know is what can be done to
fix it without a full reinstall

 

[Guest]

With registry corruption, it's always a question of how far back you can go.
System Restore usually goes back a month or so. The original registry is
available, but you lose all the installed app.

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Mark L. Ferguson

 

[DH]

We have a client's PC that will acknowledge a USB memory stick being
plugged
in, will correctly install the driver, and will list the drive in MY
COMPUTER
as a Removable Disk, but will say "Insert Disk in Drive E:" every time you
try to access it.

If you reboot the PC with the stick connected, you can then gain access to
the contents normally, but if you unplug it, then plug it back in again
you're back to step one.

We have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the USB chipset drivers, tried
uninstalling and reinstalling the Generic Volume entries under device
manager, and have even tried a repair install of windows, but all to no
avail.

Has anyone any ideas how to resolve this frustrating little problem?

I've run into a similar problem with USB pen drives. I have found it to a
problem with the drive letter. Apparently Windows xp is not very good at
allocating drive letters. My suggestion is to right click on "My Computer"
and then left click on "Manage". Go to "Disk Manager" and right click on
the drive. One of the choices will be "Change Drive Letter" (or something
like that). Change the drive letter to a letter that will not compete with
the d,c,or maybe even e or f drive. I suggest Z. Reboot

Hope it helps,

Dave H.

 

[Uwe Sieber]

We have a client's PC that will acknowledge a USB memory stick being plugged
in, will correctly install the driver, and will list the drive in MY COMPUTER
as a Removable Disk, but will say "Insert Disk in Drive E:" every time you
try to access it.

If you reboot the PC with the stick connected, you can then gain access to
the contents normally, but if you unplug it, then plug it back in again
you're back to step one.

We have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the USB chipset drivers, tried
uninstalling and reinstalling the Generic Volume entries under device
manager, and have even tried a repair install of windows, but all to no avail.

Has anyone any ideas how to resolve this frustrating little problem?

Maybe at startup your system creates a network share or subst drive
on letter F:. If the USB drive is attached then, it's hidden behind
the network share or subst drive. It's a known XP problem.

If the drive is attached while the system starts, the it gets
letter F: before the network share or subst drive is tried to
create, so the USB drive works and the creation of the network
share or subst drive failes. First come, first serve...

Try this: Boot you system without the USB drive. Then open
a command prompt. Enter

net use f: /d

If there is a network share at F: then it's deleted. If not,
you get an error message.

subst f: /d

Same thing here: If there is a subst drive at F: then it's deleted.
If not, you get an error message.


If you know more now, search your startup stuff for something that
creates the network or subst drive.

If you remember that the network share or subst drive at F: is
required for some old software, then my USB drive letter manager
can solve the problem. It assings drive letters that are really
availlable or such you configure as default letters for USB drives
in a simple INI file.
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbdlm_e.html


Greetings from Germany

Uwe

 

[Elmo]

We have a client's PC that will acknowledge a USB memory stick being plugged
in, will correctly install the driver, and will list the drive in MY COMPUTER
as a Removable Disk, but will say "Insert Disk in Drive E:" every time you
try to access it.

If you reboot the PC with the stick connected, you can then gain access to
the contents normally, but if you unplug it, then plug it back in again
you're back to step one.

We have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the USB chipset drivers, tried
uninstalling and reinstalling the Generic Volume entries under device
manager, and have even tried a repair install of windows, but all to no avail.

Has anyone any ideas how to resolve this frustrating little problem?

XP asks for USB drivers:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#xp_asks_for_drivers