USB Flash drive re-insertion problem

[varunmehta11]

I have an old HP Pavilion 8505 desktop with Win XP Pro SP3 installed. The issue with my pc is that when i remove any Flash Drive through safely remove hardware and then re-insert the flash drive i can't see the removable disk drive in the 'My Computer' or in 'windows explorer'. But it is shown in the 'Safely remove Hardware'. so i have to restart the pc each time when i have to re-insert any flash drive(after safely removing any flash drive). This issue is there for all USB Mass Storage devices.
How to solve this problem ?

My PC config :
Intel Pentium III 450 Mhz
20 GB Hard disk
384 MB RAM
Windows XP Professional SP3

 

[corkyg]

Flash memory devices (USB) are considered removable, and therefore do not get involved with write caching. All you need to do is wait a bit, and if the drive is quiet, just remove it. No need to use "Safely Remove." I do that all the time, several times a day with XP/SP3, Vista/SP2, and Win 7 RTM. When you pull the device you simply hear a downward ding-dong chime. When you insert it, it is an upward dong-ding chime.

 

[varunmehta11]

The issue still remains even after removing the Flash drive without using safely remove hardware.

 

[corkyg]

OK - make sure it is optimized for Quick Removal. Insert the drive. Right Click on it in My Computer or Explorer. Select Properties. Then Hardware. Then select the drive again in a boxed list and click Properties. Then click on the Policies tab. It should be Optimized for Quick Removal in XP by default.

Sometimes, on older computers, the in/out chimes do not sound right away - that is because the system may take a while to sense the presence of the drive. It usually happens within 15 to 30 seconds. Longer is possible if you have a slow CPU.

 

[varunmehta11]

Its already Optimized for quick removal. Removable drive doesn't appear in My Computer (not even 1 min after insertion)

 

[ViRGE]

I know this will sound screwy, but what model flash drive is it? I have an HP 4GB unit that absolutely refuses to work correctly with a Dell laptop I have, and apparently it's a common problem.

 

[C1]

This is the third or fourth complaint about WINXP & external USB drive registration problems Ive seen in the last couple weeks. Again, Im wondering if there is some recent WIN XP update that is causing this. See this thread (& follow the nested links):

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2325806&enterthread=y

The problem exhibits slightly different in each case, but there's a chance that one of the many proposed solutions might work.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: C1
This is the third or fourth complaint about WINXP & external USB drive registration problems Ive seen in the last couple weeks. Again, Im wondering if there is some recent WIN XP update that is causing this.

I am using XP/SP3 with all available updates, and have never had a hint of such a problem. My Flash drives (about 6 of them) are, Lexar and Sony.

It could also be caused by an AV, anti-malware, or firewall. Suggest Op try turning some of those off, then hot plugging the flash device.

Also, try different flash drives.

 

[varunmehta11]

The problem still persists with all my 4 flash drives.

 

[C1]

I'd have to agree with corkyg. Something changed your machine/OS. I have three machines all running different WINXP versions (eg, Pro & Home). Also, I have a gaggle of USB external HDDs & flash drives some 1394 able (which is preferred). These machines have zillions of hours on them & have never been an issue regarding USB/1394 Port registration. However, I confine my machines to the very first version of SP2.

The OS partitions are protected by Centurion's Drive Shield/Smart Restart so they are the same to the cluster after a reboot unless I temporarily deactivate the protection software for an install.

Therefore, I suspect something has altered your system. Ensure that the USB devices work properly on someone else's machine (eg, try it in demo machine at Fry's). If they work properly then based on what people have experienced with this issue, you may have to just live with it or re-install (or possibly 1st try an OS repair).