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133605
USB Mass Storage Device Partially Recognized But Not Usable
I have run through various posts about this kind of issue, but haven't been able to find an exact match, so decided to try a new post. I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 running Windows 7 64bit. I have all of a sudden developed a problem using any portable storage devices - like my 2.0 USB Flash. I plug it in, it beeps, appears to install the driver. I can see it in my Devices as a USB Storage Device, as a ghosted/gray-out "Removable Disk (E:)". Even in Device Manager I can see the USB Mass Storage Device under Universal Serial Bus Controllers. So all seemingly looks ok, until I try to actually USE IT. I go to "My Computer" to access it, and it's not there! I have tried uninstalling it, reinstalling it, uninstalling and letting Windows reinstall all the USB Root Hubs, and even ran "DriveCleanup V0.8.1 - removes non present drives from the device tree - Freeware by Uwe Sieber (c) 2007-2011". But no dice, it's kinda there, but as an E drive, I can't bring it up or use it. Any thoughts?
Thanks as always my forum friends!!
Kevin (yesmonkee)
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
2
December 28th, 2011 07:00
Kevin,
A couple of things you can try.
First, do as you've already done. Disconnect any external USB devices. Uninstall all grayed out USB devices and ports in Device Manager. Shut down your system, disconnect AC power and remove the laptop battery. Press and hold down the power button for 20 seconds or so. Reinstall the battery, reconnect AC power and turn your system on. Once the system has reinstalled the USB ports, reconnect your USB device(s) one at a time, and see if they work. If not, try the following:
Download USBdeview.exe from here: www.softpedia.com/.../USBDeview.shtml
Note the limitations of using USBdeview in the review on this download site.
With USBdeview, everything USB that's ever been used is shown. You should uninstall all USB devices that are not needed, especially the one giving you a problem. Restart Windows and let it discover the device(s) again.
Let us know how you fare.
Tony
yesmonkee
22 Posts
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December 29th, 2011 18:00
I love this forum - once again, my questions have been answered, my problems solved. Thank you Tony!!
Happy New Year,
Kevin (yesmonkee)
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
0
December 30th, 2011 09:00
You're Welcome, Kevin!
Happy New Year!
Tony
rc320
2 Posts
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October 11th, 2014 02:00