Windows 7 Flash Drives not being allocated drive letter and cannot access

[Jen]

Hi. I'm hoping someone can help as I've spent many evenings on this problem and getting nowhere!

When attaching a flash drive:

1. The autoplay pop up doesn't appear;
2. The device does light up initially;
3. The device doesn't show up in "Computer"
4. The device doesn't show up in Disk Management - just Disk 0 (system reserved, C: and I and 0 (CD ROM)
5. The device appears in Device Manager under USB controllers as a storage device but I can't access it.
6. This happens with all memory sticks and occasionally with ipod etc.. but sometimes for no apparent reason they work! All devices works ok with other computers.
7. 9 times out of 10 plugging in a device or turning on the USB attached printer will cause the computer to BSOD, usually with IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL 0X0000000A
8. Devices are never allocated a drive letter.

The only thing I can think of is that I repartitioned the external hard drive (which I attach to back up) which may have confused the computer with driver numbers? Possibly?! And I did fiddle with the System Reserved drive as I had back up issues and one of the solutions was to rename it, then I renamed it back again (I think).

Sorry if I'm vague on this but I'm not at all computer savvy and the kids are trying to access their homework on the memory sticks!

I'm running Windows 7 Home 64-bit, Avira anti virus and the computer is about 6 months old, working ok until a month ago. Can't think that we downloaded anything about the same time as the problem started but possible. I've tried to update all drivers that I can think of but the only one that needed doing was the Nvidia GeForce 7025 which was outdated.

Anybody got any ideas? But keep it simple if poss please! Thanks.

 

[Jimbo22]

What are you referring to when you say flash drive? Is this a thumb drive, sd card or card reader?

 

[Jen]

Sorry, a thumb drive then! Or memory stick. Everyone seems to call them different things!

 

[Jimbo22]

Have you tried to check the issue on a different computer? Just to verify that it is or isn't doing the same thing.

 

[Jimbo22]

Have you checked the auto play settings to see if it's set up to open how you want it to open a device such as a thumb drive and sd card?

Go to control panel, hardware and sound and then click auto play. How I have mine set up: I have the box ticked for "Use autoplay for all media and devices" then I scroll all the way down to the bottom and click the "reset to all defaults" tab. In every field I have "choose a default" option showing.

 

[Saltgrass]

Maybe some questions..

Anything in common with the flash drives you are trying?

If it is intermittent, could it be a bad port or some type of connection problem?

If you have messed with your hard drive/s, supplying a Disk Management Picture taken with the Snipping tool and attached using the paperclip might help.

And this link for the Bug Check Code.

Bug Check 0xA: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

You might also go over to the BSOD forum and check the sticky about getting help with a BSOD. Please do not use the .RAR format for attaching files.

 

[Jen]

Have you checked the auto play settings to see if it's set up to open how you want it to open a device such as a thumb drive and sd card?

Go to control panel, hardware and sound and then click auto play. How I have mine set up: I have the box ticked for "Use autoplay for all media and devices" then I scroll all the way down to the bottom and click the "reset to all defaults" tab. In every field I have "choose a default" option showing.

Thank you for that. I've done the same (although I had already checked that I'd ticked the auto play box). So each field now has a default option and autoplay is ticked.

The memory sticks are fine in the laptop but not on the desktop.

I uninstalled the memory stick the other night (on the rare occasion when it was actually recognised in Device Manager!) and really thought it had done the trick. Plugged it back in and it was assigned a drive letter (F) and was able to access!

However today the computer has decided it won't recognise it again, and just to be bloody-minded it decides to BSOD (IRQL not less or equal) when you do attach it. Also didn't recognise my daughter's phone (but it did a few hours ago!!)

 

[Jen]

Hi. Nothing in common with the flash drives - they range from memory sticks to phones to ipods. I suppose it could be a bad port but the problem is with both front usb ports and possibly one of the rear ones too (as the printer plugged into one of these can cause the computer to blue screen when you turn it on).

Hmm..snipping tool..didn't know I had one of these!..I've had to google info about this and I'm not sure if I'm doing it properly but here goes:

Link Removed

oops..that doesn't look right!! By the way I haven't got a paperclip icon on the task bar?!

I'll check that BSOD sticky (whatever that may be...) and do the bug code check soon. I need a break from this computer first!!

Thanks for your help.

 

[Saltgrass]

You are having the problems after removing the printer connection and rebooting?

Probably removing all USB devices and rebooting would be best, but you do seem to have a system problem and not just a Flash Drive type problem.

Does Device Manager show any yellow marks next to your devices?

Any error messages in the Event Viewer relating to the USB situation or a driver/device.