USB memory stick

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December 30th, 2003, 02:21 PM
johnmacf

USB memory stick

I have had a problem using USB memory sticks (3 brands, 4 capacities) on an ASUS P4P800 motherboard. Scanners, cameras, printers all work on all USB ports, but USB memory sticks all cause lockups (using any port) in My Computer until the device is disconnected. If the drivers are removed (WinXP Device Manager) and the stick is reinserted, it is detected, but a message comes up saying that the installation was not successful, and the device will not likely work (which is true).

I think I have to either have to reinstall WinXP home, or delete the drivers that are specific to USB memory sticks and reinstall them from the WINXP CD, but I don't know which files to delete.

Thanks for any ideas.

John
December 30th, 2003, 02:37 PM
NooNoo

Welcome to Windrivers johnmacf

What motherboard do you have, sounds like you need motherboard drivers installed.
December 30th, 2003, 02:43 PM
Diver01

I have same MB and I use a USB memory stick. I do have the latest BIOS as well. Also check and make sure that you have installed all Windows Update Patches ect...
If all of that is ok, you probably have a corrupt registry.
December 30th, 2003, 03:20 PM
johnmacf

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diver01

I have same MB and I use a USB memory stick. I do have the latest BIOS as well. Also check and make sure that you have installed all Windows Update Patches ect...
If all of that is ok, you probably have a corrupt registry.

The BIOS is up-to-date, and I have installed the USB 2.0 patch from MS. Any idea which registry keys can be removed?

Thanks for the quick reponse.
December 30th, 2003, 03:23 PM
johnmacf

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

Welcome to Windrivers johnmacf

What motherboard do you have, sounds like you need motherboard drivers installed.

It's an ASUS P4P800 - Intel chipset. Do you mean the Infinst download from Intel? I haven't tried it yet, but since all USB peripherals work except the memory sticks, I wonder if it will help. I'll give it a try.

Thanks for your reply

John
December 30th, 2003, 07:08 PM
NooNoo

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnmacf

It's an ASUS P4P800 - Intel chipset. Do you mean the Infinst download from Intel? I haven't tried it yet, but since all USB peripherals work except the memory sticks, I wonder if it will help. I'll give it a try.

Thanks for your reply

John

Yep, can't hurt, and sorry I didn't notice you posting your mobo... something to do with too many posts to be read today. :D
January 9th, 2004, 05:39 PM
johnmacf

Since the last response, I have done the following:

1. Updated the BIOS (to 10.14)
2. Reinstalled WinXPSP1 over itself
3. Uninstalled the memory stick & USB devices from both the Disk Drive & USB sections of Device Manager - tricky, since the system freezes when a stick is inserted and the device doesn't show up when it isn't.
4. Done some swearing.

Result? - nothing. Are there any third party USB memory drivers for WinXP?

Thanks,
John
January 9th, 2004, 05:40 PM
johnmacf

Sorry, I forgot :

0. Installed the Intel chipset drivers.
January 9th, 2004, 05:54 PM
Diver01

XP does not require any drivers at all. The only OS that needs drivers is Win98.

I am not sure which registry keys are associated with the memory sticks. You may want to try and do a search on your brand of memory stick and see if you can locate the key itself. (If you feel confortable messing with the registry and back it up of course.. :))

You may want to also try a registry cleaner if all else fails, it may not do anything but I cant think of where else the problem is besides in the registry.

Dont give up, theres got to be a solution somewhere... Someone here has got to know... :thumbs:

Also, have you tried using the sticks in another PC? Just another thought...
January 9th, 2004, 06:17 PM
johnmacf

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diver01

XP does not require any drivers at all. The only OS that needs drivers is Win98.

I am not sure which registry keys are associated with the memory sticks. You may want to try and do a search on your brand of memory stick and see if you can locate the key itself. (If you feel confortable messing with the registry and back it up of course.. :))

You may want to also try a registry cleaner if all else fails, it may not do anything but I cant think of where else the problem is besides in the registry.

Dont give up, theres got to be a solution somewhere... Someone here has got to know... :thumbs:

Also, have you tried using the sticks in another PC? Just another thought...

Yes, all 3 sticks work in many other machines. Ther are 3 sticks in all - an 8MB IBM, an OTI Falcon 128MB, and a 32MB that I don't have the make for.

I'm aware of the XP driver situation - also true in W2K (& maybe Me), but I was just grasping at straws.
January 9th, 2004, 07:51 PM
NooNoo

These sticks all 1.1 ?

I just shoved my pqi stick in and got the following registry entries - the stick has never been installed on this xp machine, so these are (in theory) clean entries.
searched for usb mass storage:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Cl ***\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0010

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\V id_0c76&Pid_0005\5&1784ac4b&0&2

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\V id_0ea0&Pid_6803\39621ED83E9D0226

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USBST OR\Disk&Ven_GENERIC&Prod_USB_Mass_Storage&Rev_1.00 \6&1c71fce&0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\U SBSTOR

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Cl ***\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0010

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\V id_07b4&Pid_0105\000262029826

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\V id_0ea0&Pid_6803\20731BE33CBD3AC3

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\U SBSTOR

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Control\Cl ***\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0010

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Enum\USB\V id_0ea0&Pid_6803\20731BE33CBD3AC3

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\U SBSTOR

Actually there are loads of them - I forgot about my camera, so it has entries for that and it stores them as mass storage devices... so a search for mass storage would work.

A search for Pqi - which is the name that XP reports my mass storage device as, turns up nothing in the registry.

If you are going to hack your reg about, then I suggest that you do it in safe mode and take a copy of the reg before you start.
January 10th, 2004, 04:29 PM
johnmacf

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

These sticks all 1.1 ?

None of the sticks are USB 2, so I guess thy're 1.1.

I'll try the registry search next week & get back to you.

Thanks,
John
February 4th, 2004, 11:46 PM
johnmacf

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

These sticks all 1.1 ?

I just shoved my pqi stick in and got the following registry entries - the stick has never been installed on this xp machine, so these are (in theory) clean entries.
searched for usb mass storage:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Cl ***\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0010

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\V id_0c76&Pid_0005\5&1784ac4b&0&2

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\V id_0ea0&Pid_6803\39621ED83E9D0226

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USBST OR\Disk&Ven_GENERIC&Prod_USB_Mass_Storage&Rev_1.00 \6&1c71fce&0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\U SBSTOR

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Cl ***\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0010

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\V id_07b4&Pid_0105\000262029826

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\V id_0ea0&Pid_6803\20731BE33CBD3AC3

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\U SBSTOR

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Control\Cl ***\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}\0010

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Enum\USB\V id_0ea0&Pid_6803\20731BE33CBD3AC3

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\U SBSTOR

Actually there are loads of them - I forgot about my camera, so it has entries for that and it stores them as mass storage devices... so a search for mass storage would work.

A search for Pqi - which is the name that XP reports my mass storage device as, turns up nothing in the registry.

If you are going to hack your reg about, then I suggest that you do it in safe mode and take a copy of the reg before you start.

Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I just had a look at the registry & found similar keys to the ones you describe. There were also entries for a printer with memory card slot, and a camera, as expected. When I tried to delete one of the memory stick keys, after the confirmation message I was told that the key could not be deleted (I was logged on as administrator). I tried the same thing with other keys (there are 3 different sticks that have been used on this machine), with the same results.

I think it's time to wipe the drive & reinstall.

Thanks for your help.
February 5th, 2004, 04:19 PM
NooNoo

Did you try it in safe mode?
February 5th, 2004, 07:28 PM
johnmacf

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

Did you try it in safe mode?

Yes, I used safe mode. The registry and the memory stick both behaved in exactly the same way as they did in normal mode.
February 6th, 2004, 01:30 PM
NooNoo

Then look for usb keys with the usb stick not plugged in.
February 7th, 2004, 12:55 PM
johnmacf

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

Then look for usb keys with the usb stick not plugged in.

I have done this, found the keys, but cannot delete them. After the "Are you sure..." prompt, an error message states that the key cannot be removed. This occurs in both Safe and Normal modes. I don't recall having this kind of registry edit problem in XP or any other version of Windows. Is there a Policy setting or something similar that I have missed?
February 7th, 2004, 01:45 PM
NooNoo

OK, just for you I toasted my usb mass storage this morning.... (if you believe that you will believe anything) :devil:

Seriously, I have a usb2 drive caddy thingy, runs fine on 2k boxes and my xp box, shoved it into the lappie this morning and got precisely the problem you have. So I tried what I had advised you to do so far - guess what, it didn't work :eek2:

So what did work? Well....

Remove ALL usb devices, Boot to safe mode, open device manager, uninstall all the usb hubs and controllers (note - uninstall not delete)... now you have to do this from the bottom up (otherwise xp helpfully rescans and puts it back for some reason duh....)

Having uninstalled them all and waited 10 seconds to see if windows is gonna let them stay uninstalled, install your chipset drivers, which you previously downloaded and have ready in a convenient directory (right?). Yes, you are installing the chipset drivers in safe mode still.

Now reboot, and let xp get fully to desktop and watch your usb hubs and controllers get reinstalled. Without ANY other usb devices - plug in your problematic stick... this time it should work!!
February 13th, 2004, 10:00 PM
johnmacf

Thanks for your efforts - sadly, I'm right back where I started - no USB memory stick works, but all other devices are OK.

As an experiment, I disconnected the hard drive and stuck in an old one with Win98 on it. In the process of detecting devices, it hung up - guess where? Detecting USB controllers etc. After a number of retries, I put the drive in an old PII-300 and it did its thing without hesitation.

It looks to me like a strange hardware problem. I think I'll get another ASUS P4P800 & see if it works any better - the retailer is very good about taking returns of defective eqpt.

Another unresolved issue is my inability to edit the USBSTOR registry keys.

Thanks again.
February 14th, 2004, 09:38 AM
NooNoo

Thats not an issue, they are part of the chipset drivers and are therefore in use even in safe mode. Net result, you cannot remove them.

You would have to remove this sort of stuff in repair console I guess... and no, I am not gonna even guess at how that would go!!
February 17th, 2004, 07:48 PM
johnmacf

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

Thats not an issue, they are part of the chipset drivers and are therefore in use even in safe mode. Net result, you cannot remove them.

You would have to remove this sort of stuff in repair console I guess... and no, I am not gonna even guess at how that would go!!

Final Chapter:
I bought a replacement P4P800, installed it, plugged in a stick - no difference! Reinstalled the original board, plugged in a stick - it WORKED! Once only! Pulled it out and reinserted - back to square one.

Returned the new board to the vendor. Another customer started to chat - he had a P4P800 and a P4S800 (SIS chipset). His P800 won't work with USB 1.1 sticks, but is fine with 2.0. His S800 is "smooth as silk" with everything.

I bought a 256MB SanDisk USB 2.0 stick ($75CDN at Costco), inserted it and there it was. Not a hiccup. It looks like a problem with the Intel 865 chipset.

Thanks for all the advice. I hope I can return the favour someday soon.
March 16th, 2004, 07:33 AM
zobac

It wasn't any of ur drivers and what not. If anything it was a problem with ur old usb memory stick as u just saw when u bought a new one. Reasons for it not working (well for my gf's usb stick that i borrowed off her not working), i ripped it out of the usb socket before i safely stopped it through windows. So that might of been ur fault and did the same thing as i did. I know i did. She is going to kill me.