Camera and Scanner Wizard Disappeared

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Hello Everyone,

First off, I want to thank everyone in this group for your knowledge and tips. Thanks to you, there hasn't been an issue with my machine that I haven't been able to address, until now...

I cannot get the "Camera and Scanner Wizard" to open, whether I connect my digital camera or my card reader to the USB port. My "removable drive" was always instantly recognized as drive "F: ", and the Wizard would pop up, and I could transfer my pictures. I don't know what changed, but now, I have to manually access drive F: manually through Start/My Computer. It will not autoplay, and when I look into Properties for drive F:, and choose the "Autoplay" tab, the dropdown is locked on "Music Files ", and will not hold the change to "Pictures ". It wants to stay locked on "Music Files ".

I tried applying the Microsoft Autoplay Fix, but it could neither repair nor find the problem. I tried CHKDSK and sfc /scannow as well. No dice. I uninstalled and reinstalled my USB, and that didn't help. I then tried a System Restore back to approximately the last time that the Wizard worked, but that failed, too. I undid (or is it undood?) the SR, and proceeded to lose all of my wonderful restore points (I only use 3% of my HD space for SR), so I'm really in the soup.

There are no other problems with the system that I'm aware of. I am running SP2, up to date. I have no viruses or spyware that I know of. I run Norton AV 2005, AdAware, Spybot, Spyware Blaster, ZoneAlarm, CWShredder, and Spy Sweeper. I scan and update regularly. My feeling is that this is a software problem, it's as if the Camera and Scanner Wizard is lurking somewhere in my HD, and something has to bring it back to the surface.

Thanks in advance to all of you, and I apologize for the length of the post.

Brad

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Biostar M7NCD MB
1 GB RAM
XFX GeForce 5500 256MB RAM
Windows XP SP2

 

Hello Arie,

Thank you for the quick reply.

No, I do not have RP10 on my computer (anymore). I did update from RP8 about a year or so ago. and I ran into that problem at the time. I was told by the Real support people to uncheck "realsched" in my "services" portion of msconfig. That worked, but every time I used RP10, it would knock out the autoplay (at least I was able to access the Camera Wizard manually), and I had to uncheck that option again and again. Finally, I decided to ditch RP10 and go back to the basic RP8, which I barely use. It's there if and when I need it.I did use it once about a month ago, but RP8 never gave me any trouble before, and I see nothing to uncheck related to RP8 in msconfig. As for WMP10, I use it from time to time, and it never interfered with the Camera and Scanner Wizard before. This is not just an autoplay problem. The Camera and Scanner Wizard is completely inaccessible.

And I checked the registry key value...it's right on the money.

What's our next move?

Peace.
Brad

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Biostar M7NCD MB
1 GB RAM
XFX GeForce 5500 256MB RAM
Windows XP SP2

 

Hi Arie,

No, the Wizard will not open up when I typed the command that you suggested. I fear that I'll have to do a repair of the OS. I hope that it doesn't come to that. Yes, I have backed up all of my irreplaceable files (pictures, etc.), and I always save my program setup files, so they could be quickly restored. But don't I lose all of my updates if I have to repair? It could take me a year to download all of the post-SP2 security updates on dialup.

I am stumped as to how this could have happened.

Thanks again.
Brad

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Biostar M7NCD MB
1 GB RAM
XFX GeForce 5500 256MB RAM
Windows XP SP2

 

Hi Arie,

I couldn't find anything specific on the subject of losing my updates after a repair of XP, but if I have to repair, I will, if that's what it will take to be able to download pictures again. I would like to know exactly how the Wizard disappeared, and why I can't get it back without taking what I consider to be a drastic measure.

Thanks again, and I'll keep you posted.
Brad

 

Hi Arie,

I did run both SFC and CHKDSK at the outset, with no success. I also tried the repair install of XP and I reinstalled SP2 from my CD (as well as some of the updates that I had to rerun), but I still have the same problem...the Camera and Scanner Wizard does not work. Much to my dismay, I'm thinking that a complete format may be in order

Any other ideas before I start from scratch?

Thanks again.
Brad

 

thestadiumguy--It sounds like you have already tried a "Repair" but thought I would post this site anyway
http://www.theeldergeek.com/repairing_windows_xp.htm
Look at the last section the bottom titled "Windows Installation CD - Repair Current Installation ".

 

Hi Jim,

Thanks for providing that link. Last night I did the repair installation exactly as the link suggests, and I STILL can't access the Camera and Scanner Wizard. The rest of the system runs great, though.

This really has me baffled, and I still think that I may have to format and start from scratch (and that is a last resort only), unless some freaky thing happens to restore my ability to download pictures.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks again for your help.
Brad

 

good news!

Hello everyone,

Well, I cannot explain it, but the Camera and Scanner Wizard started working again! I plugged my camera into the USB port, the computer re-detected the USB mass storage device, etc., and the Wizard popped up! I then tried my card reader again, and the Wizard came back! I am now able to download pictures again!

I'm not sure what to attribute this to, but I have to conclude that it was the repair install of XP, even though the problem was fixed 24 hours after the repair. As I said before, my system is a bit snappier since the repair install, so I guess that some good came out of a potentially bad thing.

Thanks again to Arie and Jim for your help with this problem. I hope to be able to return the favors.

Peace.
Brad

 

thestadiumguy--Thanks for posting with the good news.

Keep lurking here and I am sure you will!