Resolved Removable Disc Drive not recognized

Hello,

I took a few photos with my camera, and when I went to upload the photos from the memory card, my PC was not recognizing that drive at all. It was working just fine a week ago.

I've had this happen a few times, but usually, a reboot would correct the error. Not this time. We had a sudden power outage a few days back, and I think that may have caused the problem. I've rebooted a few times now, but the computer is still not recognizing the drives for removable storage, but for 1, which is the one my external hard drive is plugged into. The "missing" drives are those connected with the memory card/stick readers, which are built into the PC.

Any suggestions to get the computer to "find" them again?

Thank you,
Sandie

 

Hi Sandie, have you run a chkdisk or sfc /scannow? Your power outage may have corrupted the files. Neil.

 

Hi Niel,

No, I did not do that, and actually didn't think of it, so thank you. I will try that and see how that goes.

Sandie

 

Instead of just rebooting, try shutting down, then unplugging from the wall for about 15 seconds, then connect and boot. When you simply shutdown or reboot, the ATX Power Supply maintains +5Vsb standby voltage across many points on the motherboard - including I/O ports. Removing the +5V "may" release a lingering setting that is hosing you up.

I would not do any changes to your computer until you try that stick in another computer and see what happens there.

 

Hi Bill,

I have not yet done the sfc/ scannow yet because I was busy with e-mails. So nothing has been changed yet. I will be finished with my e-mails soon, and then I will totally shut down, and unplug, and give that a try. And I will get back with the results as soon as I can.

Thank you for your suggestion,
Sandie

 

Running SFC is safe and does not make the type changes I was referring to - sorry, I should have been more clear.

 

Bill,

I did as you suggested, and shut down the computer, unplugged it, and waited a while, plugged it back in and powered it up. It still is not recognizing the removable disc drives that are built into the machine.

After that, I put my Windows 7 installation disc into the DVD drive, and ran sfc /scannow. I have no idea if it did anything or not, because I saw nothing happening, but every now and then, I did hear my disc whirring around inside the DVD drive. I left it to do whatever, and came back about 90 minutes later, removed the installation disc, and checked my discs showing under COMPUTER. The card reader drive was still not showing.

Still, I put my card into the reader, and suddenly, for a brief second, the removable drive showed on my screen, the file opened to give me access to the photos on the card, and I successfully uploaded them to my computer.

Whether that drive will show up one day, I have no idea. If you click START - COMPUTER - it still is not showing or listed along with C drive (OE), D (Recovery) E (DVD), and F (External HD) All of the card reader drives, and there are 4 of them, are not mentioned at all. But I uploaded my photos, so I'll cross my fingers and hope it will work the next time too.

My poor old Dell is 10 years old. It might be time to start looking for a new one, but it generally works so well, and has given me no major, long lasting problems all these years, I am loathe to part with it.

Sandie



Now I will run sfc/ scannow and see how that goes. I've already ran chkdsk, and it is not mentioning any problems.

 

That's the problem with rapidly advancing technologies - they make previous generations obsolete before their time. That said, other factors come into play that force our hands and security is at the top of the list. Thanks to the badguys, XP is no longer a safe and secure operating system. Security alone is reason enough to upgrade to modern hardware running a modern operating system.

 

Hi Bill,
Before I installed Windows 7, I made sure my computer was compatible and able to run Win7 with no problems. It has done so for over a year, with no problems. This is a strange thing that is happening now, and it's happened a few times in the past with the original Vista installed. But always, after rebooting, the computer would recognize and list all the drives, and this time it is not. I still don't understand why, but I don't think it has anything to do with the OS really. I could simply be the hardware is wearing out, and that is bound to happen. I was surprised my computer held up so well, this long. LOL

Pete,

I am the only user and administrator on this computer. Is that not an elevated command position, or are you saying there is something more I need to do? I'm sorry, I didn't fully comprehend what you were trying to tell me. But still, even if all the system files are totally undamaged, would they really have anything to do with the system recognizing installed hardware?



Sandie

 

Did you look in Device Manager and see if there were any yellow ? or ! in there?

 

I agree, it could simply be age of components.

 

Hello,

OK, I elevated my whatever, and successfully ran system file checker, and when it finished it told me it found nothing out of order.

For Mr.Bill, yes, I did check the Device Manager, and no, there were no yellow or ? or ! in there at all. Really strange, eh? But, as I've said, this has happened before. It's simply that every time it's happened before, after I rebooted, the storage drives were always listed again, and this time they are still not there to be seen.

Thank you everyone for helping me this far. At least I've learned a few things, and finally learned how to properly run SFC, which is huge, IMHO. I've entered it into the command prompt many times before, and it never did anything, and I was befuddled as to why not. Now I know. LOL

Sandie

 

PS::

Just out of curiosity, I was looking at System Information, and under System Summary, Storage, I expanded that component, and in there it lists Removable Disc drives L, M, N, and O (which is the one I sue for my camera memory card). So they are there in System Information, but not listed when you go to start> Computer

So, it is in there, but I sure had to dig to find it. LOL

PPSS:: 5/25/14 - 8:19 PM

I just clicked on start > computer, and right-clicked "open" and when it opened, EVERY disc dive was listed there, but if you just click on computer, in the menu to the right, it only shows drive C, D, E, & F. None of the removable disc drives, even though they are all listed in the folder. So something put them back. I am a very happy camper now.

 

It is a pleasure working with new hardware! My old custom-built XP machine is about 12 years old, and after spending 350.00 on a new Dell, I have no regrets.