USB Mass Storage Device installation

Hello, searching around Google this forum has come up a few times now with threads about "USB Mass Storage Device" but I don't see a "solution".

If I can quickly outline my problem and then if anyone needs full specs ask away and I'll provide.

I've got a new PC. It has Vista Business x64 on it. All works fine. Or so I thought. Using the USB slots at the front of the machine for things like card readers or headphones they do their job.

When I went to plug a memory stick into the computer I got an error about "USB Mass Storage Device" failing to install. I tried other sticks. Same problem. I then tried some Maxtor external drives. Same problem each time. My iPod Video also hit the same thing. A Lightscribe external DVD writer... same thing.

Ok, maybe it is a device driver... so I uninstalled the device under Device Manager and scanned for new hardware... same problem. I deleted the USB controller - same problem.

I tried plugging each of these devices into the back of the computer in another USB slot. They all worked faultlessly (indeed the lightscribe is working away as I type this).

So the USB device driver seems to work - just not on that controller.

I found one thread that referenced C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository and looking to see if there are multiple entries like usbstor.inf_84963b7b (and others with different alphanum entries). There are.

I have tried to point the driver install at different ones with no luck.

I'd really like to get the front USB ports working rather than having to crawl under the desk!

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

I found that

Not all usb ports work exactly the same ..."It's about power" ..

Try an UBS powered hub ...

There should be more than 1 port in the front ...?

Did you try all of them....?

Powered hub..? I know that there are powered and un-powered hub but I want to get *this* hub working for simple ad-hoc plug-ins.

As it is at the front I would expect this built-in hub to work with the simplest of devices - a memory stick - whether powered or not.

But yes, I tried both of the ports there. Indeed it is part of the hub that is the card reader - and the card reader works fine (I found this out when I uninstalled the hub and card reader drives vanished until I had scanned for hardware changes). As I say it works for a variety of other USB devices but those that have anything that concerns storage fail.

Oh yes - I forgot last night when I typed this in: I also did try the deleting INFCACHE.1 file without success.

Hi Duck.. The ones in the pc call usb ports .....

The usb hubs i'm talking about are the ones you can attach to the port ...

So you can plug-in more devices in one hub .....

Something like this "no-power" hub .....:



This is "power-hub" ....:

In case you need it...: Pick one you like....

Newegg.com - USB

Yes, Tech101, I knew what you meant by a powered hub. What I didn't get was why it should make any difference in this case.

Either I am using a memory stick which have worked fine on all other computers I've had without needing a powered hub. OR I am plugging in something like a Maxtor OneTouch or Maxtor Basics which is already powered itself.

Were I plugging in something that drew power, or several items, I could understand it, but one small memory stick or something that has its own power supply? Well that doesn't make much sense to me. Memory sticks are kind of the "lowest common denominator" that I would expect a USB port to accept.

Both the adaptor in the back of the computer that works and the one in the front that fails show up under computer management as "Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller".

Indeed this gets more curious... in confirming that to reply to you I found...

... in device management, viewing devices by connection, if I plug a random memory stick into the back of the computer I see this:
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
-- USB Root Hub
--- USB Mass Storage Device
-----Easy Disk USB Device
(or with another stick)
-- USB Root Hub
--- USB Mass Storage Device
-----LEXAR JUMPDRIVE SPORT USB Device (capitalised thus)

On the front of the PC there are three USB ports.

Left to right, the plate has:
USB 2.0, then four card slots for camera memory, then two USB slots between a mic and phones socket.

I hadn't noticed the USB 2.0 port before as it is with the card slots.

If I plug the lexar stick into the USB2.0 port I get "USB Device not recognised" and the controller reads thus:

Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
---USB Root Hub
------Unknown Device
------USB Composite Device
---------USB Human Interface Device
------------HID-compliant device
---------USB Mass Storage Device
------------Generic - Compact Flash USB Device
------------Generic - MS/MS-Pro USB Device
------------Generic - SD/MMC USB Device
------------Generic - SM/xD-Picture USB Device

If, instead I plug it into one of the other two ports I see this:

Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
---USB Root Hub
------USB Composite Device
---------USB Human Interface Device
------------HID-compliant device
---------USB Mass Storage Device
------------Generic - Compact Flash USB Device
------------Generic - MS/MS-Pro USB Device
------------Generic - SD/MMC USB Device
------USB Mass Storage Device (with a yellow triangle to show the error)

To summarise:
on the same USB hub *type* (generically) I get different results
on the same USB hub *specifically* I get different results depending on the slot used!

Now that's crazy!!!

When looking at your device manager, do you see any question marks, particularly for the USB Controller?

Hi, sorry my tree drawing didn't work too well did it?

Question marks, no. Exclamation, yes but only sometimes.

I was trying to avoid uploading pictures... oh well...

Here's the front bezel.

To the left USB2.0 then a bunch of card slots (that work as I just uploaded this using one!) - to the right two more USB slots with mic and earphone sockets.





If I plug the Lexar stick into the port on the left:



If I plug the Lexar into either of the ports on the right:



And if I plug the Lexar into the port on the back

It doesn't make sense to me either .....

I've come across so many issues like yours .....and yet ...

The best solution is ...use one of the port from the back ....connect to the

hub ..and stick it some where on the desk .......or on the wall ....

I hope some members will come up with better solutions for you ...

tek101. Indeed. I can see that I'll end up with a cable from the back and up to the desktop which is really annoying as it means I'm not using three USB ports that I had installed in the machine which is stupid.

To answer your question - yes, I did uninstall it and let windows pick a different device driver... and it reappeared looking just the same. Indeed I tried pointing it at the other ones in the driver store with no change.

It's most odd.

Hi, all. Well for those still struggling with this themselves - sorry I still don't have an answer. But I've tried a few more bits.

Talking to the hardware supplier (and pointing them at this thread too) they felt it might be that the cable going from the port to the motherboard might be at fault and sent a new one out for me to replace it.

I swapped the cable over but still had no joy.


Having installed the fresh cable I tried the Lexar memory stick again. Fail.
I deleted INFCACHE.1 Fail. (and I've tried this both with and without a re-boot)
I uninstalled and scanned for hardware changes. Fail.

After the install of the driver comes up “could not load driver”, the device shows up in Device Manager as “This device cannot start. (Code 10).”

I connected it in to the port at the back of the computer where it works. The device manager shows the driver as Microsoft origin 21/06/2006 and ver 6.0.6002.18005 which resides at c:\windows\system32\drivers\USBSTOR.SYS.

I connected it in to the port at the front of the computer where it fails. The device manager shows that the SAME driver of the same version, same date and same location is loaded.

So it is not the cable. It can not be the device driver as that is the same. I can imagine that there might be differences in the registry between the two sets of ports but goodness only knows where to begin with that.

Oh and one more thing - to save myself from crawling under the desk I put a long extension USB cable from the back port to the top of the desk and the Lexar (or any other memory stick) plugs in to it and works fine.


Any bright ideas?

In Device Manager right clik ALL instances of USB Roots and Hubs and select Remove...you will recieve an warning message...ignore it.
Power down and unplug alll but your necessary USB devices.
Upon re-boot Windows will automatically re-install them.
Power back up and try something in the front port.

Unfortunately though i suspect as with many pre-assembled PC it's probably a case of the port being under-powered on the front panel.
HP's and eMachines are notorious for this.
If this is the case follow the advice above for connecting to a rear port and/or using a Hub.