Solved Readyboost question

[Buck Godot]

I had an 8 gig stick I was using before and it was working fine. Unfortunately my nephew knocked over my laptop and bent the stick. I just purchased a new 16 gig stick and put it in but it doesn't seem to be working. The stick is readyboost capable but the light isn't flashing. Tried it on another computer and it worked there. When I bring up the properties and click the readyboost tab it is never enabled. I click enable and apply and it flashes for about 10 seconds and then nothing again. This happens everytime I open the preferences and also happens with the other stick I bought for my other computer.


Any ideas?

 

[pauliewalnuts]

Your nephew didn't bend the stick, he bent the port out of circuit completion! You're going to need to have a little surgery done on your rig. Sorry.

You could get a USB spider or USB hub to use on one of your other USB ports, so you don't run out of ports.

 

[Buck Godot]

Are you sure? That doesn't make sense though because the system recognizes the stick is there and I can save things to it. The same thing happens on all of my ports.

 

[pauliewalnuts]

Yeah, sorry. What I wrote doesn't make sense. The stick wouldn't work at all if the plug was out.

First order of business is to see if the Readyboost and Superfetch services are working:

1) Start Menu
2) In the "Search" bar type "msconfig."
3) Go to the Services tab
4) Type "re." This will send you straight to the Readyboost service dialog. It should be "running" and have its check-box checked.
5) Type "su" to go to the Superfetch service dialog. It should also be "running" and have it's box checked.
6) If they're not, check their boxes, hit Apply, and let the computer restart. See if your stick's Readyboost works.

 

[pauliewalnuts]

Also, your USB drivers may need to be updated.

1) Start Menu
2) type "Device Manager"
3) open Universal Serial Bus Controllers in the list of devices
4) right-click on any numbered host controller that doesn't say "enhanced" and select "Update driver software." Search everywhere. (The latest version of my Intel driver software is from September '06, and I didn't have the latest version.)
5) right-click on any numbered controller that says "enhanced host controller" and select "Update driver software." Search everywhere.

 

[Buck Godot]

@paulie:

Did both of those and Readyboost and Superfetch were already checked and the drivers are up to date.

 

[pauliewalnuts]

There is a shortcut solution. Before you do this, though, definitely create a restore point!

I'm also wondering, why not set the data transfer ceiling higher than the "1000" decimal value. Your stick is a Readyboost stick and the top ceiling for USB data transfer is 24 Megabytes a second. Try "15360" decimal. If your stick is a new stick then 15 Megs is a breeze.

 

[Buck Godot]

The issue with this step is that windows does not reject the stick. It recognizes it and allows me to check use device. When I do that, the light on the stick flashes for about 15 seconds and then goes dark again and never lights up. Every time I go in to do it, readyboost is never selected. It's like it won't stay on.

 

[pauliewalnuts]

Maybe it is using it and the stick doesn't recognize this.

Go to My Computer. Of course, you'll see all your drives and yadda-yadda-yadda.

Open your USB stick's folder.

In the folder's menu at the top, open "Tools" and select "Folder Options." Go to the second tab, "View."

In Advanced Settings, you want to "Show hidden files and folders."

You also do not want to "Hide extensions for known file types" nor do you want to "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)," so if those check-boxes are checked then un-check them.

Hit OK.

You're still in the USB folder. If you see a file with the extension .sfcache then your stick is working in Readyboost capacity. That .sfcache file is the actual cache.

What's the exact brand and model number of your stick, anyway? Many sticks claim to have Readyboost capability but their real performances fall short and Vista rejects them.

 

[Buck Godot]

Problem solved! Thanks!

 

[Buck Godot]

Man! I wish I had posted how I fixed it. 3 days ago, my daughter (aged 4) knocked my computer off the stand and broke the mem stick. I have no fricken luck with these things...Just bought another one and it's doing the same thing. I don't remember how I fixed it before.

 

[Buck Godot]

Ok....Odd....I went back and removed the check for show hidden files and file extensions and the damn thing started working....I am completely baffled but ok.......

 

[PcDav]

I had an 8 gig stick I was using before and it was working fine. Unfortunately my nephew knocked over my laptop and bent the stick. I just purchased a new 16 gig stick and put it in but it doesn't seem to be working. The stick is readyboost capable but the light isn't flashing. Tried it on another computer and it worked there. When I bring up the properties and click the readyboost tab it is never enabled. I click enable and apply and it flashes for about 10 seconds and then nothing again. This happens everytime I open the preferences and also happens with the other stick I bought for my other computer.


Any ideas?

Make sure readyboost is turned on in services.

start/control panel/administrative tools/services/ change from manual to automatic and hit start