Windows Shutdown probelms & USB drivers for stick drives

[Hunter]

Well, I have a T30 that has recently developed an issue with not mounting any USB stick drives. It tries to load a new driver (which I don't have ... I only have the recovery CDs from IBM).

I have been pluggin and unplugging a bunch of stick drives (that used to work just fine) doing some testing for a software company so that might have caused the issue.

I have also recently run Registry First Aid to attempt to clean up that mess which may have also impacted the USB situation.

That combined with Windows not shutting down cleanly (it gets to "Windows Shutting Down" and never goes any further until I hold down the power button) menas that I am a little frustrated with the old T30 right now...

Any help greatly appreciated,
Hunter...

[The Spirit of X21]

Have you tried reinstalling the USB drivers? Windows can obtain correct ones through the web most of the time.

[Hunter]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the suggestion. I ran the wizard to look for new drivers but cannot seem to locate the appropriate ones. The actual driver files seem to be there and device manager seems to think they are functioning correctly...

How do I install new drivers to overwrite potentially corrupted ones.

I am a total novice at this in case you haven't guessed!

Martin../

[BruisedQuasar]

You mentioned trying out new software. Are you using Win XP Pro by any chance? Win XP is known to occassionally "lose" external USB devices and the fastest way to get them back, unless you are a programmer who knows how to hack the registry, is to reinstall XP. I've had XP on some systems, Dells for instance, actually lose devices shortly after a fresh complete reinstall!

Not the USB ports themselves (I'll seen that too, though) but specific devices. A friend's PC with XP Pro SP2 reinstalled two months earlier suddenly lost his external high end DVD burner. We tried everything, reinstalled the driver, tried all six different USB 2 ports with direct to port only connection. Nothing worked. Belarc Advisor did not report a device plugged into any USB port when we had only the drive plugged in.

Finally, we got the drive recognized and running again when we re-installed XP and SP1 but did not reinstall SP2 !!

--Bruised

[Hunter]

Bruised,

Thanks for the advice...the reinstall was the next step (that I was hoping to avoid). I ran Registry First Aid and found that there are multiple driver related mismatches and am wondering if that might be the issue. Of course I have no idea how to solve them!

I'll reinstall and see how that turns out.

Martin../