Windows 7 - Help required, USB flash drive/Pen drive not working!

Hello friends, I'm an advanced user, I have just cleanly installed Windows 7 RTM on my Compaq Presario CQ45-205AU laptop. Every thing worked fine including the driver which I downloaded from their website(Select software and drivers Compaq Presario CQ45-205AU Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (India - English)). But when I plugged in my USB pen drive (Kingston data traveler and Moser baer) it simply didn't detect it. Though in device manager it's listing them. When I plug them Windows says the driver for this device isn't properly installed. But when I open MY computer USB icon isn't there. These pen drives are working fine in my desktop PC in which Windows XP is installed. I guess Windows 7 has some driver problem regarding USB mass storage device that's why it's not installing that driver automatically for these drives. Are you folks also facing the same problem ? If not, then can you tell me some solution for it ?

Thanks

I have a 1gb Kingston Data Traveler, which works just fine with my copy of Windows 7. As far as an idea of usb mass storage driver problems? I have also a Simple Drive, which registers as a usb mass storage device as well, no problems there. Might be a problem with your install or something.

Welcome to the Se7enforums! razer

The first I do with any new drive like an external hard drive or flash drive is to simply nuke the Fat 32 nonsense off them and see a clean NTFS volume go on. Then a quick trip into the Disk Management tool to see to it a particular drive letter is assigned to in there solves the problem of not seeing it in the W.Explorer or other window.

I have a 16gb version of the same model here presently with the 64bit RC installed along with 3 separate Linux distros on the SUN Portable Virtual Box without problems. Other usb keys made up see GParted on a 2gb SanDisk and ubuntu 9.04 64bit on a PNY 16gb as well as Knoppix 5.3.1 on a 32gb SanDIsk for a quick backup and data rescue tool.

7 itself now supports Fat32 along with exFat where Vista didn't! To hear that with the RTM 7 sounds like you simply need to go into the DM and reformat the facory stuff right off!

I had this kind of problem once. Not sure if it complained about the driver. Problem was that system tried to assign same drive letter for my usb-stick that was already in use by another removable device. Launch diskmgmt.msc and check if drive letter is assigned properly. If not, you can change it there.

Friends, first of all sorry for belated reply I was busy solving this puzzling and annoying problem so I wasn't able to come only. Anyway, here how it worked. Since I didn't get the quick reply here I used my own permutation-combination to solve this. It's a bit long reply so that every one can understand it, pls bear with me.

When I found that my pen drives (Kingston data traveler and Mosaer baer, formatted with FAT32) are not working in Windows 7 ultimate RTM. I posted my problem here, but got no quick reply. So, I started applying my own logic and permutation-combination. Being a beta tester and an advanced user it's not difficult for me to do that.

First thing I did was I uninstalled Vista drivers (which were installed without any problem in Windows 7) one by one to check it has any compatibility problem with it or not. After uninstalling every driver, my problem was still unsolved. As a last resort I decided to cleanly installed my windows 7 RTM again. (Note: By clean installation I mean installing Windows 7 by formatting partition, not by up-gradation)

In about 30 minutes the Windows 7 was installed completely again and ready for use. Unlike the previous time I didn't install any driver, software etc. I was obsessed with my pen drive problem and wanted to know why it’s not working in Windows 7. So the first thing I did after the installation completed was plugging in my pen drives to my laptop. This time it detected it and installed the related driver automatically and said your drive is ready for use. Hurray!! Both of my pen drives are now working fine, I cross checked them many times by many ways.
After getting satisfied that they are working I thought the problem has been resolved. (Only to find it later it didn't! how ? read till the end.) So I decided to proceed with other tasks like driver and software installation. I wanted to install latest Windows 7 compatible driver for my hardware. Doing bit of googling I found at this time only ATI 3200 has Windows 7 compatible drivers, that too for Windows RC. Since I wanted to install latest driver so I downloaded it and installed it. Rest of the drivers I downloaded from the Compaq website, the link of which has been given in my first post.

So now my system was “completely” installed with drivers and both of my pen drives were also working fine. But in the evening when my younger brother plugged in Sandisk 8 GB pen drive of his friend it again showing the same problem!! It was not detecting it and saying the driver for the device isn't installed! (Though it was detecting my other two pen drives which I plugged in when my sytem was just completed installation). I couldn’t believe it for a while..and after sometime I again started fixing it using my logic. I went to device manager, uninstalled Mass storage device and then scan the hardware to reinstall the driver but to no avail. Again I was left with no option but to cleanly reinstall my system again.

When I completed installing Windows 7 again, I did the same thing which I did earlier; that is: plugging in the pen drive when windows has just finished installation and ready for use. Surprising it detected that 8gb Sandisk pen drive also and installed the driver automatically! It's working fine like it was working in my desktop PC in which XP is installed.

Now all mine three USB pen drives are working fine in Windows 7. It's detecting them, installing driver for them. But if you install driver and software and then try to plug in "new" USB pen drives then it will not detect and install driver for it. Here by “new” pen drives I mean the ones which were not plugged in when the system had completed installation and ready for use for the first time. After driver and software installation only those pen drives will work which you had plugged in when the system..just completed installation and ready for use..in other words before any driver or any other thing installation.
For every new pen drive you have to reinstall your system again, courtesy Micro****, ouch Microsoft. All hail Microsoft. If I had the drivers for Windows XP then I would not have installed this piece of crap. I’m ready to wager this OS will also be flop like Vista if Microsfot didn’t fix this big, very big hole in its system. Microsoft sucks.

Chums, thanks for bearing me and reading my rather boring story.

"Welcome to the Se7enforums! razer

The first I do with any new drive like an external hard drive or flash drive is to simply nuke the Fat 32 nonsense off them and see a clean NTFS volume go on. Then a quick trip into the Disk Management tool to see to it a particular drive letter is assigned to in there solves the problem of not seeing it in the W.Explorer or other window.

I have a 16gb version of the same model here presently with the 64bit RC installed along with 3 separate Linux distros on the SUN Portable Virtual Box without problems. Other usb keys made up see GParted on a 2gb SanDisk and ubuntu 9.04 64bit on a PNY 16gb as well as Knoppix 5.3.1 on a 32gb SanDIsk for a quick backup and data rescue tool.

7 itself now supports Fat32 along with exFat where Vista didn't! To hear that with the RTM 7 sounds like you simply need to go into the DM and reformat the facory stuff right off!"
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Thanks for ur reply Night hawk. I didn't tried it, will try it for sure if I encounter the same problem again. Now all mine three pen drives are working fine. I don't have another pen drive which is giving problem to try ur solution. Though I don't know what is causing the problem but my hunch is ur solution is unlikely to work. Especially when if u read my above given solution! What I mean is context of ur post and the solution I gave is so different that it seems both are not inter related.

I think the main problem I haven't been running into any problems like this was seen with the first external hard drive and requiring it's own software before the first beta release of 7 when still running the XP/Vista dual boot. That was with the original factory Fat32 volume until removed in favor of a new NTFS volume where both versions immediately detected and added it as a new drive onve you went into the DM and assigned a drive letter.

Unlike rhe SanDiak flash drives once both the Kingston Data Traveler and one PNY model were wiped and saw NTFS nothing else was needed while the SanDisk drives still see a popup for that brand appear when first plugged with Windows already running. The one thing that won't work with any flash drive however is having Windows see any second or third partition on one.

When installing Linux at first to the first VFat root with a second NTFS for data recovery Windows took the label on the MS volume and applied that to the Linux root instead. When redoing things to see Linux installed to the second the first was then available for file transfers or use as a recovery tool when booted live from the Linux side. Using the "Other OS" For a USB Rescue Device?

I have the same problem as well, and I have noticed that everyone reporting this problem seems to have a Compaq/Compaq-Presario or HP system, so I scooted over to the Compaq/HP website for drivers and it states that they will not be releasing drivers for Compaq/HP systems running Windows 7 in it's RC/Beta states. Thus, USB drivers that are obtained from Compaq/HP will not be distributed for Windows 7 until (or after) October 22nd. The only way I could overcome this was for the past 5 months I've been needing to wait for one of the other computers in the house to be free or the laptop if I wanted to use a USB port as mine just simply won't let me do anything with flash drives or external hard drives that are plugged in, in fact it actually slows explorer.exe down until the drive(s) removal.

Hello there PaulScelus Welcome to the Se7enforums!

One thing I found when trying out different brands of flash drives is that some simply won't work with some boards or usb hubs even too well. I found that to be the case most often seen with PNY brand while Kingston and especially San Disk would work no matter what those were plugged into apparently not drawing as heavily on the usb power!

With any custom build over most premade systems you can look over specifications on individual boards and pick up the ones getting the best reps. Unfortunately with prebuilds you end up with they precalculate will work with their small supplies and lower material costs. Thus the bottom dollat is the term for profit margins there.

When taking one of the PNY drives off of the one brand of hub used here and tried on any older XP system like helping someone see the 32bit RC go on the PNY wouldn't work! A San Disk or the Kingston would!