Windows 7 - Strange USB device issue

Hi,

I have spent quite a while checking through the "safely remove USB device" issues here in the forum but I cannot find an example quite like mine.

If I connect a USB device it will work correctly. It appears correctly under "Computer". The "Safely remove hardware and eject media" icon appears in the taskbar ok. However when you click on this icon to remove the device all that shows is 3 dots (...) instead of the device name. If you open Devices and Printers nothing shows there either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Mervyn

What type of usb device is this? Do you have the latest driver/firmware, software for said usb device?

You can try entering a name for it in Computer with the device(s) connected.

Thanks for the replies, but this is the weird thing. It is not limited to one device. Anything I plug in now shows as (...) where as all devices worked correctly before.

Looking under "Computer" the device appears correctly, but does not show at all in "Devices and Printers" and so doesn't offer a "safely remove" option.

Regards
Mervyn

You're welcome. Have a look in Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Device Manager and see if anything shows a yellow triangle beside it.

Have you installed any new software or done any "optimizing" before which you didn't have this issue?
you can run SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker to see if you have some files corrupted.

Hi Britton30,

I looked in Device Manager and there are no items with a yellow triangle.

I then ran SFC /Scannow and it found and repaired a number of corrupted files, mainly to do with Internet Explorer it seems. I have uploaded the txt file in case it helps.

I rebooted the PC but the problem remains with any device plugged in showing as (...)

I have not completed any optimizing of C:/ drive, I have a separate drive D:/ solely for Flight Sim and this has been defragmented. I do run Spyware Doctor, Panda Antivirus and Registry Mechanic regularly but have never had an issue previously.

Regards
Mervyn

I don't recommend Registry Mechanic for Windows 7 although it was good for XP. In my sig are some links for toher security programs and CCleaner. CCleaner has a Registry cleaner option that seems safe with Win 7, I use it.

Could you post a screenshot of the USB device shown as (...)?

I have downloaded CCleaner and will use that moving forward.

I have also attached the screenshot you asked for. This particular device is a 4Gb memory stick.

Regards
Mervyn

Two more ideas and I'm stumped if they don't work.
1. Use system restore to a point before the problem occurred.

2. While rebooting, hit F8 repeatedly and you'll get the Advanced Boot Options screen. Scroll and choose Last Known Good Configuration, enter.

Well one more. If you didn't reboot after the SFC run, run it again and reboot. If you still see it fixed something, run again. A clean one will say No Integrity Violations found.

Hi Britton30,

Thanks for your assistance with this but I have been unable to resolve it.

I did reboot after running SFC, but I did it again and nothing was found this time. I then tried last known good configuration without success and system restore is my last try I guess. I will report how that goes but I dont have the time to run it right at the moment.

If that doesn't help do you think I should do a repair install of Windows 7?

Regards
Mervyn