Windows 7 - USB drives show in Explorer but not devices

Seems my windows is no longer allowing me to eject drives. Both my flash drive and an external drive fail to show up in remove devices but they show in explorer and are fully browseable. But no eject option. I have tried rebooting, different USB cables/ports. Even did the scp /scannow or whatever it was. Still no change. What gives? I want my remove drive ability back Steve.

Thanks
Spiffyguy

Post your system specs

Win 7 Pro 64bit
AsRocks X58 Extreme Motherboard
Intel I7 920 (not overclocked)
6gb OCZ ram
750gb Samsung F1 (boot drive)
2x WD 500gb Green drives (data)

I noticed last night while after transferring some data to a WD external drive, when I pulled the USB cable the whole machine just froze. This is after I had plugged in a flash drive to copy over some Mp3s. I could not access the flash drive, although it did show up in explorer. when trying to access it I just got the little blue thinking circle, oh how I miss the hourglass. I checked event viewer this morning and found a few interesting things.

spammed about 10 times.
"The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk3\DR3. "
and also this
"The device CORSAIR (location (unknown)) is offline due to a user-mode driver crash. Windows will attempt to restart the device 5 more times. Please contact the device manufacturer for more information about this problem."

I will search around and see if there is an out of date driver. Was running really good for a long time, then just crapped up. I am guessing some windows update must have moved something, or updated that the system did not like. I don't really no when it all started and it was far too long ago for a restore I reckon. I hate to have to reinstall too, every time I do I have to go through a long process of authenticating. Over the phone and all. Total pain.

Thanks for the help

If you have AHCI enabled in the bios under drive options or sata configuration you need to download and install the intel matrix storage manager for correct functionality - it installs the latest software & driver :

Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager

I checked my bios, it is up to date with the latest version. I did see my controller was set to IDE and not Raid or AHCI. Also I have an option SATAII which is set to IDE as well. Should I change these or will that require windows to freak out and have to be reinstalled. Under storage controllers in device manager I have JMicron JMB36X.

I have a Freeware Program called USB Safely Remove

Until you get this fixed, make sure you shut the computer down before removing things from a USB port.

Firstly are you using the latest drivers for the jmicron (driver page) - below is the way I have it set up on my PC.
You could disable the Jmicron controller, and follow the instructions on the following link - this will let you install the Intel AHCI if you enable it in the bios, (it allows hot swapping of devices). After installation use the safely remove icon in the task bar before removing the usb drive. Make sure you apply the registry fix before you change it from IDE to AHCI in the bios or you will bsod when you try to boot to Windows 7.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976
Driver Page :
ASRock > Products > Motherboard > X58 Extreme > Download

* Best check your manual - I think it will work as your board probably has the intel controller as well - it has on my asus board and thats how I'm running it with the jmicron disabled, and using the intel AHCI, as above, using the microsoft fix. Also you dont need to install the intel matrix storage manager if you do it this way as the driver works fine that microsoft installs, and adds the safely remove option to the taskbar.

OK I went into bios and set the SATA to AHCI. Booted up, windows found new hardware. Rebooted. Now I have a static add/remove hardware icon in my systray, which still shows nothing when a USB drive is plugged in. BUT I do have an eject option now in win explorer. So that is a start. Windows of course still ignores the fact I want the to open new folders in the same window even though it is checked. But that is windows I guess. Certainly better than Vista.

I still see the Jmicron in the device manager. Should I install the intel matrix controller and see if that changes the systray icon functionality?

I f your ok with what you have leave it as is.