Hi Everyone;
I discovered a quick & easy way to replace/update your existing USB drivers
with a fresh set. This took care of all of my problems.
First get a good zip program that can read .cab files. I don't believe the
zip utility that comes with Windows XP can read .cab files though I could be
mistaken as I've pretty much always used WinZip, Powerarchiver, and or
Winrar. For those comfortable with the extract.exe command line utility that
will also work.
Also, you need to make the file extensions, as well as system & hidden files
visible. So with explorer open select tools/folder options/view/ and place a
check next to the following boxes:
Display the contents of system folders
Display the full path in the address bar
Display the full path in the title bar
Show Hidden files & folders
Launch folder windows in a separate process
Uncheck the following items:
Hide extensions for known file types
Hide protected operating system files. Uncheck even though it states
recommended, as you are going to change it back once you are done. Though
most power users leave it unchecked in the first place as more information is
always preferable to ignorance. Though some mite not like the additional
clutter I find it a small price to pay for the clarity while looking at many
files of different types.
Select apply and then ok to close the folder options.
Create a directory on your desktop and call it temp USB drivers. Then use
windows explorer or preferably the zip program and go to system drive
letter(will most likely be c):\windows\Driver Cache\i386\
You will see several files in this directory. The 2 you are interested in are:
driver.cab
sp2.cab
Open each one with the zip program and highlight all files beginning with
USB(case insensitive) and extract them to the directory you created on your
desktop.
You will end up with several .sys files, a .hex file, and a couple of .dll
files. Though this can vary depending on how many and the type of USB devices
installed.
Open a window for each of the following directories:
System drive usually c:\windows\system32
System drive usually c:\windows\system32\dllcache
System drive usually c:\windows\system32\drivers
Most if not all of the .sys files you will want to cut and paste into the
system drive usually c:\windows\system32\drivers. You will be prompted to
overwrite each one, do so.
For the remaining files search your windows directory for the proper
location of each, cut, paste, and overwrite each to its original location
until you have no more files in your temp USB driver’s directory.
If you chose, though not necessary, return to the folder options / view and
return all setting to there original configuration. If you have children who
use your system I strongly suggest that you hide your system files; though by
doing so you make it easier for other nasty programs to hide files from your
view. Personally I don't want any program, company and or person to be able
to hide anything on my system except my self.
Then reboot. You may have to reinstall some devices though you most likely
shouldn’t. I recommend trying this first before running the verifier; for
unless you are a developer the information that verifier offers will not be
understood by most casual computer users.
In the end you are just replacing all of the USB system drivers with a fresh
backed up and up to date copy. This took care of all of the weird errors I
was getting with my 250Gb USB 2.0 storage drives. As always there are many
ways to do this. You can also do this though the device manager, but you have
to do each device one at a times; where as my method everything is handled in
one or two strokes.
Good luck; as always backup your system before making any type of global
change like this; it’s computer 101 folks.
Brian Vagnoni
PS Thanks Pavel, and to everyone else who responded
