Removable device not appearing under 'My Computer', but can be accessed via other means!

  • Thread starter Thread starter jon.p.weaver
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J

jon.p.weaver

I have a couple of removable devices which are not appearing under
explorer.

When I connect them, the PC goes 'Bing Bong', but they do not appear.

If I go into 'Computer Management' -> 'Disk Management' I can see the
drive and it has a letter (Q:).

Better still, if I click on the drive (under Disk Management) I can see
its contents.

Even more curious, if I open a CMD shell, I can see Q: and better
still, if I type Q: in the Address bar, I can see it.

But explorer (Or I should say My COmputer) does not show it.

Finally, if I 'kill' explorer.exe and restart it, it appears.

Does anyone know whats wrong?

Jon
 
I have a couple of removable devices which are not appearing under
explorer.

When I connect them, the PC goes 'Bing Bong', but they do not appear.

If I go into 'Computer Management' -> 'Disk Management' I can see the
drive and it has a letter (Q:).

Better still, if I click on the drive (under Disk Management) I can see
its contents.

Even more curious, if I open a CMD shell, I can see Q: and better
still, if I type Q: in the Address bar, I can see it.

But explorer (Or I should say My COmputer) does not show it.

Finally, if I 'kill' explorer.exe and restart it, it appears.

Does anyone know whats wrong?
Click to expand...

Have you installed Microsoft's Tweak UI Powertoy? If so, run it, and
look under My Computer / Drives. Make sure all the boxes are checked
there.
 
Interesting.. I will do just that.. I am now starting to wonder if my
problem is slightly more sinister...

The last 'Removable Device' I bought was a 12 in 1 card reader.. I
expected it to be PnP, but it was really slow and had problems reading
cards. I then discovered that I had to install drivers after which it
was fine.

Recently I started to use my Palm with a program called 'Card Export'
which would make it appear as a drive and this is the device which has
the probelm listed above.

However, this week I also bought an iPod and when its connected my PC
keeps going 'Bing Bong' as if a new device was appearing/disappearing.

When Iooked, I noticed that the card reader was appearing and
disappearing.

Hopefully I can solve this problem by going to 'FireWire', but that
won't help with the fact that the drive is not appearing under
explorer.

I will check out Tweak UI, but also will look to see if I can find some
new USB drivers.
 
It gets worse!!

I have now noticed that "My Computer" isn't being updated with
anything.

For example, if I rename a drive, nothing happens..

But then, if I go into 'Computer Management' I can see the new name..
But My Computer shows the old name.. If I then 'kill' EXPLORER.EXE it
shows the correct name.. But then I can't rename it again.

Something is very wrong, but I don't know where to start.

TWEAK_UI gave me some interesting options, but all of the relevant
boxes were ticked.

Does anyone have ANY suggestions??

Jon
 
It gets worse!!

I have now noticed that "My Computer" isn't being updated with
anything.

For example, if I rename a drive, nothing happens..

But then, if I go into 'Computer Management' I can see the new name..
But My Computer shows the old name.. If I then 'kill' EXPLORER.EXE it
shows the correct name.. But then I can't rename it again.
Click to expand...

Have you tried pressing F5 to get My Computer to refresh its display?
Make sure it is the active window when you do that.
 
Yep.. Its worse than that.. If I do 'Properties' on a hard drive,
rename it and then press OK.. The drive does not show its new name.

If I then go back into 'Properties' it still shows is old name..

But if I then go into 'Computer Management', the name HAS changed.. If
I then kill EXPLORER.EXE the name is correct.

Something is horribly wrong!!

Jon
 
Yep.. Its worse than that.. If I do 'Properties' on a hard drive,
rename it and then press OK.. The drive does not show its new name.
Click to expand...
If I then go back into 'Properties' it still shows is old name..
Click to expand...
But if I then go into 'Computer Management', the name HAS
changed.. If I then kill EXPLORER.EXE the name is correct.
Click to expand...
Something is horribly wrong!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, looks like the drivers are ****ing things over.
 
Reapply the latest service pack. Something has screwed up Windows.

Also, full virus and spyware scans. They sometimes hook Window APIs.

If you have any software that provides explorer extentions, uninstall as a last resort.
 
I think I might have cracked it.. A few months ago I enabled (under
Folder Options) "Launch Folder Windows in Separate Process".

I immediately had instablility problems, but after doing *something* (I
can't remember what), it all settled down.. So, I left it like this.

Last night I switched it off and it was the same.. But now after
killing EXPLORER.EXE everything seems to be working again.

So, I don't know whether this indicates some 'underlying' problem, but
all now appears to be good..

Jon
 
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