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Win 7 USb issues

penfold
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Win 7 USb issues

Had this for a while now, but since my son has started using an old XP lappy I repaired for him for his schoolwork, thought I would ask the question...
Any USB piece of equipment I plug into my laptop, takes an age to be recognised...  As soon as I plug it in, I get the familiar ding-donk noise, but its almost a min before I can use it.  The XP laptop however, assigns a drive letter, and I can access it within seconds.
I have done some reading up on this, but no-one seems to have a hard solution. I downloaded a patch ages ago, that was meant to cure an issue with an early M$ update for Win 7 and USB. The laptop runs Win7 Home premium 64bit, and is an HP G61-410SA. Other than this, it runs absolutely fine, with no other issues at all.  I can live with it, but wondered if this was a general Win7 issue, or just something specific to the laptop.  I updated the chipset drivers last night, from HP, still the same....
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Oldjim
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Using Win 7 64 bit I haven't noticed it.
However it may be worth checking the bios settings
Mine have the following and it might be worth checking if the last one is active
USB Controller
USB 2.0 Controller
USB Keyboard support
USB Mouse support
Legacy USB storage detect
penfold
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Thanks jim... Will have a look at that. The usb pendrive i an using is modern though, does that make a difference...
Oldjim
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

I have no idea.
Equally I have no idea whether it will have any effect as it is only supposed to support it during boot to recognise USB drives
penfold
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Well the BIOS is very basic, almost no configurable options.  indeed USB is not mentioned in the BIOS at all....
Thanks anyway for the advice. 
Cheers
anniesboy
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Ive just passed a Win7 laptop to my daughter, I did advise her that exactly the thing you mention was a "quirk" on the machine.
I will watch this thread with interest.
penfold
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Thanks
Its not that its not recognising the USB device, it does this almost immediately. its the time it takes to let you access the data on the drive. 
File transfers once operational, seem quick enough, but not sure what transfer speeds are deems OK for a USB2 pen drive..
CX
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Perhaps it's related to Autoplay checking for which types of content are on the drive? If you open a "Computer" ("My Computer" in XP and earlier) window, does the drive appear as soon as you plug it in? In my experience, there will be a delay before the auto-play popup appears but the drive is accessible immediately.
The only other reason I can think of is that your antivirus software scans the USB drive for malware before allowing any access to it.
penfold
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

No drive shows up either, until its done what it needs. I suppose the av could be slowing things down.. using m$ security essentials. Will have to look at its settings. Will also switch off autoplay, see if that does anything. Failing that, how do i uninstall the usb drivers under 7. I presume windows will reinitalise after a reboot
w23
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Yes, it could be the A/V, some will scan any newly connected drive before allowing access (if this is the cause then it's really a 'good thing' so patience would be better than switching off the scanning).
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7up
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

No problems here and I'm also on Win7 HP but using Avast not MSE. It must be said though I never bother with updates from MS either as I find they introduce more bugs than its worth.
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colintivy
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Sorry to butt into this thread but my experience with USB connectivity might promote further discussion.
I have an HP dv6 laptop running Win 7Home Premium 68 bit. There is no oddidity in connecting to printers, external HDs etc., but i have a Garmin 2440 which needs its maps to be updated. The Sat Nav runs perfectly plugged into one of the USB outlets but Win 7 does not "see" it. I have downloaded all the bits from Garmin including a Garmin USB driver as well as the map update, all to no avail. No amount of fiddling seems to solve the problem and Garmin only offers vague ideas s to what could be wrong. Any clues out there?
An associated problem that I have is with my old Dell OptiFlex G110 running XP Pro 32 bit. It sees my Astra 1220U OK but when I try to use the scanner with its original software, it all opens up fine except that I get an error message saying "cannot find the scanner"!  The set-up used to work perfectly with my even older Win98SE (now defunct). Is there any way that the addressing of the route to the USB can be adjusted? My Canon scanner of the same vintage works fine.
7up
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Quote from: colintivy
I have an HP dv6 laptop running Win 7Home Premium 68 bit.

Shocked Wow, whats that like?  Cheesy
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penfold
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

Well its not av, as mse is not configured to scan usb devices. On taking more notice of this, i habe found that its just the first time the usb device is inserted. It its removed then put back in any usb port its seen and accesable immediately. After a reboot, back to the same. I suppose its a drivering issue or something... Should i be thinking of removing all usb drivers, and reinstalling, (also how would i.do that). Undecided
wisty
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Re: Win 7 USb issues

It might be worth getting hold of a couple of programmes that show the USB device chain. One is UVCView which shows the layout of the USB ports hubs and devices, the other is USBDeview which shows details of all the USB devices that that copy of Windows knows about. Both are freeware and I think work with Win 7.
AIUI Windows "remembers" a list of the appropriate driver set for any USB device EVER plugged in. When a USB device is plugged in Windows searches the list  for the appropriate drivers ( If it doesn't find them it goes through the add device routine). If you get a problem in the list - a bad driver or a bad file reference or simple corruption it can really make a mess of  the ability to attach USB devices. In the worst case the list search fails and the USB device is never recognised.
Windows will not let you uninstall a USB device unless it is attached, but USBDeview will. If its just one device that has a problem try uninstalling the drivers for the problem device. If its just one hub or port deinstall those. If its all USB devices it suggests that the list structure or something in the list may be a problem, and you might need to try getting rid of devices that you attached long ago and no longer use. In the limit delete them all, reboot and let windows add them back as you use them again.
Its a slow and painful process to diagnose the problem, but those two bits of freeware can help.