Can't read discs, USB storage without rebooting

[henk2703]

XP SP2 is installed. The computer does not recognise any files on a CD?DVD disk or USB storage device unless it is inserted before turning the PC on. If disk or USB is inserted before turning on it recognises the files on it & you can access it. If you change the CD or USB with another disk whilst the PC is on it says the device is not ready or not accessible. The disk will read that there is 0 bits on it when in fact it has.

Any ideas. Plug & Play devices such as cameras, video runs OK through USB or firewire ports.

[SwimmerB]

I have not seen this specific sort of problem before on a home PC but in a network environment if there are mapped network drives on your machine with letters right after the local then there can be issues with the usb drive. I have not seen this for the cd rom though. Should check first to see if this is the case. EXample might be c:(hard drive) then d:(Network driveA) , e:(Network driveB). This could cause issue and when you reboot with media already in computer will add that then not show mapped drive.

Other issue could be something wrong with the motherboard possibly. Maybe there is a bios upgrade that might fix your issue. Never have seen this before but possible I guess.

Last question is was it working prior to XPSP2 on that same machine?

I hope my ideas is some help to you.

[henk2703]

Might be bios problem. I'll try to see if there is another version. I can't pinpoint when it happened but it may have been with either an upgrade of the bios drive or when SP2 came around.

[LLXX]

It works if you attach the device before turning on, because the BIOS mounts the USB storage devices as hard drives which WinXP can use correctly.

Your USB Mass Storage Device driver maybe corrupted or missing.