Flash Drive Problem - Vista

[wherenow1223]

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop running Vista SP1. A month or more ago it stopped being able to read any USB flash drives. They all work in my other laptops, but in this one machine the autoplay dialog box has stopped popping up, and when I click the drive letter in Explorer, it tells me I need to format the drive. This happens with all flash drives, and the same drives all work correctly in other machines.

Also, the USB ports work fine for everything else. My wireless mouse works fine, I synced a PDA, all is well. Is this a driver problem for the generic flash drive function, and if so where do I go to find a replacement, and how do I install it?

This is driving me nuts as it causes unnecessary shifting of laptops among my family members!

Thanks for any help. I've been prowling forums for three weeks, and can't find this situation addressed in this way, and other 'related' problem solutions don't seem to work, or aren't appropriate.

Andy

[rickw57]

I have the same problem with a particular laptop, just right click the drive in my computer and left click explore, it's the only way I can open it.

[rangarecon]

this could be due to a services error. Go into task manager -> click on the tab Services -> click on services down the bottom right of the screen and find the driver device in the list. Or scroll through until it stands out. Hope This helps. let me know.