Win 7 & USB issue

[decafkate]

Running Win7 32bit OS. Shuttle FD30V10 Motherboard and running an Intel Pentium E2140 1.6GHz and 6 USB ports. I'm showing that one of them is "enhanced" (which from what I know is a 2.0 - If I'm mistaken, please let me know). I've tried putting in a USB Flash drive into each slot, and I can get it to come up in the Device Manager under Disk Drives and also in the Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management ... however, I cannot get it to show up in My Computer, or to Auto Run even after multiple restarts, power downs etc...

My reasoning is this is an older system, and I've maxed out the 2GB RAM limit for the motherboard. I'd like to use a 4G to increase the memory with ReadyBoost in Win 7 ... although this won't happen if I can't get the computer to read ANY USB flash drive. 2GB doesn't seem to be enough to run many of the programs plus the OS and the computer is lagging from a lack of available memory.

I would install a USB 2.0 PCI card, however there is only one PCI slot, and it's currently occupied by my NetGear Wireless card. The only available slot is a 16x PCI Express - which isn't going to help any for USB needs...

Advice? Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rusting In Peace]

Is the USB flash drive formatted? What does it say in Disk Management?

 

[decafkate]

I can't even format it. It shows the drivers as loaded and "working properly" however it has no volumes and has no allowance to format.

 

[sminlal]

Does the drive show up in disk management?

Start -> right-click "Computer" and select "Manage"
Click "Disk Management" in the right pane.

Scroll down to the bottom of the middle pane to see the partition layout for the drive. If it shows up there you should be able to right-click on it, select "Create Volume" (which partitions it) and then format it.

 

[decafkate]

This is what I get, every time I right click and select "Format" from the menu. No matter how many times I restart my computer or hard reset.

 

[sminlal]

The message says to check the system event log - so what does it say there?

Start -> right-click "Computer" and select "Manage"
In the left pane, navigate to "System Tools -> Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> System"

 

[decafkate]

Absolutely nothing regarding USB.

However, that was also before I had the grand idea to uninstall several of the USB drivers - without thinking that I have a USB mouse and keyboard. Luckily I had one working at a time and still remember keyboard shortcuts from the 8th grade. What a pain! Finally fixed the keyboard/mouse issue, but still have the Flash drive issue.

No idea how to progress from here.

** Morning Update**
Though trial and error I used Everest to figure out which port was labeled as Enhanced (it's one on the front). Uninstalled the drivers, restart, drivers successful... still not registering the Flash drive in My Computer.

 

[sminlal]

Does the flash drive work in a different computer, and have you tried a different flash drive?

You can use a 16X PCIe slot for a USB adapter card. The card obviously won't use the full bandwidth available for the slot, but if you have no other need for that slot then there's no reason not to use it.

Also, as an FYI I think you'll find that even if you do get the flash drive working that ReadyBoost isn't all that great of a "fix" for not having enough memory.

 

[decafkate]

Does the flash drive work in a different computer, and have you tried a different flash drive?

You can use a 16X PCIe slot for a USB adapter card. The card obviously won't use the full bandwidth available for the slot, but if you have no other need for that slot then there's no reason not to use it.

Also, as an FYI I think you'll find that even if you do get the flash drive working that ReadyBoost isn't all that great of a "fix" for not having enough memory.

I updated the chipset driver, thinking maybe it would help (there was an update) but no avail. I would just like to be able to read ANY flash drive in the ports. It will register my USB mouse and keyboard, and the flash drives work on another computer with Win 7. More frustration than it's worth at this point, but I appreciate the help! Just curious though... how would you use the PCIe for an USB adapter card? Would you have to use a riser/adapter?

 

[sminlal]

You just need to buy a PCIe adapter card, such as this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158181

A PCIe "X1" card will work in an "X16" slot, it just won't connect to the extra data lanes.

 

[Rusting In Peace]

I'm guessing you are using the front panel USB ports to connect this flash drive?

Try connecting the drive to the back ports and see if there is any difference if you haven't already done so.