greetings, first post !
i have a laptop where no removable mass storage devices work properly (they cannot be read).
the cd/dvd drive no longer can read either CD's or DVD's.
USB can no longer read thumb drives. OS is WinXP SP3.
the cd's and dvd's tested just fine in another computer, and so did the USB thumb drive.
the cd/dvd player has a drive letter, and XP correctly assigns a drive letter to the thumb drive (but prompts to format it instead of reading the data on it). when a CD is put into the cd/dvd player, no files are seen through windows explorer of the drive (0 items according to status bar).
there are no policies in the registry that would indicate a disabling of read access to removable mass storage devices. mouse and keyboard are plugged in via USB and work fine. can boot to USB, so USB reading of mass storage device only dysfunctional within windows.
scanned for malware, nothing. tried MS Fixit, nothing. can't restore due to policy disabling system restore (not my idea). reinstalled chipset drivers, nothing. removed cd/dvd from device mangler along with everything USB related, followed by reinstall of chipset drivers, nothing.
any ideas or i'm SOL and need to reimage?
thanks in advance.
edit: last thing i tried was running checkdisk, but doubt that'll fix the problem. i guess i'll find out on monday, but i'm not hopeful.
i have a laptop where no removable mass storage devices work properly (they cannot be read).
the cd/dvd drive no longer can read either CD's or DVD's.
USB can no longer read thumb drives. OS is WinXP SP3.
the cd's and dvd's tested just fine in another computer, and so did the USB thumb drive.
the cd/dvd player has a drive letter, and XP correctly assigns a drive letter to the thumb drive (but prompts to format it instead of reading the data on it). when a CD is put into the cd/dvd player, no files are seen through windows explorer of the drive (0 items according to status bar).
there are no policies in the registry that would indicate a disabling of read access to removable mass storage devices. mouse and keyboard are plugged in via USB and work fine. can boot to USB, so USB reading of mass storage device only dysfunctional within windows.
scanned for malware, nothing. tried MS Fixit, nothing. can't restore due to policy disabling system restore (not my idea). reinstalled chipset drivers, nothing. removed cd/dvd from device mangler along with everything USB related, followed by reinstall of chipset drivers, nothing.
any ideas or i'm SOL and need to reimage?
thanks in advance.
edit: last thing i tried was running checkdisk, but doubt that'll fix the problem. i guess i'll find out on monday, but i'm not hopeful.