external drive not showing in windows explorer

robonz

i use a couple of external pen / pocki drives with my XP home laptop. when i plug them in it normally automatically detects them and the new drive is easily seen in windows explorer where files can be drag and dropped from or to it. but now when i plug them in it autodects it shows in windows explorer for about 2 seconds then disappears!

why? can anyone advise how to rectify this frustration situation?

LincsLad_3

I assume these are USB?

Have you added/removed/altered any USB devices at all as this may have caused the problem?

robonz

it is USB, yeah i added a card reader recently but that was auto detected no drivers required also. the device is there ok as i can view it via Find files and folders but can't change anything via it.

LincsLad_3

Can you just try disconnecting the card reader, and then see how the pen devices do.

USB can be a wierd thing sometimes - it's not necessarily drivers that mess it up, sometimes its the number of devices, sometimes the ports they are on. Often there is little rhyme or reason.

robonz

the reader has not been connected lately, ive rebooted etc but no change.