topic Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue? in Electronics

Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

qualityshopper — Fri, 02 May 2014 04:45:31 GMT

I was just experimenting with my new computer (checking things out to see if everything's working correctly) and encountered a problem. I wanted to check out the media card reader, so put in my camera's card. Everything went OK. Exited the program and took the card out. Then I put a flash drive in the USB port to open up an Excel file. Couldn't open anything on the flash drive because every time I put it in (or any flash drive), the program from the camera's card would pop up. Also didn't make any difference which USB port I placed my flash drives into. Is this a hardware or software problem? Thanks for any help with this.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

knmt — Fri, 02 May 2014 06:26:55 GMT

Have you tried and totally shut down the computer, then restarted it again? Then tried using your flash drive? Sometimes computers "get confused."

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

Mindy D — Fri, 02 May 2014 07:38:23 GMT

Go to the Task Manager and shut down the camera.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

Mindy D — Fri, 02 May 2014 07:42:26 GMT

If you have not gone to Microsoft to update your Windows 8.1, yet, do so. It puts the X!s back so you can get out if things. I thought that because my computer was brand new, I did not need to do this, but I was wrong. Get the 8.1 update. If you have automatic updates on, it should do this, but mine had not updated, so I did it myself.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

qualityshopper — Fri, 02 May 2014 09:01:46 GMT

Thanks to both of you for answering. I always appreciate any help I can get.

Knmt--I thought the problem was probably SW related, but had to be sure. I posted this question while on hold for HP tech help, deliberately not shutting the computer off until the tech could see what was happening (I figured the problem would correct itself if I rebooted, which it did later). He never did figure out why it did what it did even though he was witnessing it for himself, so I finally gave up and ended the call. Seems to be OK now. Just another one of those weird things that computers do from time to time. As long as it's not HW related, I can deal with it.

MindyD--Actually I had tried going to the Task Mgr. before posting here and calling HP, but it didn't show the program running at all. Also, getting the latest updates for 8.1 was about the first thing I did after hooking up my computer and turning it on. I have the "X's" you mention, but it turns out that when you click on those, they don't actually completely close out apps (will close out certain things, but not the apps). They just "hide and suspend" the apps--you'll still find them running in Task Mgr. Doesn't matter because they will eventually close themselves out on their own. At least, this is my understanding of it provided from an HP tech and a Microsoft tech, though the first few techs from both companies were completely unaware of this (the ones who did know said the first ones probably were unaware because, like us, they're still learning about 8.1).

I know I was quite surprised to learn that the "X's" didn't completely close apps out because according to the video I watched on Microsoft's site, they do, but the techs said otherwise. Plus, my own experience with this matter backed up what they said. I have another posting entitled "Help please with Windows 8.1 start menu (s/b screen) apps" which you, in fact, responded to. In that posting, my problem was with not being able to safely eject my flash drive because got the message stating that a program was still running. Discovered then that, even though I had "X'd" out the app, it was still running in task mgr. No big deal, but as I said, was surprising to see that "X" didn't completely end it as I had been under the impression it would. Who knows, in a week or so, they may change that.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

Lynnj — Sat, 03 May 2014 00:31:54 GMT

When you were finishing things with the camera card, did you click on the drive where the card was and eject it? Whenever you are using drives, you should right click the drive and select eject. You should then get a pop up message that says it's safe to remove the device. In this case, your device was the card from the camera. If you were using a flash drive, the device would have been the flash drive plugged into the USB port. You should never just pull things out of the slots they are plugged into when done with them. Always select eject first.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

qualityshopper — Sat, 03 May 2014 10:33:03 GMT

Lynnj--Yes, I always select eject before removing any device. I've seen many people just pull out their flash drives, etc., but I never do. That's why this was so strange. I had the message that it was safe to eject my camera memory card, which I then proceeded to do, but nevertheless, the software continued to run. That program just kept reopening every single time I plugged in any flash drive. The files on the flash drive, however, wouldn't open as they normally do--just the memory card program. I hope this glitch doesn't happen again.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

glb613 — Sat, 03 May 2014 11:10:16 GMT

On 5/1/2014 qualityshopper said:
I was just experimenting with my new computer (checking things out to see if everything's working correctly) and encountered a problem. I wanted to check out the media card reader, so put in my camera's card. Everything went OK. Exited the program and took the card out. Then I put a flash drive in the USB port to open up an Excel file. Couldn't open anything on the flash drive because every time I put it in (or any flash drive), the program from the camera's card would pop up. Also didn't make any difference which USB port I placed my flash drives into. Is this a hardware or software problem? Thanks for any help with this.

It may be a default auto play problem.

autoplay

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

qualityshopper — Sun, 04 May 2014 10:08:08 GMT

You're probably right, glb613, about it being a problem with autoplay. The tech that was helping me kept changing the settings in "autoplay" but nothing he did corrected the problem. Only rebooting did so. When I experimented later with plugging in the camera card again and my flash drives, everything went off without a hitch. As I said, I hope this was just a one-time glitch.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

qualityshopper — Tue, 06 May 2014 04:41:01 GMT

Just an update. The glitch happened again today. Was on the phone with HP for about an hour. Looks like it wasn't an autoplay problem after all. He said it had to do with the startup options. In going to the Task Manage under the Startup tab, could see the camera card program listed. He disabled it and that seemed to fix the problem. How it got included there is beyond me. Considering that all I did was put my media card into the reader and, when done, remove it, how did that program get on the Startup list? This is way beyond what I understand about all this. Would you experts think this would be cause for concern in the future, meaning should I consider returning this computer while I still can? Thanks.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

Lynnj — Tue, 06 May 2014 04:55:49 GMT

Hmmmm, so what exactly what is the start up options? The SD drive? I've never seen that listed in start up,options, but suppose it could have. If de-selecting this seemed to have made the problem go away I don't think this is cause for concern. Everything else seems to be working well, correct? I'd hang on to it for a bit and see how things go. But....I wonder if every time you insert something into the SD drive, like your camera card, will that always save to start up options? I don't have a PC anymore, so cannot test if this does this on mine. Maybe someone else can check?

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

qualityshopper — Tue, 06 May 2014 06:06:15 GMT

Shortly after I posted my "update" concerning this particular glitch, I put my flash drive in and accessed a file (experimenting again), closed it out, and went to the taskbar to click on where you get the message to "safely eject" the drive. Instead of getting that message, got the one where it tells you a program is still running. I had this problem the other day and did a separate posting about that. Figured out back then what was going on (the apps weren't completely closing even though they appeared to be). However, this time, absolutely nothing is running, yet still getting this message.

Was on the phone again for about an hour (second time today) with HP. He uninstalled the USB drivers and reinstalled them, which seemed to fix the problem. Now the thing is, the tech I had a few hours ago who worked on the problem I posted about here, had also uninstalled and reinstalled these drivers in an effort to fix the first problem. Is it unusual to have this done twice within a few hours to fix problems on a new computer? I really don't know what to think--I mean it seems like every time I try to use flash drives or the card reader on this computer, I have trouble. The HP techs work on it, seem to get the problem fixed, and then it happens again. Should I be returning this before it's too late?

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

fitnessfreak — Tue, 06 May 2014 11:14:10 GMT

Where does one find Task Manager? I have XP (please--no comments! ha) and have looked everywhere....anyone know? thanks!

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

glb613 — Tue, 06 May 2014 11:27:53 GMT

On 5/5/2014 qualityshopper said:
Just an update. The glitch happened again today. Was on the phone with HP for about an hour. Looks like it wasn't an autoplay problem after all. He said it had to do with the startup options. In going to the Task Manage under the Startup tab, could see the camera card program listed. He disabled it and that seemed to fix the problem. How it got included there is beyond me. Considering that all I did was put my media card into the reader and, when done, remove it, how did that program get on the Startup list? This is way beyond what I understand about all this. Would you experts think this would be cause for concern in the future, meaning should I consider returning this computer while I still can? Thanks.

Almost all programs do that when installed. It's a good idea to learn about msconfig and how to remove programs from the startup group. Another option, download, install CCleaner and use it's tool for removing is disabling programs from the startup group. You can also use CCLeaner for a variety of other tasks. It doesn't uninstall the program. It simply stops it from starting when your computer starts, running in the background and draining resources.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

Lynnj — Wed, 07 May 2014 01:42:29 GMT

On 5/6/2014 fitnessfreak said:
Where does one find Task Manager? I have XP (please--no comments! ha) and have looked everywhere....anyone know? thanks!

I right click on the bar on the bottom of the screen, then select task manager from the list.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

qualityshopper — Wed, 07 May 2014 09:56:56 GMT

Thanks, glb613, for the info. Wondered how that got there.

Don't know why, but after the tech disabled it in Startup, I then started having trouble with the sign-in screen taking forever to appear. Until he did that, it would pop up instantly. Seems like fixing one thing messes up something else. This computer also seems to have problems when I reset it back to the factory settings--sometimes it goes back as it should, other times it doesn't. And, yes, I am doing it correctly. I've done it on my own as well with the tech right there. I know one is going to always encounter little glitches and have strange occurrences when dealing with computers. I just wish the little bugs would wait until it's been used for a while and not happen while it's brand new.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

glb613 — Wed, 07 May 2014 11:28:47 GMT

On 5/7/2014 qualityshopper said:
Thanks, glb613, for the info. Wondered how that got there.

Don't know why, but after the tech disabled it in Startup, I then started having trouble with the sign-in screen taking forever to appear. Until he did that, it would pop up instantly. Seems like fixing one thing messes up something else. This computer also seems to have problems when I reset it back to the factory settings--sometimes it goes back as it should, other times it doesn't. And, yes, I am doing it correctly. I've done it on my own as well with the tech right there. I know one is going to always encounter little glitches and have strange occurrences when dealing with computers. I just wish the little bugs would wait until it's been used for a while and not happen while it's brand new.

How many times have you done a system recovery?

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

qualityshopper — Thu, 08 May 2014 06:35:01 GMT

Glb613--4 times on this computer. Did two times because the techs wanted to do them (I didn't really see any reason for doing so either of those times, but they wanted to), and twice by me to undo things they did that seemed to cause additional problems.

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

glb613 — Thu, 08 May 2014 10:37:15 GMT

On 5/7/2014 qualityshopper said:
Glb613--4 times on this computer. Did two times because the techs wanted to do them (I didn't really see any reason for doing so either of those times, but they wanted to), and twice by me to undo things they did that seemed to cause additional problems.

If it was truly a factory recovery, back to out of the box, the program causing the problem would have been gone. Did you install camera software? If so, what?

It's not uncommon for programs to put themselves in the startup group when installed. In fact, almost all do. With my Windows machines, I either use msconfig or CCleaner to remove programs from the startup group immediately after a program is installed. It's also not uncommon for a program to try and become the default program for certain tasks. If the flash drive has photos on it, it may be the reason for your camera software tries to open it.

If you like the software that came with your camera, then use it. If it continues to cause problems, try changing the settings for autoplay. Don't click on any of the green arrows, just read the instructions.

Change autoplay settings

Re: Help please--is this a hardware or a software issue?

sidsmom — Thu, 08 May 2014 14:03:34 GMT

Is there a proper "system" procedure to eject a media card reader/USB stick? Maybe bypassing that step 'hanks' up the system. Disclaimer....I know very little about computers, but when I yank out my USB stick on my Mac, a "you did it wrong" box pops up, but still works. Maybe PCs are different...?