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

qualityshopper · ‎12-04-2011

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.

knmt · ‎07-14-2010

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

Mindy D · ‎05-23-2010

Go to the Task Manager and shut down the camera.

Mindy D · ‎05-23-2010

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.

qualityshopper · ‎12-04-2011

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.

Lynnj · ‎03-21-2010

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.

qualityshopper · ‎12-04-2011

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.

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

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

qualityshopper · ‎12-04-2011

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.

qualityshopper · ‎12-04-2011

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.