USB in Win 7

[Chris in U.K.]

Hi guys n gals,

So I went and bought a laptop with Win 7 home pre-installed.

I'm gradually getting the hang of it it's my first time with a lap, and first time with 7, so a bit of a learning curve.

At the moment my major malfunction is that the lap is very tempramental about recognising USB sticks - sometimes I have to plug in and out several times.

This is not a hardware issue- USB mouse works first time every time, so does the phone sync cable.
The sticks (it's not just one) read and write fine on the XP desktop.

Is there some funny hardware compatability setting or something in 7 that I haven't found yet?

The lap is a Toshiba Satellite:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name CPOL-TOSH
System Manufacturer TOSHIBA
System Model Satellite C660
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU T4500 @ 2.30GHz, 2300 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date TOSHIBA 1.00, 03/09/2010
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
User Name cpol-TOSH\cpol
Time Zone GMT Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 3.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 2.87 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.70 GB
Total Virtual Memory 5.73 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.40 GB
Page File Space 2.87 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Thanks,

Chris

[Chris in U.K.]

Well I did some more digging around and found an answer! I post this in case others need it.

There are known issues with Win 7 and some USB sticks.

It took a lot of mining and tunnelling through the impossible MS website, but MS does publish a list for compatability checks here:

Windows 7 Compatibility: Software Programs & Hardware Devices: Find Updates, Drivers, & Downloads

BTW my sticks are so old they're not even on the list at all!

It's all part of the Great Hardware/OS/Apps Upward Spiral Conspiracy!!

Keep well,

Chris