The other day I uninstalled NIS, then Norton Online Backup, then ran the Norton Removal Tool. I did a Restart between these steps. Everything seemed to go OK. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.
I tried to download photos from my Canon camera via the USB but could not. The Canon software did not recognize a camera was attached. I tried another camera & got the same results. Windows Explorer showed nothing was plugged into a USB port. I tried a couple USB ports but no difference.
I tried other devices in the USB ports & they worked.
I looked in Device Manager > Properties & it displayed my camera model, but it also displayed an error message.
“Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)”
I restored the PC back to a point labeled Norton Online Backup. There was nothing labeled NIS. This appeared to restore both NIS & Online Backup because they both showed up in the Control Panel > Programs Uninstall function.
Now the camera was recognized again.
I uninstalled NIS but the icon remained on the Desktop & it still showed up in Control Panel > Programs Uninstall but with a black & yellow looking box icon.
The camera was still recognized.
I then uninstalled Norton Online Backup. It disappeared from Control Panel > Programs Uninstall, but the Norton icon remained on the Desktop.
The camera still worked.
I then ran the Norton Removal Tool which removed all visible traces of Norton from the Desktop & Control Panel > Programs Uninstall.
But now the camera was not recognized again.
What is Norton Removal Tool doing to corrupt my registry? \
How do I remove Norton & still have my camera recognized via the USB ports?
Hi,
If in Device Manager there is a yellow exclamation mark or not under the problematic device, right click and select uninstall.
Then REBOOT.
After reboot if Windows do not automatically reinstall the driver then you will need to reinstall the camera software again.
Norton Removal Tool, is notorious for breaking the portable devices drivers, and while few people mention this, after running this tool you have always to look at the Portable Devices section in Device Manager, select uninstall (right-click), for every device having a yellow exclamation mark and reboot.
Normally Windows reinstall the drivers automatically after reboot.
Regards,
Yep, there is a yellow exclamation mark by all my Portable devices (G, H, I, J). I had nothing plugged into any USB port.
When I plugged in a USB thumb drive it came up as drive K with a yellow exclamation mark. Besides reinstalling for devices G, H, I, J, what has to be done for devices that have not been plugged in yet, such as K or L or etc.? IOW am I supposed to plug a device into every available USB port at the same time & reinstall drivers?
BTW, the PC was rebooted from cold shut down.
Hi,
No, you do not have to plug anything, select every device in Device Manager, right click, select uninstall NOT DELETE and when you are done REBOOT (very important).
Does windows reinstall all the drivers??
Upon reboot, wait for the process to complete, you should see a baloon in taskbar that everything completed successfully, then check in Device Manager.
The yellow exclamation marks should not be there anymore.
Please post back...
Regards,
First - thank you for your help. Your advice fixed the problem.
First I uninstalled 1 driver, rebooted & it seemed to work. So I did the other 3 Portable Devices.
But now I’m a little confused about drive labels.
Windows Explorer shows removable disks G, H, I, J. These also show up as my Portable Devices.
Plugging in the camera, Windows Explorer adds this to the drive list but without a drive letter. But when plugging in a USB thumb drive the thumb drive gets assigned a new drive letter. They both appear in Portable Devices as new devices without drive letters.
This is getting a bit OT, but any idea why the camera is listed in Explorer under drives but then not given a drive letter?
Thanks again.
Hi,
Open an elevated command prompt, (select run as Admin), and type: diskpart / automount enable
Reboot.
Is the issue fixed?
After this, as I suggested before you may have to uninstall/reinstall the camera software via Programs & Features - Uninstall a program. Reboot again.
For further info see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753703.aspx
Keep us posted.
Regards,
I believe automount is enabled because when I plug in a USB thumb drive or my GPS they are displayed in Windows Explorer along with a drive letter. The camera also is displayed but without a drive letter.
Start > Computer shows the HDDs and “Devices with Removable Storage”. When I plug in the USB thumb drive or GPS these then are added to the Removable Storage list. However when I connect the camera via USB it shows up under a new category labeled “Portable Devices” without a drive letter. IOW the camera is treated differently, perhaps because it cannot be written to & therefore gets no drive letter.
The “Devices with Removable Storage” relate to the flash card readers on the PC. If I insert an SD card it shows up in Removable Disk (G:).
Why would uninstalling the device driver for Portable Device G:\ which is for the SD card reader correct a problem on a different USB port?
You mentioned the Norton Removal Tool “is notorious for breaking the portable devices drivers”. Is that the only thing it breaks?
Stymied,
Before trying the total uninstall of drivers that Apostolos suggested in Message 4 I would try something less radical:
With Device Manager on the screen click on the top item -- the computer name? -- and then click on Action on the top frame followed by Scan for hardware changes ..... and see if it changes anything.
You might have a look at these references in case they point you to something if only that what you see is normal and that Microsoft has not worked it all out properly yet!
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/assign-a-drive-letter-to-portable-device-dslr/b4bf1dcb-4495-4815-9c1e-8f66827f2d90
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/how-to-assign-a-drive-letter-to-a-portable-device/829e43b6-7210-4566-8e47-1ac147946f7b
I had a problem today with trying to transfer images from my wife's Canon P&S where it may be that my card reader is faulty but I managed to copy the files over when I put the SD card into a card slot on my HP Photomart Printer -- first time I have usd it.
I'm in Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit version.
I've already uninstalled / re-installed the Portable Device drivers & that fixed the problem.
One of the above links says "If it appears in the 'Portable Devices' section of My Computer, it doesn't get a drive letter - and it doesn't need a new driver either, it's working - at least as far as Microsoft is concerned".
My camera is recognized & I can download photos from it via USB. IOW there no longer is a problem.
What I don't understand is why correcting a driver problem for a Removable Disk (the card reader drives) which connects to a motherboard USB connection, would fix a problem on a different USB connection.
Hi,
If you wish to assign specific capital letters for your drives you can also rename them.
Regards,