24 replies to this topic

[drmike]

Hi all! I am a desperate man. My problem is this: I have always used the autoplay feature when copying pictures from my media card onto my computer. I have gotten used to it. Ever since I have gotten my HP Pavillion laptop with XP (2 years ago) I have used this feature. All of a sudden what happens is that when I put my camera's sd card into the built-in card reader, I get the autoplay window asjing "what do you want windows to do?". It has the word "pictures" at the top outside the box. However, inside the box where there should be things such as the Camera and Scanner wizard, copy to disc, do nothing, etc. the entire box is empty! When I go to the drive of the sd card and click properties and then autoplay, everything is available for other types of media such as music, mixed media, etc. BUT when I choose "pictures" from the drop down list, again I get a blank box. It does not make a difference if I toggle between " select action to perform" or "prompt me each time to choose action" - nothing in box. Also, "restore defaults" is grayed out. This is only for the "pictures" option. All others are available.

Also, when I plug in a flash drive into any other usb port, the autoplay pops up with all the appropriate options. Music CD works fine too.....

So my ultimate question is "what happened to my "pictures" options in the autoplay?"
I have already tried Microsoft's Autoplay fix program and it could not fix it! I have searched Google and could not find anything that worked, not to mention there really isn't much out there for this specific problem that I could find.

Thank you in advance for anyone trying to help solve this problem.
10/3/08 added screen shot of problem:

Edited by drmike, 03 October 2008 - 09:30 AM.

[tallin]

Hi drmike

I know how you feel, once used to a method and it suddenly stops, it is very irritating for us all.

Recently, almost this same thing happened to me, not using my camera's

sd card,

but connecting with the USB cable to the PC tower to transfer pictures from my camera, I found nothing happened until I downloaded UBSDview v1.2.5 and freed some of the unwanted past connections to USB ports.

Try it but please be careful as once you highlight the item and click

• File
• Disabled Selected Devices

you will find it certainly is gone for good.

Keep us posted.

kind regards,

[drmike]

Thank you for your reply. However, I don't have a problem with autoplay starting when I put in my sd card, it is just that there is nothing in the box to choose when there are pictures on the card.

[tallin]

drmike, I don't have an answer for you except to say, can you have your sd card tested, or can you connect your camera to your computer as I do with a USB cable supplied with the camera to transfer your pictures? kind regards,

[drmike]

tallin, I tried connecting my camera via usb and got the same thing. - autoplay box that indicated "pictures" but the box was completely empty with nothing to choose from....

[paws]

Hi, The next step is to: 1 try your SD and its reader in other XP computers. (If you get the same problem in other machines its likely the fault lies either in the sd card the USB cable or the reader.) 2 substitute the components (listed above) for known working ones and see how you go. 3 Do you have any important pictures on the card that you can't afford to lose.....? if YES then you will need to consider data recovery... 4 if no then reformat your card and see how you go Regards paws

[drmike]

Paws, Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, of fortunately (depends on how you look at it), it is not the card. I have 2 different sd cards from 2 cameras. Both behave the same way. By the way, I am still able to go to My Computer and open the drive with the sd card and eventually get to the pictures, " the old fashion way".

Edited by drmike, 02 October 2008 - 05:53 PM.

[Ztruker]

Give Microsoft's Autoplay Repair Wizard a try. I know you said Autoplay is working but it's worth a shot and won't hurt anything.

Also, I would try Tallin's suggestion of using USBDView and remove all the old, now unused USB entries. That is one of the things that causes problems like this in my experience.

[drmike]

Rich, I tried the Autoplay fix from Microsoft and it could not fix it. Also, what do you mean by "old", unused USB entries for the USBDView? Is this a tricky thing to use? drmike

[Ztruker]

No, it's pretty straight forward. I would recommend going into Options and turning of Display USB Hubs though. For instance, on my Laptop, it looks like this:


I can remove these since I know they are no longer connected:

DeskJet 930C
Microsoft Wheel Mouse
NIKON DSC D70
Trackball

[tallin]

Rich,
I tried the Autoplay fix from Microsoft and it could not fix it. drmike

I am popping back in here to ask you if the autoplay could not be fixed by Microsoft, wouldn't that mean there is a problem with your Autoplay? Your quote below from your second post told me you had no problem with Autoplay?

Thank you for your reply. However, I don't have a problem with autoplay starting when I put in my sd card, it is just that there is nothing in the box to choose when there are pictures on the card.

Just a hint with USBDview, if you do inadvertantly disable an item (I did with my mouse) by mistake then reboot and Windows picked up the driver of my mouse so no harm was done.

Hoping this is of use to you, trying to assist here.

kind regards

[drmike]

tallin, what I meant is that only media with pictures seem not to give a pop up with options to copy pictures to the computer. I tried the Autoplay fix because someone suggested it in another forum and I thought it was worth a try. Other media such as audio cds and thumb drives with other files work, i.e. autoplay starts and gives options of what to do. Below is a screen shot of what I get when I put the sd card with pictures in my media reader. I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. I tried my best to be precise, but .... Does the screen shot help? drmike

[tallin]

Yes, you nailed it with the screen shot.......thanks. Sometimes it is hard to get ones message over and I do mean both ways.

I am going to give you a couple of links that may help. I googled your problem and came up with

1. LINK last one, "Why doesn't Autoplay work"
2. LINK Line 17

I still think your basic problem is with Autoplay.....just my opinion.

Keep us posted, we can only keep trying for you. You may likely find the fix with one or the other links above.

kind regards,

[Ztruker]

Microsoft's TweakUI PowerToy has some Autoplay repair capability. Take a look at it.

[drmike]

Hello again, Well, I have looked at some of the suggestions. I ran the USBDview and really only found one or 2 devices that I was sure about and deleted them. There are others that I could not identify. I looked at the tallin's links and those seemd to be directed either at audio/dvd autoplay problems (which I don't have because they work) or restoring autoplay icons. I also ran the autofix and got the same reply, no fix. It can't be my built-in card reader because when I connected my camera via another usb port I got the same as in the screen shot.. The Power toys seem to deal with repairing autoplay in general, as far as I can see. In addition, I am intimidated to start mucking around in the registery for a problem that is annoying, but frustrating. There has to be something about the picture autoplay specifically, or why would all other media work fine? I do appreciate all the help that you are giving me and will continue to follow up on all suggestions. drmike