URGENT HELP (please...) : "My Computer" not accessing

[wee_ag]

This problem is recent. Everytime I got to 'My Computer'
the little rolling flashlight pops up and rolls around
for a good five minutes before I get frustrated and close
the window. In addition, when I go to save a file and try
to select a location the program freezes when I click on
the down arrow to choose a location. The computer also
freezes when I right-click on a file and select 'Send to'
and try to copy it else where. (this all points to a
problem with accessing all my drives at once???)

I thankfully made shortcuts on my desktop a while back
and can access the drives there, but can only save files
in the default locations right now. This is highly
annoying and making the computer un-usable. This is a
work computer and immediate assistance would be
appreciated.

The machine is a P4-1.6 gig, 2 hard drives, a 20 and 40
gig, 1 gig of ram and a 64 Meg Videocard (not sure the
brand).

I have tried the standard fixes, I've updated to the
recent service pack, shut-off the computer, defragmented
it and scanned for viruses.

Any further ideas?

[Grendel]

Unplug any USB devices you have; except mouse or keyboard.

I think it is caused by a USB device you have connected.

There is a USB device that is "acting" like an external drive.

[wee_ag]

Ok, that helps - although it still takes a while for anything to come up. As you mentioned, I do have a Flashcard reader, which comes up as an external drive. But this started after all my usb stuff had been installed for a while. I don't know of anything that I have done since that would cause this problem. In addition, not having my USB stuff plugged in is not an option for me.

This problem should not be happening at all, is there any other solution?

Thanks again,
Brian

[Zitchta]

I personally know that problem occurs alot when not enough ram is installed, Try upgrading to 1.5 gigs of ram! ha ha ha. Your 1 gig may not have enough pulling power to access your computers drives. hehe. But seriously, since it's a work computer, it sounds like you're on a network possibly. Check to make sure you don't have a drive shortcut in your "My Computer" section that references to a network drive, and if it is, make sure that network drive is configured properly. If not, it could be looking for a drive that doesn't want to make itself seen.

[wee_ag]

It appears that I found my problem - I've got a digital video cam hooked up via firewire - it appearently doesn't like that. I unplugged it and everything is peachey-keen! This started occuring AFTER upgrading to the service pack 1 for XP - I think I may uninstall that now. Nothing but a headache.

The digital video cam is also caused Photoshop to lock up when it tried detecting twain devices on startup - that now works properly as well.

Thanks for the help!!

Brian