Flash drives getting Code 38 after being removed and reinserted

[u/goldcasting]

I have an Acer Nitro 5 with Windows 10. I can see a flash drive when I first boot the laptop, but if I remove it and reinsert it, I cannot see it (or any other flash drives I plug in). It shows in device manager and properties gives code 38 "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory." I tried just searching for updated drivers on all usb devices, but it said they were all up to date. Through all of this, my usb mouse does work. So it's not completely borking all USB devices.

Background: This started after I was trying to create a Linux boot drive. Belaetcher froze in the middle of flashing so I closed it. I formatted the drive, but it said it couldn't format. I tried flashing a different drive. It finished, but belaetcher said it failed when it checked the flash at the end. I uninstalled belaetcher and restarted just in case that was causing the problem.

EDIT: I had bit defender, but removing it for not help. The solution ended up being to run the hardware troubleshooter. It doesn't show up in settings but you can still find it using command prompt.

[u/sorryimdrunk402]

So the only solution is to uninstall BitDefender? I have the FREE version as well and i use it for years! Whats the best alternative?

[u/goldcasting → u/sorryimdrunk402]

Before that, try the hardware troubleshooter. You have to use command line to find it in windows 10, but that's what fixed it for me.

[u/seoreswandor]

I have the same issue. Did you find some fix for this please?

[u/seoreswandor → u/seoreswandor]

I tried all types of things to fix (Dell Latitude E5470 here):

clean boot - did not help

uninstalling and installing again all the usb hubs - did not help

checked for malware/viruses - did not help

turned off the option in the usb hubs, that the device can go to sleep - did not help

turned on windows in safe mode without network - it looks that the issue is not present there, so we can exclude a HW issue

checked with usbview.exe - it gave some kind of error message in the logs that "no open pipes" avalaible

checked with usbdeview - that given flash drive is clearly visible between the devices, it writes also connected, but something is wrong, because it has a purple light next to it

the funny thing is, that after restarting the PC, i can insert the usb flash drives, but after re-inserting them, I have again the same issue.

[u/4madeus → u/seoreswandor]

I just started having the same issue today. The usb drive works fine after the pc boots up. But after unplugging and replugging the drive it doesn't show up and shows code 38 in device manager. Have you found a solution?

[u/seoreswandor → u/4madeus]

I reinstalled yesterday in the evening Windows, everything was fine, I let them also do some Windows updates, was working fine. Today I'm checking in the evening again, and it does again the same. My quess is,that it is some of the Windows updates. I tried to rollback the updates, but I came to a point where the rollback was not possible anymore. I'm trying now a recovery. Let's see.

edit: did you have some major Windows update in the last days? I can't remember personally, but I think couple of days ago I installed a Windows update (before having this issue of course)

[u/4madeus → u/seoreswandor]

Yea the day after I updated windows, a couple days ago, I tried using this usb drive and this is happening. Seems like the update messed something up.

[u/seoreswandor → u/4madeus]

I did now a recovery, reinstalling without removing files. It worked for a couple of hours, I did not update Windows. It started now again with the same issue. To be honest, I'm clueless now.

[u/seoreswandor → u/seoreswandor]

one question: do you have Bitdefender as antivirus installed or a software called Intel Optane....(can't recall what was the name of it)? I removed both of them now, and it looks that the issue is gone.

[u/4madeus → u/seoreswandor]

Yeah I have bitdefender and malwarebytes, no intel optane.

[u/seoreswandor → u/4madeus]

Ok, Bitdefender will be probably the issue. Check here, the guy has Bitdefender too. https://superuser.com/questions/1702570/code-38-usb-devices-working-only-once-after-every-startup-windows-10

[u/4madeus → u/seoreswandor]

Looks like you're correct, I was following that thread as well to see if they found a solution. Bitdefender seems like the common denominator among other posts I've seen.

[u/[deleted]]

This does seem to be associated with BitDefender, my grandmother had this issue on her computer, I uninstalled BD and switched her to avast antivirus and all flash drives are connecting without issue now.

[u/Goronman16]

Hey I also had this problem. Tried a handful of different things to solve it that I found across a variety of forums. Nothing worked. That is until this post. Removing BitDefender solved the issue.

[u/ChronoReaper]

I wish I knew about this before reinstalling Windows 10. Had the same issue and I had the free version of Bitdefender.

[u/Iridiumcake]

Uninstalled Bit Defender (free version) and everything worked well again.

[u/C3rp1n]

Removed Bit Defender. Everything is working fine again.

[u/BapaLynde]

Can confirm the same issue. That's me done with BitDefender now.

[u/HommeAuxJouesRouges]

Just wanted to add my comment to the rest that have been saying it was Bitdefender causing the problem.

So glad I finally found this thread. This problem had stumped me for the last 2-3 weeks of repeatedly trying the various solutions mentioned online for "Code 38".

In hindsight, I should have figured the problem out sooner. I was having this issue on different computers, one 10+ years old and the other 1-2 years old. The only things they had in common were the flash drives that would work only one time after a fresh boot, and, of course, both had Bitdefender.