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I have a Lenovo laptop with Windows 10 that's having problems with USB devices and shows the following device status:

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. (Code 38)

The driver could not be loaded because a previous version of the driver is still in memory. "

This doesn't happen the first time I connect the devices after a startup, but once I disconnect them and connect them back, I can't see them and get this error. I've looked all around, and tried several things, but nothing fixes the issue. I've tried updating the drivers, uninstalling the device (Storage controllers and Universal Serial Bus controllers) and rebooting, shutting down while holding Shift, updated the BIOS, found available Windows updates and installed them, used USB Oblivion to do a cleanup, and cleaned the registry with CCleaner, but nothing works. If I want a USB device to work, I have to restart the computer.

This started happening last week, and I haven't installed anything new; I sort the installed apps by date and I can't see anything recently installed. I used to use a USB hub and connect all the USB devices to it, and realized a Samsung SSD and another Flash drive weren't working, but a wireless mouse was. The mouse and a USB keyboard still work, but not the storage devices.

These USB devices work every time in other computers.

What could be causing this and what could I do to solve it?

EDIT 1:

I started seeing that Bitdefender was blocking a "virus" identified as Gen:Variant.Tedy.68373 from the temp folder, but that started happening yesterday.

EDIT 2:

Okay, as another user recommended, I tried uninstalling Bitdefender and the problem went away. I'm not posting this as an answer because I don't know exactly what was the problem that made Bitdefender affect the USB drivers. I would appreciate if anyone has some info on this.

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  • Are you removing USB devices "Safely" ? Have you done a full scan with Windows Defender? Run Lenovo System Updater and update all drivers.
    – anon
    Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 13:44
  • Yes, I remove them all safely and it keeps happening. I did a full scan with Bitdefender and Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes founds nothing, Bitdefender is finding that Gen:Variant.Tedy.68373
    – TheSprinter
    Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 13:46
  • In addition to updating drivers, open Device Manager, open up USB, right click on each device, and try updating it.. Perhaps that will reset the USB device. I have not seen this on the Lenovo machines I use.
    – anon
    Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 13:55
  • Tried that and says that the best drivers are already installed.
    – TheSprinter
    Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 14:07
  • There appears to be something wrong with the operating system. You might consider a Windows 10 Repair Install from the Microsoft Media Creation Link: microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 .... Second link on the page and Keep Everything.
    – anon
    Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 14:10

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Another word from me. Same issue! Mouse connected with usb wireless adapter - working fine. Pendrive or external hdd - works only one time. If I deleted drivers, reboot pc, then pendrive or hdd working OK. But just only disconnect, and connect.

Error 38 "The driver could not be loaded because a previous version of the driver is still in memory." Bla bla bla... :v

Windows 8.1 + BitDefender installed and working fine until today. I think the problem may be some auto update in Bitdefender app. Something connected with USB scan preventing injection? Mechanism can be broked by some update... but these are just my thoughts.

Some days ago, all working fine.

When problem appeared, I try lot of things. Uninstalling drivers from device manager, uninstall all usb host drivers, used USB Oblivion to clear some stuff from regedit, etc. etc.

Uninstalling BitDefender solved everything.

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  • Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
    – Community Bot
    Commented Feb 9, 2022 at 20:41
  • Maybe that's Bitdefender detecting the driver as malware and blocking them in some way that does not allow the deletion of the file in the temp folder? I only got Bitdefender detections with the USB drives connected.
    – TheSprinter
    Commented Feb 10, 2022 at 16:53
-1

Upon seeing your edit 2 today, I was able to resolve a similar issue on my Dell XPS laptop. USB flash drive would open once after each reboot as normal, but subsequent use of the flash drive would only result in a brief indication of the device being plugged in. After uninstalling Bitdefender, everything seems "as normal".

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1
  • Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
    – Community Bot
    Commented Feb 8, 2022 at 21:41

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