I shot some SD 16:9 24F footage with my new Canon XH A1 Saturday and experienced unexpected computer problems on my P4 3.20ghz XP Pro system after successfully capturing via firewire and viewing the 6GB file in Adobe Premiere and After Effects. I was able to do color corrections, split layers into multiple segments all without issue. I went straight from XHA1 play back into Premiere via Firewire. I was able to save the projects in AE and Premiere and the capture itself had created a 6gb avi file.

The next time I booted and logged into my PC, I got an error message telling me to reinstall my Wacom Intuos 2 digitial tablet software, a USB device. I've been using it for almost three years without issue. Weird but maybe not related.

Next, during the same login session I received a message indicating my "administrator"(me) had "prohibited access to USB/1394 mass storage devices" and "prohibited access to cd/dvd ROM drives". What the heck?

Lastly, also during this same session, my recently added SATA 500GB SATA drive with the captured file on became "not accessible". Wait a minute?

This is, hopefully, something video editors and compositors are more familiar with than typical PC support foilks, as my PC guru friends are kind of clueless as to what is happening on my system

Everyone suspects, however, even though I'm using an NTFS, not FAT, configured filesystem, this may have something to do with the 6GB filesize.

Any clues as to what I might be looking at and what I need to do to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin Collins

Hey Kevin,

It sounds like you may have errors on your main C: drive.. Possibly a dying drive?

Have you tried running checkdisk on that drive? If not, go to Start > Run and type chkdsk c: /f and hit enter. then hit Y (enter) and reboot. That will search for and fix any errors on the drive.

The fact that your drivers and drives are having problems sounds like a Windows problem, possibly a corrupt registry, failing C: drive, etc.

Let me know if this helps or not!
Eric

Thanks Eric.

This is my additional F drive that I can no longer see.

I ran the chkdsk on my C: drive just the same and everything came up clean but I still get the prohibited access erros for mass storage and then the new F drive is still not accesible, accessed denied.

I'm thinking I'll follow the instructions and reinstall my Wacom software and see what comes of that.

I was sure hoping for one of those common-1st-time-video-editor-problem-not-in-an-FAQ-yet kind of issue.

Any other ideas?

Hmm, well it wouldn't hurt to run chkdsk on the F drive too

Do the same as above, but replace C: with F: You won't need to restart because it's not the primary drive.

I really don't know what it could be. Maybe use some kind of registry checking tool? It's very odd that a Firewire device AND a USB device would have a problem at the same time. They're not running from a combination USB/Firewire interface card by any chance are they?

No problem with any firewire device.

Will try to run chkdsk on my new 500gb F drive momentarily.

I'm using the system firewire and not actually having any USB connection issues.

The 500gb drive is a SATA and the CDROM / DVD players are internal as well.

Can you recommend a favorite free or otherwise registry editing tool that might help in this situation?

Doing a chkdsk on the F: drive doesn't show anything. Where do I look for it's output? Should it display its progress like the C drive chkdsk did in the CMD window?

Hmm, it should give an output window while it's working. Since it's run already, it prolly won't find anything on the next run. But you can make the window stay permanently until you close it, by typing 'cmd' in the Run window. Then when the command window opens, you can type your commands into there.

You might want to search on Google for 'free Windows registry repair' or something. Let me know how reinstalling the drivers goes.

And possibly reinstall the firewire drive's drivers if there are any?

Try a different cable? Disconnect the camera from the signal chain, etc.

Important clarification....

I have no firewire issues as far as I can see.
I was able to capture my video in Premiere and even open the 6gb avi file with After Effects and apply edits.

It wasn't until the next time I logged in that I saw the weird software messages and administrator control messages about USB and mass storage.

If you or any others think of anything else, I'll be listening.

Does the firewire drive have a usb port as well?

Have you tried moving the Wacom to another USB port? Sometimes USB devices just stop being seen properly, it's a feature of Windows. :) Moving the device to another port causes Windows to rethink its decision and then the device begins working again.

It could just be a fluke that both problems occurred at roughly the same time.

Just a thought.Are you logged on as admin when checking the external drive?Have you tried the the drive on another computer?

Or possibly a different administrator account? Maybe that one is somehow corrupt?

I sure appreciate you helping me like this.

I suspect there's something significant about that initial message indicating my "administrator"(me) had "prohibited access to USB/1394 mass storage devices" and "prohibited access to cd/dvd ROM drives" but I just don't know.

I updated the driver for my tablet which, in and of itself continues to have no problems.

I uninstalled/reinstalled my cdrom with nothing changed regarding access.

I have no other system to try my SATA disk on but I suspect there's nothing wrong with the disk itself.

Yes I was using my admin account and I've since created a new admin priveleged account that I'll login with momentarily and see of it makes a difference.

Thanks again.

Sure, no problem.. That's very strange.. Maybe put a call into Microsoft tech support?

Yeah, I may have to do that.

I tried changing USB ports with no change as well.

I'll post the conclusion here when I find it.

Alright, I'd really like to know. Some days I really hate computers and I'm sure you do too. :)

Hoooo boy am I relieved.

I uninstalled "Intel Utility Lite" and restarted Windows.

That's all it took. Everything is fine now.

Jeez, I was ready to reformat my hard drive, reinstall Windows and all my apps and drivers and hang 7 virgin chickens in my North-facing window to fix this problem.

Who knew it would be so simple!

Yes Eric, it is definitely a love-hate relationship with computers.

Thanks again for hanging with me through this!!!

Oh wow! I'm glad you figured that out! Some of these companies should be ashamed of themselves for releasing that kinda stuff into the world. :(

Might wanna hang the computer up in the north window while you're at it and run it from there. ;)

Glad you have it fixed.