When I plug in the USB, Windows no longer asks me what I want to do or assigns it a drive letter like when you plug in a MemStik.

Desktop Manager works just fine with the phone. Recognizes and communicates perfectly... but I just want to browse to the memory card from windows.. this was working till a couple weeks ago.

yes it is set to work as a Mass Storage device.

Maybe you a drive letter conflict.
In Control Panel > Administrative Tools ... Check Disk Management within Computer Management

I don't see any conflicts.. besides it should just jump to next drive letter available. I am able to plug in a standard memory stick and the drive then pops up for the stick. Windows isn't even popping up the choice box for how I would like to handle the new media inserted. Same thing happens on a 2nd PC... so i'm inclined to believe it has something on the phone that is messed up.

Battery pull and if that doesn't work reload OS. Seems to fix just about anything and someone was going to recommend it soon anyway.

I agree- the BB does have drive letter conflicts and gets "fixed" (doesn't jump) to a new drive letter. Therefore it's not recognized when plugged in by windows. Did you check as suggested Control Panel>Administrative tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Manament. Look for the BB drive and assign it a different drive number.
Jim

Wirelessly posted (White and Nerdy)

Do you have a memory card?? Windows doesn't give you system access... Only memory card access

Yes, I have a memory card. Oddly enough, Even though the phone fully works Blackberry Desktop, it is not listed in USB Mass Stroage devices in the "safely remove Hardware". SO, with that, I'm going to put the blame on the Blackberry not reporting Mass Storage Properly and will reinstall the OS. :(

nope.. reinstalled 477.. same thing. Tried on 3 differenct computers, still same thing. I'll just give up on having BB work with a PC.

I presume the options for Mass storage mode on the BB are correct? i.e its set to on, and prompt/yes etc

yeah.. I found a solution. There is a little program I found at pinstack that fixes it. No Idea what it does, but it flash the phone with something then it reboots it.. suddenly it completely works The program can be found here.

forums.pinstack.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=18568&d=1229390515

i had this problem with my bold... what i did to sort it was go to the clock options the under what to do whilst charging make sure its set to do nothing,

i found that when it connects to the comp to see just the mem card the phone thought it was being charged and went into bedside mode!!

i hope i explained it ok?