I've been giving your problem some thought (at this time on a Sunday night that's quite a feat
). One thing that confuses me is that You say it shows up in the Taskbar but isn't assigned a drive letter, but in the properties tab in Device Manager it is shown a drive letter but you can't change it. What do you see in Windows Explorer? Have you checked your USB controllers in Device Manager to make sure they are OK? As a last resort you may have to reinstall 98. Before you do that try the emergency startup disc and see if you can find the drive from DOS. Let me know how you get on.