USB Pen Drive Not Recognized

zislisp · 04-14-2008, 07:20 AM

When I plug in the Pen drive, it is briefly recognized - the light comes on on the pen drive and I get the tone and see the icon in the system tray; I also see it appear in Windows Explorer. Shortly afterwards, the icon disappears, the light goes off the pen drive, and the drive disappears from Windows Explorer.

This pen drive used to work fine on this computer and it still works fine on another computer.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Windows XP, SP2 with all patches applied
SanDisk Cruzer 128MB

**sobeit** · 04-14-2008, 07:29 AM

with the drive plugged in, right click my computer and click on manage, then click on disk management. Does it show in the right window under removable drives? If so try assigning a letter to it. on the bottom right, where it shows your usb drive, right click it, , then click on change drive letter and path. It should open change drive letter, click on change. Be sure to use a letter not already being used by another drive.

zislisp · 04-14-2008, 07:40 AM

The drive is recognized for such a short time that I cannot get to disk management before the pen drive disappears. I have looked at disk management after it disappears and it does not show the drive at that point.

**ThorXP** · 04-14-2008, 07:43 AM

Welcome to TSF....

Since the drive works on another computer we will have to figure the drive is alright. I would try the drive in another USB port on the computer that it does not work on also I would try another USB drive on this computer or several if you get the same action then the USB port is probably worn-out or has a problem with the traces on the connector inside the computer, usually these can not be fixed with out replacing the motherboard, so if this is the case then an add-on USB card that plugs into the PCI slots would be the way to go.

zislisp · 04-14-2008, 08:04 AM

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give that a try and report back.

zislisp · 04-14-2008, 12:16 PM

I tried the pen drive plugged into a different USB port. The light is on but no icon and it doesn't show up in the disk management display.

yellowlawn · 01-10-2012, 05:06 AM

Okay I have just carried out a data recovery from a USB Pen Drive that had this issue. Go to http://www.ntfs.com and download there Active Boot Disk software. Install the software on a PC and create a CD or USB bootdisk as per the software. You'll then need a PC or Laptop that you can boot up using the Pen Drive or Boot CD you have just created. The Active Boot Disk has a recovery programme that has recovered all my data off a pen drive that was inaccessible with the same error you are having.

yellowlawn · 01-10-2012, 06:49 AM

Also once you are satisfied with the data recovery use the Kill Disk programme on the pen drive after, which allows Windows to format it correctly.

spunk.funk · 01-10-2012, 04:57 PM

With the drive plugged in go to Start/Run and type devmgmt.msc and press enter. In the Device Manager do you see any devices with yellow marks? Or under Universal Serial Bus Controllers do you see an Unknown Device? If so, right click and Uninstall it. Pull the drive out of the USB port and restart the computer. When the computer has finished loading, put the Flash Drive into a different port on the Back of the computer not the front or through a hub as these are less powerful ports. You should get a new hardware wizard. If not, then go to your computer manufacturers support/download drivers site, type in your make and model # and download the Chipset driver for your computer.

SelfCompNerd · 02-26-2012, 06:51 PM

I have been trying everything for a VERY long and have finally come up with a solution. Here's what I did.
1. Go into your device manger.. the shortcut keys for that is the Windows key (the key located between the ctrl button and the alt button) + Pause Break key

2. Then click device manager and locate the pen drive on the list. It may be found under "other devices" or Universal Serial Bus Controller (USB Controller)

3. After you have found the device right click the device and click "Update Driver Software" and after another screen comes up click "Browse my computer for driver software"

4. Next click browse.. My computer is eMachines(C:).. Yours may be something different. So click whatever yours is. So now C:\ will be in the browse bar now click next and your computer should search and find/install or update a driver so that this device will work.

The steps listed above searches your entire computer to find a driver to make devices work by choosing to search (C:) or whatever ur comp drive is.

I HOPE THIS HELPED, THIS WORKED FOR ME BUT I AM NOT SURE IF IT WILL WORK FOR EVERYONE.. IT SHOULD THOUGH. :)