One of USB devices not recognized...

[Adela]

WinXP home; IE6

Hello, wonder if any of you had this happen? When I plugged in my 8gb
OSZ-Diesel flash drive a msg said:

"One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and
Windows does not recognize it."

I unplugged it, shut off the computer, let it rest, tried again...but no
luck. Until the day before it was working well although I have it only
since 5 days ago and used it only twice. I tried it on another computer and
it worked on and off...

Is there an uncomplicated fix for it?

Thanks very much for any ideas. Adela

 

[Malke]

WinXP home; IE6

Hello, wonder if any of you had this happen? When I plugged in my 8gb
OSZ-Diesel flash drive a msg said:

"One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and
Windows does not recognize it."

I unplugged it, shut off the computer, let it rest, tried again...but no
luck. Until the day before it was working well although I have it only
since 5 days ago and used it only twice. I tried it on another computer
and it worked on and off...

It worked "on and off"? The flash drive is defective.

Is there an uncomplicated fix for it?

Yes - throw it out and buy another USB thumb drive. You can get a good 8GB
for under $20 so there is no point in fooling about with this.

Malke

 

[Mark Adams]

Malke, I think Adela meant that the flash drive worked on another computer
when she attached and detached it. Probably several times.

 

[Mark Adams]

WinXP home; IE6

Hello, wonder if any of you had this happen? When I plugged in my 8gb
OSZ-Diesel flash drive a msg said:

"One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and
Windows does not recognize it."

I unplugged it, shut off the computer, let it rest, tried again...but no
luck. Until the day before it was working well although I have it only
since 5 days ago and used it only twice. I tried it on another computer and
it worked on and off...

Is there an uncomplicated fix for it?

Thanks very much for any ideas. Adela

Adela, attach the USB drive to the computer again. Does it show up under My
Computer? If it does, reformat it FAT 32. If it doesn't, go into Disk
Management and see if the device is visible there. If it is, and doesn't have
a drive letter assigned, assign it one. If it is not visible in Disk
Management, or won't format; it probably has failed. Since you have had it
only 5 days, return it to the place of purchase and get a new one.

 

[Adela]

Brand: OSZ-Diesel. Bought online from: newegg.com. I complained and they
sent me another one...which didn't work either!

 

[Adela]

Thanks Malke but...UNDER $20??? Which brand would you buy? That's what I
paid and didn't work. Wouldn't all the very low priced not work?

Adela

 

[Adela]

Thank you Mark. This flashh drive is the 2nd one the seller sent me when I
complained. It seems all the OSZ-Diesel fail. I'll go to Device
Management and will try to reformat it, but, what's FAT32 and how do I use
it? Adela

 

[Adela]

Adela, attach the USB drive to the computer again. Does it show up under
My
Computer? If it does, reformat it FAT 32. If it doesn't, go into Disk
Management and see if the device is visible there. If it is, and doesn't
have
a drive letter assigned, assign it one. If it is not visible in Disk
Management, or won't format; it probably has failed. Since you have had it
only 5 days, return it to the place of purchase and get a new one.

Hi again Mark. I followed your steps above and it does nto show under My
Computer, so I didn't try to reformat it. Then I went to Disk Management
and it shows only (C under "Volume" and a few other things which I can't
understand, but it showed no F which is the letter for my flash drive. Then
I went to Device Manager and it showed this:

"Universal Serial Bus Controller"
Intel(R) (and a long number)
Unknown Device
USB Root Hub

I don't understand this either... ) I already told the sellers that
their 2nd item isn't working either but I won't get an answer until after
the 8th of Sept. because of the holiday.

Adela

 

[Mark Adams]

Hi again Mark. I followed your steps above and it does nto show under My
Computer, so I didn't try to reformat it. Then I went to Disk Management
and it shows only (C under "Volume" and a few other things which I can't
understand, but it showed no F which is the letter for my flash drive. Then
I went to Device Manager and it showed this:

"Universal Serial Bus Controller"
Intel(R) (and a long number)
Unknown Device
USB Root Hub

I don't understand this either... ) I already told the sellers that
their 2nd item isn't working either but I won't get an answer until after
the 8th of Sept. because of the holiday.

Adela

Plug the drive into a USB port. Right click the "My Computer" icon. Select
"Manage" from the menu. When the utility opens, look in the pane to the left,
select "Disk Management". The drives on your computer are now shown in the
panes on the right. C: should be your hard drive that Windows is installed
on. You may have a system utilities partition and / or a system recovery
partition as well. The flash drive should be visible here and in the pane
below it should be listed as "Removable".

If it doesn't show up here, you won't even be able to format it. Does the
computer make the mount and dismount sounds when you plug it in and unplug
it? Did you say in a previous post that it works on a different computer? If
so, try Disk Management on that computer to see how it appears there.

 

[Mark Adams]

Hi again Mark. I followed your steps above and it does nto show under My
Computer, so I didn't try to reformat it. Then I went to Disk Management
and it shows only (C under "Volume" and a few other things which I can't
understand, but it showed no F which is the letter for my flash drive. Then
I went to Device Manager and it showed this:

"Universal Serial Bus Controller"
Intel(R) (and a long number)
Unknown Device
USB Root Hub

It would appear under Disk Drives, not under USB Devices.

 

[Malke]

Thanks Malke but...UNDER $20??? Which brand would you buy? That's what I
paid and didn't work. Wouldn't all the very low priced not work?

I have 8GB Kingston DataTravelers and 8GB Crucial Gizmos. I paid about
$19.xx for the Gizmos and $17.89 (give or take some pennies) for the
DataTravelers. Purchased from NewEgg. I've been very happy with them and
have used DataTravelers for years. Since I'm a professional computer tech,
my thumb drives get a *lot* of use. They normally last for years (unless a
client's flaky computer fries them!). I wouldn't buy an off-brand.

As Mark said, I interpreted your "on and off" to mean that sometimes the
drive was recognized and sometimes it wasn't. If you did in fact mean that,
then return both of these drives to NewEgg and don't buy that brand again.
Otherwise, Mark seems to have this well in hand.

Malke

 

[Adela]

Thank you for the brand suggestions (I know you meant Kingston) )

It's probably a bad brand more than a bad stick since they sent me a
replacement and it didn't work either... I have a Staples near home. Or I
will demand of newegg.com to send me a Kingston replacement which I see they
have... Thanks again. Adela

 

[Adela]

I have 8GB Kingston DataTravelers and 8GB Crucial Gizmos. I paid about
$19.xx for the Gizmos and $17.89 (give or take some pennies) for the
DataTravelers. Purchased from NewEgg. I've been very happy with them and
have used DataTravelers for years. Since I'm a professional computer tech,
my thumb drives get a *lot* of use. They normally last for years (unless a
client's flaky computer fries them!). I wouldn't buy an off-brand.

As Mark said, I interpreted your "on and off" to mean that sometimes the
drive was recognized and sometimes it wasn't. If you did in fact mean
that,
then return both of these drives to NewEgg and don't buy that brand again.
Otherwise, Mark seems to have this well in hand.

Malke

Thanks Malke, you interpreted my "on and off" correctly. I see that my
seller also sells Kingston for about the price I paid for the OSZ, so I'll
ask them to replace it. I have a Kingston and has been working fine, but
it's a small gb and full with data. Adela

 

[Adela]

Plug the drive into a USB port. Right click the "My Computer" icon. Select
"Manage" from the menu. When the utility opens, look in the pane to the
left,
select "Disk Management". The drives on your computer are now shown in the
panes on the right. C: should be your hard drive that Windows is installed
on. You may have a system utilities partition and / or a system recovery
partition as well. The flash drive should be visible here and in the pane
below it should be listed as "Removable".

If it doesn't show up here, you won't even be able to format it. Does the
computer make the mount and dismount sounds when you plug it in and unplug
it? Did you say in a previous post that it works on a different computer?
If
so, try Disk Management on that computer to see how it appears there.

I did that before, Mark, and it still shows just C: drive. I don't have a
partition so it doesn't show any other letter. I figure it wouldn't show
the flash drive letter since it isn't working.
I don't recall any sound on plugging and unplugging it, but what it does
show on plugging (when it works) is a red flashing light. This hasn't been
happening... )
I had gone to test it in an internet cafe and it's now closed for the
holidays. But I think it'll be easier for me to just get another brand in
replacement, and if it, ALSO, doesn't work, then I'll have to buy a more
costly one...

Thanks very much! Adela

 

[Adela]

It would appear under Disk Drives, not under USB Devices.

Oh I tried the Device Manager after not seeing it in Disk management. )
Adela

 

[Mark Adams]

I did that before, Mark, and it still shows just C: drive. I don't have a
partition

Well, you have to have at least one partition; the one Windows is installed
on!



so it doesn't show any other letter. I figure it wouldn't show

the flash drive letter since it isn't working.
I don't recall any sound on plugging and unplugging it, but what it does
show on plugging (when it works) is a red flashing light. This hasn't been
happening... )
I had gone to test it in an internet cafe and it's now closed for the
holidays. But I think it'll be easier for me to just get another brand in
replacement, and if it, ALSO, doesn't work, then I'll have to buy a more
costly one...

Thanks very much! Adela

After reading the other posts, it does sound like the drive is defective.
Did you try it in different USB ports? Try ports on the back of the machine
that are connected directly to the mainboard. If it doesn't work here, it's
toast. If it does, then you have flakey wiring to, or bad USB ports on the
front of the machine.

 

[Adela]

Well, you have to have at least one partition; the one Windows is
installed
on!



so it doesn't show any other letter. I figure it wouldn't show

After reading the other posts, it does sound like the drive is defective.
Did you try it in different USB ports? Try ports on the back of the
machine
that are connected directly to the mainboard. If it doesn't work here,
it's
toast. If it does, then you have flakey wiring to, or bad USB ports on the
front of the machine.

I have only 2 ports on back of my computer, and I'v been changing them to
see if it would work with the other, but didn't. It's strange that both FD
didn't work - the one I bought and the replacement, so perhaps my USB hubs
aren't tight enough since I feel when I plug in the FD that it doesn't fit
snug. If there's something wrong with my hubs then should I buy those they
sell, like with 4 hubs on them or something? Of course they would have to
be good for any other computer too somce my present one is too old and soon
I'll have to start lookin for a new one... )

Thank you very much Mark for trying to help. Adela

 

[Mark Adams]

I have only 2 ports on back of my computer, and I'v been changing them to
see if it would work with the other, but didn't. It's strange that both FD
didn't work - the one I bought and the replacement, so perhaps my USB hubs
aren't tight enough since I feel when I plug in the FD that it doesn't fit
snug. If there's something wrong with my hubs then should I buy those they
sell, like with 4 hubs on them or something? Of course they would have to
be good for any other computer too somce my present one is too old and soon
I'll have to start lookin for a new one... )

Thank you very much Mark for trying to help. Adela

Keep your fingers crossed for those USB ports when the new flash drive
arrives!

 

[Adela]

Hello Mike and everyone who also tried so hard to help me, I thought you'd
be interested in knowing that I just bought a HP flash drive, made my backup
with no problem and I'm very happy and thankful to all of you! )

I think this speaks very badly of OSZ-Diesel flash drives since 2 in a raw
to be defective is more than anyone can bear...

That's all I wanted to say. Adela

 

[Mark Adams]

Hello Mike and everyone who also tried so hard to help me, I thought you'd
be interested in knowing that I just bought a HP flash drive, made my backup
with no problem and I'm very happy and thankful to all of you! )

Glad to see that you finally got a flash drive that works. A word of advice
is in order. Don't rely on flash drives to store backups of your data; you've
already seen how reliable they are! Use flash drives to move data from point
A to point B, but DO NOT store important information on them. They'll go
PPFFFFFFTTTT when you need them most.