USB drives and Flash cards not working!

[Brian Lynn]

Windows XP Pro, SP3
HP nx9420 laptop

My Computer won't see any USB storage devices like flash memory sticks or SD
cards in a card reader.

I've checked for drive letter conflicts and I don't have any...

When/if I plug in a U3 memory stick I can see the U3 CD part of the stick,
but none of the flash memory storage area.

When/if I put an SD, SDHC, or Compact Flash card into a card reader I get
nothing.

None of what should be available storage space can be seen under Disk
Management. I can see all my other drives but the flash space is not there.
Its like the disks don't exist!

Every stick I'm having issues with, every flash card I'm having problems
with, they all work on other machines without any issues at all!!

I do have ONE memory stick that works, but the AutoPlay no longer functions
as it did, I don't get a choice of what to do even though its set to let me
choose when I insert... Other than that NONE of my flash based storage
works...

Help!!

Thanks!

 

[JS]

Have you checked "Device Manager"
Look for "Universal Serial Bus controllers" entry,
Click the + sign to expand.

 

[Brian Lynn]

FIX:
Under Device Manager my USB drives show up with an "!".

Right click, unintsall, pull the card/stick and put it back in, now it
works...

 

[JS]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

FIX:
Under Device Manager my USB drives show up with an "!".

Right click, unintsall, pull the card/stick and put it back in, now it
works...

Incidentally, these types of drive do not last forever. They have a
tendency to suddenly and irretrievably fail.

They are really appropriate only for file transport, when copies exist
elsewhere, they are *not* suitable for backip.

HTH
-pk