Very helpful Anna,
That's a "keeper".
--
HTH,
Curt
Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm
| Vernon:
| The following won't be of much help to you but let me get it out of the
| way...
|
| These USB non-recognition problems, especially as they impact on flash
| drives and USB external HDDs have been vexing all of us for some time now.
| We've become increasingly convinced that the relatively large number of
| problems in this area involving the non-recognition of these USB devices
| that we've all been experiencing for years now is an indication that there
| is something seriously flawed with respect to either the USB 2.0
| specifications, possibly involving quality control issues affecting the
| manufacturer of these USB devices as well as supporting components such as
| motherboards and other USB-related components. Then too, we've become
| increasingly suspicious of the XP OS as it relates to its recognition of
and
| interaction with these USB 2.0 devices.
|
| We have encountered far too many unexplained problems affecting
| detection/recognition of these devices and their erratic functioning not
to
| believe that something is seriously amiss in this area.
|
| We continually encounter situations where a USB 2.0 device - generally
| involving a flash drive or USB external hard drive, will work perfectly
fine
| in one machine and not in another. And, in far too many cases, we're
unable
| to determine why this is so since we're unable to detect any
| hardware/software problem in the balking machine that would cause this
| non-recognition effect.
|
| We've put together a more-or-less checklist for troubleshooting these
rather
| common USB non-recognition problems that (hopefully) may be of some value
to
| users encountering these non-recognition types of problems as they affect
| USB devices. I realize most of these will not be relevant to your
situation
| since some of these items refer to USB external hard drives but let me
list
| them anyway for others who may be experiencing more-or-less similar
| problems.
|
| 1. Access Disk Management and see if the USB device is listed. If so, and
| there's no drive letter assigned, see if you can assign a drive letter to
| the device.
| 2. If the USB device is listed in Disk Management with an assigned drive
| letter, right-click on its listing and select Explore from the submenu.
| Hopefully, Windows Explorer will open and the device will be listed.
| 3. Connect the USB device *directly* to a USB port on the computer, not
via
| a USB hub. Try different USB ports should your computer have multiple
ports.
| 4. Avoid using a USB extension cable.
| 5. Try connecting a USB device (that does not contain an auxiliary power
| supply) to a USB port both before and after the boot operation.
| 6. Where a USB (or Firewire) external HDD is involved, access Device
| Manager, highlight the Disk drives listing and click on the Action menu
item
| and then the "Scan for hardware changes" sub-menu item. Do the same in
Disk
| Management > Action > Rescan disks.
| 7. Try alternate powering on/off methods. If the USB device contains its
own
| power supply, try booting up with its power on, then try powering on only
| *after* the system has booted to a Desktop.
| 8. Try a different USB cable.
| 9. In the USB controllers section of Device Manager, uninstall all the USB
| controllers listed and reboot.
| 10. If the device in question is not a commercial USB external HDD but
| rather one in which you installed a HDD in a USB enclosure, jumper the HDD
| as Master (or Single if the HDD is a Western Digital disk). A number of
| users have reported that jumper configuration corrected their
| non-recognition problem. In my own experience it didn't seem to matter how
a
| USB external HDD was jumpered. But it may be worth a try.
| 11. If the device in question is a USB external HDD, first check out the
HDD
| with the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility. If it checks out
OK,
| and you can remove the HDD from its enclosure (without voiding any
| applicable warranty), do so and install the HDD as an internal HDD to
| determine if there are problems with the drive.
| 12. If the USB device is connected to a USB 2.0 PCI card, try changing the
| PCI slot to which it's currently connected to another one.
| 13. Access the website of the manufacturer of the USB device to determine
if
| there's any firmware update or info re the problem you're experiencing or
| there's any possibility that the USB enclosure itself might be defective.
| 14. Determine from the manufacturer of your motherboard whether there's a
| BIOS upgrade affecting USB device recognition.
|
| P.S.
| A number of posters have reported they've found useful information re
| troubleshooting USB devices on this
| site...
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html
|
| In your situation, assuming the problem can't be resolved in the near
| future, since the device in question is one you recently purchased from
| newegg, whether it would be best to simply RMA it back to them as a
| defective device. But if you *are* able to resolve the problem and get the
| device consistently functioning, please keep us informed on how you
| accomplished it.
| Anna
|
|
|
| | > Anna,
| > I neglected to mention that I also have a "SimpleTech" 256Mb Flash Drive
| > and
| > a "Sony" 128Mb "Micro Vault" Flash Drive and they both work where this
| > "Newegg" 8Gb Flash Drive doesn't.
| > This PC is a AMD 1Gb (about 4 yrs old). I also have a new Dimension E521
| > (XP
| > Pro) Dual Core AMD and it 'kinda' works in it.
| > In addition, I have a Dell Latitude (Pentium III) and have similar
| > problems.
| > My Computer on both the Latitude and the AMD 1Gb don't indicate any
| > existance of the "Removable Drive" device.
| > On my Dell Dimension E521 'Dual Core AMD 64) it works as it should. The
| > "Thumb Drive" shows as "Thumb Drive E:\Removable Disk" within 'My
| > Computer'
| > Cheers again.
| > Vernon
| >
| >
| > "Anna" wrote:
| >
| >>
| >> | >> > G'day Rick,
| >> > Here I was yesterday thinking the I, "Robinson Crusoe" was alone with
| >> > this
| >> > problem. I just purchased a "Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Flash Drive" from New
| >> > Egg,
| >> > which on the "blurb" card in the packaging states "Fully Compatible
| >> > with
| >> > USB
| >> > 1.1 and Hi-Speed USB 2.0"
| >> > Even if my computer only had USB 1.1 controllers, it should work?
| >> > Right?
| >> > Wrong!!!
| >> > Same Schmidt... Different Day!!!
| >> > The reason I purchased this "Thumb Drive" was so I could carry big
gobs
| >> > of
| >> > files (mainly photos) in my pocket as I traveled and be able to stuff
| >> > my
| >> > 'drive' into someone else's USB port and show them my photo
collection
| >> > etc.
| >> > Chee!
| >> > Have you or anyone else come up with some kind of answer to this
| >> > problem
| >> > and
| >> > also, will I constantly have this issue with every other computer I
| >> > stick
| >> > my
| >> > "Thumb" into? Have I purchased a 'high-priced' lure for my next bass
| >> > fishing
| >> > trip or what?
| >> > Can you Rick, or anyone else email me if you have a fix?
| >> > Vernon
| >> >
| >> >
| >> > "rickbrem" wrote:
| >> >
| >> >> Using XP. When I try to install a USB 2.0 Flash Drive I get an
error
| >> >> message
| >> >> telling me that I need a hi-speed controller. Can anyone tell me
what
| >> >> this
| >> >> means, how I do it? (Before I updated from ME to XP, this flash
drive
| >> >> worked!)
| >> >> Many thanks.
| >> >> --
| >> >> Richard Gruen
| >>
| >>
| >> Vernon:
| >> I don't think this refers to the precise problem you're raising but
take
| >> a
| >> look at this anyway...
| >>
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;835967
| >>
| >> So what *is* your precise problem? You insert the flash drive into one
of
| >> your USB ports and nothing? The system doesn't recognize its existence?
| >> Not
| >> listed in Windows Explorer? No "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the
| >> notification area of your Desktop?
| >>
| >> Have other USB devices that you use work? A USB printer? Camera?
| >> Whatever?
| >>
| >> Assuming you have more than one USB port on your computer, the same
| >> problem
| >> regardless of whether the device is plugged into another USB port?
| >>
| >> Have you tried the device in another computer? Think it might be just a
| >> simple matter of a defective device?
| >>
| >> Some of these flash drives have a tiny switch on the device (barely
| >> recognizable) that, in effect, "turns off" the device. Can you check
| >> that?
| >>
| >> When you access Device Manager, any clue in the USB controllers
section?
| >> Anna
| >>
| >>
| >>
|
|
