USB Flash Drive problem

[SOD'EM]

Bought a 32GB flash drive and it won't work in my USB ports. It does work on my other laptop, and in my TV. Just not on my new laptop. Other USB devices work OK.

 

Is this a common thing, and is there something I can do to test my USB ports, or update them?

 

Thanks guys and gals.

 

SOD'EM

[Mark&Janice]

Does the PC detect the USB drive and not show in "my computer" ? if so

 

1. Click Start, click Run, type compmgmt.msc, and then click OK

2. In the console tree, click Disk Management. The Disk Management window will appear

3. On this disk management window, you can see some drives including the portable drive. Right click on your portable drive and click change drive letter and paths

4. Now a assign a new drive letter which is not being used by any of your drives in My Computer

5. After assigning the new drive letter your portable drive will show up in my computer with other drives

[SOD'EM]

Thanks for your quick reply M&J.

 

When I plug it in, the light flashes for a millisecond and goes off. When I plug it into another laptop, the light comes on and stays on.

I am presuming there is a fault with my USB sockets, although other USB devices work OK in them. Nothing comes up in my computer

and nothing happens at all.

[SOD'EM]

Thanks for your quick reply M&J.

 

When I plug it in, the light flashes for a millisecond and goes off. When I plug it into another laptop, the light comes on and stays on.

I am presuming there is a fault with my USB sockets, although other USB devices work OK in them. Nothing comes up in my computer

and nothing happens at all.

[andydd]

Mark&Janice's advice is the most common problem, a newly inserted USB is given a drive letter that already exists and the 2 clash and the result is, one of them can't be seen. If iot isnt that problem then it may be that 32GB isnt supported, Im not sure, but it is a very new spec, perhaps only 16gb is supported ?Andy

[SOD'EM]

It doesn't even show up in Disk Management. My USB external HD works fine. I'm confused.

[locutus]

Plug it in and go to device manager... any !'s there?

[SOD'EM]

There are no '!'s' at all. The USB port can't get any power to the device. If I wiggle it, I can get the light on it to flicker.

But the light won't stay on like it does plugged into my other lappy, and the TV.

[SOD'EM]

I have noticed that the part that plugs in to the USB port is a fair bit shorter than other external USB devices I have. Could that be a problem?

 

Also, when I wiggle the flash drive when it is connected, the red LED light flickers on and off.

[locutus]

That could very well be the problem. If you have a USB extention lead give that a go.

[SOD'EM]

I ordered one online yesterday. Thanks Loccy. I am off to Devon now until Saturday, so will try that when I get back.

Hope you all have a great time while I'm away enjoying myself.

[locutus]

Have a good time!

[SOD'EM]

Got USB extension lead this mornig, and HEY PRESTO!!!! It works:whoo:

 

I still find it strange that I need to use the extension though. I got a 4 hub extension for £3 including delivery.

 

Thanks guys.

[Mark&Janice]

Glad you got it sorted, good call locutus

[SOD'EM]

Just a little update guys. The USB works on my TV, and I can watch a movie that I have on it. It won't work in my kids TV even though they have a USB port. The movie title appears, but it will not play. I have since found (through thr TV manual) that their TV's can only support USB's that are formatted to FAT16/FAT32. I don't want to reformat the USB flash drive because I will lose everything on it. Is there any way you can sort the TV's so that we can use the USB as it is at the moment (NTFS)?

[locutus]

Nope, sorry. If it only reads FAT 16 / FAT 32, it will not read NTFS.

[SOD'EM]

Just bought another Flash Drive (exactly the same) for a friend. That one works in my laptop without the extension. I think I will copy all the data from my one and then clear it and give it to my mate.

[locutus]

fat 32 only supports files up to 4 gig in size, so this would be unsuitable for some larger movie files, but if that's not an issue, you could sort it for your kids TV whilst you're at it.

[SOD'EM]

Yeah thanks Loccy. It means I would have to buy another one though. I would not have to format it, as it is already set to FAT32. I don't want to reformat the one I have back to FAT32 as I would lose everything on it.

[SOD'EM]

Just got a 1GB Flash Drive for nowt and put a movie on it for my son (about 700MB). I left it formatted to FAT32 and Plugged it in to his TV. The movie appeared and played for about six or seven seconds then stopped. You could see the movie length was over an hour but it stopped anyway.

 

WADDUPWIDDAT????????

[jamesheart]

I buy kingston 8 GB USB. But it damage after 2 months. Then i got Kingmax 8GB, it does work properly.

[Mark&Janice]

Like any USB device ensure that you "safely remove" the device