strange usb problem

nathan32111

nathan32111

New Member
hey guys,
the other day i plugged in my thumb drive and a balloon comes up saying it doesn't recognize it?
if i go into device manager it comes up as unknown.
ive tryed different thumb drives and different usb ports but they all do the same.
the strange thing is that all my other usb things such as my mouse, keyboard, printer and webcam all work fine.
the only things that dont work are all the three different thumb drives [my brothers and mine].
and yes ive tryed the back usb ports too

most of that probably doesn't even make sense for that im tired from doing homework which may never find its way to school.

thank you:good:
 
btw
dell optiplex 160l
Operating System
MS Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3
CPU
Intel Pentium 4
Willamette 0.18um Technology
RAM
512MB DDR @ 132MHz (2.5-3-3-6)
Motherboard
Dell Computer Corp. 0G1548 (Microprocessor)
Graphics
DELL 1505FP @ 1024x768
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
Hard Drives
40GB Maxtor Maxtor 6E040L0 (PATA) 36 °C
Optical Drives
ATAPI DVD A DH20A4P
Audio
SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
 
Try uninstalling all the usb entries in device manager and reboot and let windows reinstall the drivers and see if it will recognize the flash drive.
 
Do the usb flash drives work in other computers? If so, then sometimes the only way to get certain usb devices recognized is to do a fresh install of windows.
 
Try this little trick. Shut down your system and unplug the power supply, the press the power button a few times then wait a few minutes and plug the power supply back in and start your system. Then check to see if it recognizes the flash drives.
 
Device Manager showed it as unknown; how about Disk Management in Administrative Tools? Try changing the drive letter if it appears at all and re-insert drive.
 
johnb35 said:
Do the usb flash drives work in other computers? If so, then sometimes the only way to get certain usb devices recognized is to do a fresh install of windows.
Click to expand...
I had this problem a while back and John was correct... A fresh install of Windows XP.
My USB sticks would work in other PC's but not my Xp PC, I tried every thing with no results untill a fresh install of OS
 
There may be a problem with your drivers, or your Southbridge may be failing.

I'd try uninstalling the USB drivers and having Windows reinstall them, then I'd try getting a USB add-in card (they're cheap, if harder to come by) and trying that.

Maybe you could email your work to school?
 
Last edited:
Dngrsone said:
There may be a problem with your drivers, or your Southbridge may be failing.

I'd try uninstalling the USB drivers and having Windows reinstall them, then I'd try getting a USB add-in card (they're cheap, if harder to come by) and trying that.

Maybe you could email your work to school?
Click to expand...

id rather not spend any money
but thanks for advice anyway:good:
 
MMM said:
I had this problem a while back and John was correct... A fresh install of Windows XP.
My USB sticks would work in other PC's but not my Xp PC, I tried every thing with no results untill a fresh install of OS
Click to expand...

how do i reinstall windows xp?
i got the computer second hand and no recovery disk or anything
 
You might try calling dell to see if they have recovery cd's available for that model but if its too old, they won't. You may be forced to find a copy of XP on ebay or some other website. I know newegg doesn't offer it anymore and I think tigerdirect only has the media center edition.
 
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