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Thumbdrive recognition in XP

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stacoma
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Thumbdrive recognition in XP

Has anyone seen anything like the following?

When I plug my Memorex 1GB thumbdrive into my laptop PC running WinXP (with it's USB 1.1 port...ugh!), I see the following (which does not happen when I plug into my desktop PC running WinXP (with a USB 2.0 port/hub)):

The thumbdrive shows up without the label I gave it, just as "Removable Disk," and it is shown as being in RAW format, not FAT32. Know that it *actually works fine* here, unlike what seeing RAW here can often mean. If you call up a command prompt and look at the drive, it says it's FAT32. If you go to Disk Management under Administrative Tools/Computer Management in the Control Panel, you see the message "connecting to logical disk manager service" and when it connects, you see the USB drive label update correctly in Windows Explorer, along with the correct FAT32 identification there, plus it shows up in Disk Management correctly. I had both the logical disk manager services on manual, then switched it to automatic, but it makes no difference. It seems that these services just wont start when you plug in the USB drive, but if you call up "Disk Management" via the Control Panel, , they do start (you don't have to go to Services to start these...they just start right here).

Anyone know why this happens? Since the drive works fine (other than not showing the customized label and the correct drive format), I'm not worrying too much about it, but it is annoying :-|

Thanks.

John T. Haller
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Other machines?

What happens on other machines? Try a couple and see to determine if it is a drive issue or your PC's issue. I've seen similar with boxes that have a slightly messed up USB config in them. A reinstall of WinXP solved it. But be sure it isn't your drive before going down that route.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

stacoma
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Hmmm

Hi John

I haven't tried it on any other PCs other than my desktop PC, where it doesn't have this problem, no matter how many times I eject the drive and reinsert it.

When it is in the laptop, it does work flawlessly (opened a variety of apps, inclucing Poratabe OpenOffice), and a DOS window prompt shows the label ("SCOTT'S USB") and that it is FAT32. The file size info is also correct for FAT32. Once I launch Disk Management the system does come up and show the above label and FAT32, then you see Windows Explorer refresh itself with the correct info. I can try it out in other PCs tomorrow, but if it's just a quirk that doesn't interfere with operations, I would probably forego reinstalling WindowsXP on the laptop if it doesn't cause other issues than this (just because of the pain of a reinstall :-| ).

stacoma
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Weird update

OK, when this is plugged into the laptop PC, all I have to do is rename the drive and that alone will cause it to show that it is FAT32 and not RAW (it is actually FAT32 before then, but just wont display that as such...drive is still working). Unplug it (properly) and plug it back in and it reverts back to the default label and to "RAW." Doesn't act like this on desktop PC.

Bruce Pascoe
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...

Probably something in your Windows configuration is screwed up, the only solution to which being a reinstall of the operating system. If it's working okay, though, I wouldn't bother (Well actually, I personally would, but only because I'm an OCD-level perfectionist. :)).

nm35
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Hm...

Well actually, I personally would, but only because I'm an OCD-level perfectionist. :)).

You too, eh? Wink

~nm35 {blog} {personal space}

stacoma
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Bad laptop!...Bad!...

To John et al

Well, it looks like is some glitch with the laptop configuration...I tried the drive in several computers on campus and there is no problem.
The laptop will recognize it correctly about 10% of the time (just noticed this). I tend to obsess about getting these kind of bugs worked out too, but not this time Shock ... it is actually working, and all this college HW is taking up too much time >:-)

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