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USB Device Not Recognized

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JR Tyner
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Last seen: 14 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2009-06-15 08:14
USB Device Not Recognized

I got a new 4 GB USB Memory stick for my college classes. I installed PortableApps while in class on a Windows XP system. When I got home, I started using in on my laptop with Vista. With some help I got my Gmail account to perfectly sync with though the Portable Thunderbird App. I got help here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1287515
I'm posting that link to show the steps I went though in case that caused the problem. I even went though the steps so that it sync'd my USB drive with my Gmail account for off line viewing. Being able to read my email off my USB even when I didn't have an internet connection made my life so much easier that I went though the steps again to also set up my college email. A few steps where different because it's a Google Apps Email address with my college's name instead of gmail in the address. I also used the drive in my college's computer lab with no problems. The problem did not start till I used my drive in the school's library. For some reason the computer's security level is much higher there, ridiculously high. It also has many more restictions, you can not even clear your cookies. So I was worried about someone stealing my log in information. So I put my USB in and I went to open up the Portable FireFox. PortableApps would not load. After bringing up the My Computer folder and trying to manually start the PortableApps, I gave up and decided to head home. I clicked on the USB symbol in the task bar. I then went to the normal steps to "Saftly Remove Hardware". Well guess what, that is also restricted. So I had no choice but to just pull my USB stick out. When I plugged my USB drive into my laptop, a warning came up and asked if I wanted to scan and fix errors. I clicked OK, but it locked up. I open the My Computer folder and although it would not open my USB drive, it still showed that it was the right size and that my data was still on it. I removed my USB drive, and did a hard reboot on my laptop. When I reinserted my USB drive, windows popped up "USB Device Not Recognized" and it no longer appears in the My Computer folder.

ottosykora
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Last seen: 21 hours 40 min ago
Joined: 2007-10-11 17:48
defective?

>windows popped up "USB Device Not Recognized" and it no longer appears in the My Computer folder.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

ottosykora
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Last seen: 21 hours 40 min ago
Joined: 2007-10-11 17:48
defective?

>windows popped up "USB Device Not Recognized" and it no longer appears in the My Computer folder.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

JR Tyner
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Last seen: 14 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2009-06-15 08:14
Salvagable?

But is there any way to restore the memory drive or save the files on it?

ottosykora
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Last seen: 21 hours 40 min ago
Joined: 2007-10-11 17:48
if controller

is deffective and you have no access to the flash file system any more, then definitely not.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

JR Tyner
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Last seen: 14 years 9 months ago
Joined: 2009-06-15 08:14
Could it be something else?

What if the problem is something else?

ottosykora
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Last seen: 21 hours 40 min ago
Joined: 2007-10-11 17:48
might be

but, if the windows tells you it can not recognize what device this is, then it is very likely to be hardware defect.

You could allways go and try to reformat it somehow, if other operating system will recognize what that item is. If you download g-parted , it comes in form of iso file, and burn it to a CD, then boot your PC from it and try to reformat the stick with it if it will be possible. Your data will be lost anyway, so you can try.
There is not much one can do otherwise, unless you will find out what manuafcturer ist the actual controller chip and search for low level utility to play with the controller itself. But since it does not even give out the class of device, it will also not give out manufacturer number code and therefore you might be quite lost here.
I have some collection of sticks like this, most of them I got as freebee somewhere, or someone bought it very, very cheap in e-bay or so.
Then I went to buy some stick with warranty and so on from reputable supplier. This was much more expensive, but then it does work at least.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

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