Installation & update
About program installation and update, hardware, operating systems, setup, etc.

USB device recognition

lagodue
Newcomer
I have a relatively new HP PC running XP. Apps run just fine, but my problem is that the 'puter refuses to recognize something as simple as a USB flash drive. Same thing with a new digital camera. Correct drivers have been loaded for each.
On another Compaq 'puter, the flash drive and camera are recognized without problem.
Anyone have a clue?
"Bob" - Church of the Sub-Genius
Graphisoft afficionado since 1993
7 REPLIES 7
Anonymous
Not applicable
Strange that you should bring that up, "Bob". Last week I installed a new Dell 24" monitor (which has side-ports for USB devices and memory cards), and except for the very first time I connected a USB device (flash drive, digital camera, a different flash drive) none of my USB slots are now registering. It does not matter whether I have the USB cable connecting monitor to PC or not, or after a restart either way, nothing registers.

With the monitor USB connected to PC I see a drive F and drive G, but they are empty (even wtih a device plugged into monitor slots). When I connect a USB device I hear the "ba-ding" sound that means something new is connected, but nothing shows up in my "Devices with removeable Storage" area, or elsewhere. No automatically-popped-up "What do you want to do now?: View slideshow, folders, etc." either.

Strange that my flash drive worked once, digital camera worked once (maybe even twice), colleagues USB flash drive worked once, but since then.... nothing.

What I'm saying is, I'd like advice too please.
Barry Kelly
Moderator
s2art wrote:
Strange that you should bring that up, "Bob". Last week I installed a new Dell 24" monitor (which has side-ports for USB devices and memory cards), and except for the very first time I connected a USB device (flash drive, digital camera, a different flash drive) none of my USB slots are now registering. It does not matter whether I have the USB cable connecting monitor to PC or not, or after a restart either way, nothing registers.

With the monitor USB connected to PC I see a drive F and drive G, but they are empty (even wtih a device plugged into monitor slots). When I connect a USB device I hear the "ba-ding" sound that means something new is connected, but nothing shows up in my "Devices with removeable Storage" area, or elsewhere. No automatically-popped-up "What do you want to do now?: View slideshow, folders, etc." either.

Strange that my flash drive worked once, digital camera worked once (maybe even twice), colleagues USB flash drive worked once, but since then.... nothing.

What I'm saying is, I'd like advice too please.
I don't know if this will help but check the drive letter of your device.
Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management.
Then try changing the drive letter (right click on the device icon).

Sometimes the attached devices share a drive letter with an already mapped drive.
Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
lagodue
Newcomer
"A USB device, such as a camera, scanner, or printer, loses its connection and stops working unexpectedly. The USB device works when Windows starts but later stops working."

Go here for help:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bph07246&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=83461&dlc=en...
"Bob" - Church of the Sub-Genius
Graphisoft afficionado since 1993
Anonymous
Not applicable
you could try assigning it a new drive letter.

this is what I do if I can't see my usb device.

start --> control panel

make sure your in category view, not classic view under the control panel tab top left.

click on performance and maintenance

click on administrative tools

click computer management

in computer management window in left panel click disk management

in right panel find your usb disk, right click on it and there option to assign a drive letter.

As you can see from the picture below, I had issues with my usb disk on this pc and I have assigned it the drive letter S now.

If your usb disk does not show up on the list there something else wrong.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks for the advice guys, but it makes me a bit nervous.

See image below. When I go to disk Management USB device shows as H, which is our server. Top panel shows 984MB (which is good, 1MB flash drive), but when I right click and go to properties it shows our server properties, 120GB.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if drives F and G were added when monitor was connected, then next letter available is H, which it's trying to set but conflicting with server. How can I get around this?
Barry Kelly
Moderator
s2art wrote:
Thanks for the advice guys, but it makes me a bit nervous.

See image below. When I go to disk Management USB device shows as H, which is our server. Top panel shows 984MB (which is good, 1MB flash drive), but when I right click and go to properties it shows our server properties, 120GB.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if drives F and G were added when monitor was connected, then next letter available is H, which it's trying to set but conflicting with server. How can I get around this?
You will quite often get USB devices with the same drive letter as a mapped network drive.
It is almost as if Windows doesn't recocnize the mapped drive letter as one that should be reserved.
I am not sure why this dialogue shows your 1MB flash drive but properties gives your network drive.
But then this is the whole problem.

You should be able to simply right click on drive H and change it's letter.
The flash drive should take the new letter and your network drive should remain as "H".

Worst come to worst remove the mapped drive, sort out the flash drive letter to be something other than "h" and then re-map your network drive as "H".

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Anonymous
Not applicable
Ha ha. I'm smarter than my computer

Found a way around the problem...

Plugged in our digital camera: it became drive H (clashing with server)
Plugged in Flash Drive: It became drive I, which I have changed to J using the above disk management procedure, to give some breathing room

Unplugged camera and Flash drive. Re-inserted flash drive and it is now referred to as J. Yahoo.

Thanks for all the help.