USB Device Not Recognized

JayC5

Hi,

Bit of a problem with a Lacie iamakey usb drive - I keep getting the 'USB Device Not Recognized' popup balloon when I insert it into my laptops USB port. I've tried it in another laptop and get the same error. It doesn't appear to be damaged and it didn't get any physical abuse such as moisture or dropping it etc etc - any ideas folks? My other pen drive works fine so I don't think it could be the laptop.

If it is damaged is there any way to get data off it? - most of my college work to date is on it and that's quite a lot of material....


Thanks in advance for any advice/help - greatly appreciated

JayC

Fysh

If it's Win7, you could try updating the driver in Device Manager and forcing it to use usbstor.sys in %WINDIR%\System32\drivers.

JayC5

Fastest response ever!!! You should consider a job in tech support for either Asus, Dell, Apple etc etc - they could take a leaf out of your book

So, back to the issue - how do I update through device manager?
Nothing has changed to my knowledge with my laptop and Ive had the drive for the past 2 years, this just happened out of the blue...?

The laptops are Win7 and Vista on the other btw

- I checked the drive in Win7 device manager and it states 'Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems (code 43)'
I attempted to update driver but it says its already uptodate...

Fysh

When you plug in the key and get the USB Device Not Recognized, open the Device Manager, find the device (it should be under Universal Serial Bus Controllers), right click and select Update Driver. Select "Browse my computer for driver software", then browse to %WINDIR%\system32\drivers and select USBSTOR.sys. (%WINDIR% is a path variable that identifies the root of your current Windows install, for most people it's C:\Windows).

JayC5

I followed your advice but it will only let me get as far as the 'drivers' folder, in it I can see the subfolders but not the USBSTOR.sys file.

If I go C:\Windows.. from 'Start, 'My Computer' etc etc I can see all the drivers folder files, it doesn't give me the option to see all files when using the 'update driver' option / 'browse my computer for files' etc

Thanks

Technoi

Hi not sure this will work on vista or 7 but for xp if you can open the "run" command line from the start button and enter diskmgmt.msc, a new window will open listing all the drives including the non recognised one. Select that one(remember what size it is compared to the others) and assign it a new drive letter and then it should work.
As i say i could be behind the times on this as its an older OS

Fysh

OK, after selecting "Browse my computer for driver software", choose "let me pick from a list of device drivers" and then click "Have Disk". Then navigate to %WINDIR%\system32\drivers and select USBSTOR.sys.

JayC5

That's a no-go also, I get as far as the below window but the file type is greyed out, it won't allow me to choose anything other than a *.inf file?

(Screenshot attached)