USB Device Not Recognized

[jlking92887]

I have an 8GB Sony Microvault Jumpdrive that I've just recently started having a major problem with. Last Friday I was using it at work and it was working fine. I logged off my computer, then just pulled the jump drive out, I didn't click on the "Add/Remove hardware" icon at the bottom right of the screen, but I made sure that no data was being transfered. I got home and plugged it into my computer and I got an error saying "USB Device Not Recognized. One of the devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and windows does not recognize it" . If I click the dialogue nothing happens at all to fix it. It just shows me which usb port is malfunctioning and shows up as "Unknown Device". Also when I plug in my jump drive the Light on the side of it does not come on anymore and it used to. The error I get doesn't just show up on one computer though. It showed up on my home computer friday, my girlfriends laptop friday, and now here at work today, I also tested it on a Windows XP computer and got the same problem. So I came to believe that something is seriously wrong with the jump drive.

I've tried several different fixes for this problem that I could find on forums online, including uninstalling all my USB drivers, modifiying some files in the registry and shutting down and unplugging my computer for 30+ minutes. But none of them seem to work. I also tried using a data recovery program which I heard was the best way to solve it, and it would not work, as it could not even find the drive on my computer.

I've contacted a few places in trying to recover the data and they are quoting me at costing 250-300+ to recover the data. Which I feel is pretty rediculous. I was hoping maybe someone could suggest what to do or where to take it (I live in the Seattle, WA area).

Computer Stats:
My Home Computer
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
Computer Type: PC

My Girlfriend's Laptop
OS: Windows Vista Home 32bit
Computer Type: PC

Work Computer
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit
Computer Type: PC

[yibblinz]

Well if you have not tried it yet attempt to plug the drive into the rear usb ports. Sometimes front ports are a little buggy. Also sometimes drives wear out and fail to make proper contact. You may try to fiddle with the drive inside the port to get the light to come on. Working for a flash drive manufacturer I see this a lot.

Hope the problem is that simple. The worst possibility is that the drives controller unit someone reset or had been corrupted by a fluke data transfer. In that case the drive is pretty much garbage.

Good luck,

Nick

[yibblinz]

Hello,

I made a special blog post just for this.

Recovering Broken, Unformattable, and Ghost USB Flash Drives

Things to note:

• Only follow the steps in this link if you have tried all other options.
• This will remove all special drive features.
• Depending on your controller manufacturer may or may not work. Additional flash codes are available, post a comment if you would like them.

Hope this helps
-Nick