Computer not recognising USB flash drives

[Secretnimbus]

Hope you can help?? I've recently got my new PC from PCS (not got around to posting any pics in the forum yet) but today when I went to pull some coursework off my memory stick my comp failed to recognise and flash drives plugged into it. All my other USB devices are working like my mouse, keyboard, hard drives, printer just not flash drives. Any suggestions??

P.s they definitely work because I've used them on laptop!!!

 

[steaky360]

Did you try the flash drive in another USB port?

Does it recognise any flash drives? Or is it just the one you are trying to use just now?

 

[Rakk]

Is it possible that your flash drive came with its own drivers originally and you had to install them on your laptop before it could use it, I seem to remember some flash drives doing stuff like that a while back.

 

[Secretnimbus]

Tried it in multiple ports front and back, it it won't recognise 3 flash drives I've tried, the flash drives worked before just not today!!!

 

[steaky360]

Does anything appear when you insert the flash drive (like its installing drivers etc.) does the computer still recognise something is plugged in (just not that it is a flash drive)?

 

[vanthus]

Does the USB flash drive show in "computer",if not check in Disk Management to see if it's showing there and has a drive letter assigned.
To open Disk Management, click "Start"/right click"computer"/Manage/under "Storage"select "Disk Management",or click "start" and type diskmgmt.msc in search box.

 

[Secretnimbus]

It appears under 'Devices and Printers' and has been showing up as a drive in Disk Management but says 'No Media' (won't appear in computer unless hidden folders/files selected but then greyed out with no storage capacity). I tried formatting it on the laptop but no luck??

 

[vanthus]

Is there a drive letter assigned to the drive in disk management,if not right click on the bar of the drive (you may need to scroll down to see it) and select "change drive letter and paths"
then "add",if it has a drive letter assigned,try changing it.

 

[Secretnimbus]

Tried changing the drive letters but still no luck unfortunately!!

 

[Secretnimbus]

It seems to be working with the back USB ports atm but not the front ones???

 

[steaky360]

Might be that the front ports are underpowered / not connected? Do they recognise other devices?

 

[Secretnimbus]

Yeah they'll accept other devices such as an mp3 player and game pad but only the front USB 3.0 ports seem to be able to power the memory stick and not the older USB 2.0 ports!!

 

[Secretnimbus]

Turns out in the end it was Samsung Kies that was stopping my computer recognising USB flash drives!!! Found it on Sandisk's forum that many people are having this problem where having Kies installed prevents flash drives showing in explorer and you either need to kill it in Task Manager every time you want to use a flash drive or uninstall it completely (which I promptly did when I found out)!!

 

[Sleinous]

Are you sure the chipset drivers are installed for your motherboard? Usually this can solve these problems (basic USB functionality like KB and mouse are included with default drivers when Windows is sintalled) but the chipset drivers and any additional USB 3.0 controller drivers will give you full functionality of all your USB ports, both front and back. What motherboard are you using?