Windows 7: USB drive not detected

On my new laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium, my 4GB USB thumb drive is not detected.

The drive work fine on any other PC I have tried it on.

When I plug it in I hear the typical "connect" sound windows makes and the led on the device flashes a couple of times, but it does not show up in explorer nor in the "safely remove hardware" icon.



I have tired all 3 USB ports on my laptop and it won't work on any of them. Any other device I have connected to any of those USB ports has worked perfectly fine.

I have tried Control Panel > Add a device, but windows doesn't find anything.

What else can I do to get the device to work on my laptop?

Solved...

I went to Control Panel>Printers and devices.
After devices and printers there was a third row with an unidentified USB device. Going to the properties of the device and then to change configuration (a button with the admin shield on it) I was able to force the system to look for an update for the device driver. It found one and installed it after which the drive popped up in my explorer. It works fine now.

Hope this will help someone who runs into the same problem. I still don't understand why this would happen, but at least I can use my drive again and access my files.

I just wanted you to know that I just had this problem, and your solution was just the right thing to do. So thank you!

For me it was especially odd. My coworkers and I got these USB sticks as a promotional item. Mine had been working, then stopped, not being detected at all. It worked fine on my coworker's computer, and his USB worked fine on both of ours. They're the same aren't they?? Anyway all is well now so yay.

Glad it was of help!

I have a similar, but not identical problem:

I've plugged an Arduino Leonardo board into three different USB ports on my Dell Windows 7 quad core computer, but the machine refuses to see the board. No amount of safe mode or other reboot makes any difference.

I just tried the Add Device approach, but the only thing it wasnt to do is install a network or a Bluetooth device. The Arduino is neither.

What am I doing wrong?