Laptop won't recognise USB

[Sepulcher]

I've been using this USB since February, and it's only today I've come across this problem. I tried it on the computers in the local library, my laptop and another home desktop with no luck at all.

I have a lot of work on there. There is no brand for the USB as I was given it by a medicine company (my father is a doctor so he receives free items from these companies from time to time).

The LED light is on so the USB actually works.

Thanks in advanced.

 

[TVeblen]

Hello Sepulcher. Welcome to the forum.

I'm guessing that this is a USB Thumbdrive (Stick).

The LED indicates that the thumbdrive is getting power. It will also blink when transmitting data. If the LED is continuously lit it could mean it is trying to access data but can't. In normal operation the LED should turn off after connecting.

Do you get a "Ba-Dupe" sound when you connect the thumbdrive on any computer?

Do you see a switch of any kind on the thumbdrive?

Be prepared for the possibility that the thumbdrive is dead. When they die it is like a light bulb.

 

[jumanji]

1. Does the thumbdrive show up in My Computer?

2. Does it show up in the Device Manager?

3. Is it seen in Disk Management?

4. What kind of data do you have on the thumbdrive that you may want to
recover?

Since it did not work on any computer, it is most probably dead but let us explore it further and see whether there is any chance of retrieving the data.

 

[Sepulcher]

@TVeblen: I got the "ba-dup" sound when I used to connect the USB, and even a dialogue box asking me if I want to open the files. There are no switches either on the USB.

@jumanji: It doesn't show up in My Computer,
It doesn't show up in device manager,
Not even disk management.

Well, the USB is around 200MB, so all that is on it is work (.pdfs, MS office docs and powerpoints), most of which are quiet important.

Thanks for replying guys

 

[DeaconFrost]

Do other devices work on those USB ports? If it isn't recognized in any of those lists you checked, it doesn't sound good. Flash drives, especially generic ones, are notoriously unreliable.

 

[jumanji]

....... I got the "ba-dup" sound when I used to connect the USB, and even a dialogue box asking me if I want to open the files. There are no switches either on the USB. .......

What dialog box do you get? Can you please post a screenshot of the dialog box? And what happens when you click "OK" to open the files?

(Usually we get an Autoplay Dialog box when we plugin a pendrive giving various options including "open folder to view files - using windows explorer" and that would mean that the pendrive is recognised, gets a drive letter and should be seen in My computer, Device Manager, and Disk Management. I am curious to know what other dialog box it could be.)

 

[catlovingwoman]

Have you connected the USB stick to a port directly on the motherboard? I have had problems before; no ba-dup sound, but when I changed ports, the stick was seen. Try to be as close as possible to the board, on the board if possible.
So you connect it to the computer, it is not seen by the machine @ all? Or other machines? (did this go through the wash lol?)
Try Safe Mode. If that doesn't work, well..I'm stuck.

 

[Thorsen]

if its only 200mb then it might not be USB2.0 compliant. USB2.0 should be backward compatible, but the USB Host Controller might be malfunctioning and not accessing the data. (scratch that... the possibility of all computers accessed being faulty is not likely)

The other possibility is the data is corrupted and the packets of data are not being read when the device connects. This would cause the device to stop accessing.

Can you give us a make/model of the thumb drive and if it says it is USB2.0 compatible or not.

Also make sure that there are not other devices connected if it is USB1.0; USB2.0 devices can prevent the Host controller from accessing the lower speed USB1.0 device.

 

[Thorsen]

side note: For anyone interested, here is a good pdf explaining USB2.0 Architecture:

http://www.mindshare.com/files/ebooks/Universal Serial Bus System Architecture.pdf

 

[Trucidation]

Do other devices work on those USB ports? If it isn't recognized in any of those lists you checked, it doesn't sound good. Flash drives, especially generic ones, are notoriously unreliable.

This.

I don't want to get you down, but pretty much all USB drives are good for are for transferring stuff around. You do NOT want to use these things as the primary place where you keep your data.

Personally I only use one for my car's mp3 player.