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General discussion

FLASH drive not detected on laptop's usb 2.0 port

May 30, 2005 3:10PM PDT

I'm trying to use a new 256MB FLASH drive on my laptop, but it is only detected on one of its usb 1.1 ports. In other words, it is never detected on any of the 4 usb 2.0 ports of my PCMCIA card. So I cannot run it on the laptop at optimal speed.

However, it is correctly detected and works fine on my desktop's usb 2.0 ports. And everything else, including the printer, runs fine on the laptop's PCMCIA usb 2.0 card.

Without a driver disk, how can I get the drive to run on the laptop's usb 2.0 ports?

Laptop OS: Win XP - Pro
FLASH Drive: Memorex 256MB usb 2.0(unsure of model no.)
--David

Discussion is locked

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One thing.
May 30, 2005 9:21PM PDT

USB 2.0 is not supported in the OS you noted.

Bob

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FLASH drive not detected
May 31, 2005 4:01AM PDT

On the same PCMCIA card (four usb 2.0 ports), my printer runs fine at full speed. But none of those four ports detects my FLASH drive.

So are you saying that no external usb 2.0 DRIVE is supported on WinXP Pro?

--David

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USB 2.0 didn't show up until SP1.
May 31, 2005 4:12AM PDT

You noted just XP Pro.

If was just a detail you left out, try telling about the laptop make/model. Some have only USB 1.1 and some require a driver that Microsoft will not supply for you.

Bob

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Specs of my laptop
May 31, 2005 7:51AM PDT

My laptop is an IBM ThinkPad i1300, model 1171-NM1. And the usb hub is an NEC 4-port usb 2.0 PCMCIA card.

And I installed the WinXP Service Pack I over a year ago. As a matter of fact, I've installed every Win update except SP2.

But, so far, neither my FLASH drive, nor my connected external HDD enclosure, nor my wireless mouse adapter have been detected on any of the card's ports.

--David

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From specs I read...
May 31, 2005 8:12AM PDT

This model laptop has only USB 1.1 ports on the machine.

There are many reasons for the onboard ports to not work. The most common being the OS is not factory installed. Too many can't find the "motherboard drivers."

As to the service packs, that's good you have at least SP1, but don't leave out details like that in your posts.

Bob

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My usb 1.1's vs the usb 2.0's
May 31, 2005 12:44PM PDT

The onboard usb 1.1 ports work fine. But the problem I'm having is getting the 4-port PCMCIA usb 2.0 card to work and allow all things to run at full speed.

My Canon printer runs fine on the card's usb 2.0 ports, but the usb 2.0 FLASH drive is only detected and enabled on the laptop's onboard usb 1.1 ports. IOW, the FLASH drive runs fine on my desktop's usb 2.0 card, but not on the laptop's usb 2.0 PCMCIA card.

--David

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Nailing down the problem statement.
May 31, 2005 9:24PM PDT

No problem, but your statements are moving around as to what the issue is. I compared your first post with this one and .. it doesn't match.

HOWEVER, the issue still smells of an OS installed by someone else than the factory. Some motherboard or card driver is the usual cause. And reviewing a few posts didn't reveal who installed the OS.

-> Why the lack of detail in your posts? In your first post you omitted the Service Pack. I may have missed it, but no word about who installed the OS, what drivers they fetched and how/where the drivers were obtained/from. Too many think Microsoft does this.

Best of luck.

Bob

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OS Installer
Jun 2, 2005 1:59PM PDT

I installed WinXP Pro as an upgrade from 98SE, and it's still in FAT32 format.

--David

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YES!!!
Jun 2, 2005 10:11PM PDT

That explains it. Such an install will not result in many laptop USB ports working. And sometimes the PC-Card slot may be flighty.

Fix? Get the latest BIOS and Motherboard drivers from the laptop maker. If they don't offer XP drivers, you go back to the OS that works.

In closing, it doesn't matter what file system is in use.

Bob

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System compatibility
Jun 4, 2005 5:00PM PDT

Are you saying that I might need to change the system from FAT32 to NTFS? If so, will I have to uninstall and reinstall WinXP, or can the system be upgraded (maybe with the WinXP setup disk) by only over-writing Windows or maybe using a tweak utility?

I was guessing that everything was compatible since the usb 2.0 printer runs ok on the laptop's PCMCIA and the FLASH drive runs fine on the desktop's usb 2.0 PCI card.

BTW, the desktop (with Win2K Pro) and the laptop (with WinXP Pro) have 2 things in common: Both are running on FAT32 systems, and both are also upgrades from Win98 SE.

--David

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Rereply.
Jun 4, 2005 11:45PM PDT

''Are you saying that I might need to change the system from FAT32 to NTFS? If so, will I have to uninstall and reinstall WinXP, or can the system be upgraded (maybe with the WinXP setup disk) by only over-writing Windows or maybe using a tweak utility?''

I wrote ''it doesn't matter what file system is in use.'' In a word. NO.

''I was guessing that everything was compatible since the usb 2.0 printer runs ok on the laptop's PCMCIA and the FLASH drive runs fine on the desktop's usb 2.0 PCI card.''

I know too much about ''motherboard drivers.'' In short, your OS install is complete enough for the PC-Card but not complete enough for the other ports.

''BTW, the desktop (with Win2K Pro) and the laptop (with WinXP Pro) have 2 things in common: Both are running on FAT32 systems, and both are also upgrades from Win98 SE.''

Yes, and no one tells you about all the drivers you have to find to make it all work proper. I did.

Bob