SanDisk JumpDrive Problems

[stranoblaze]

i recently purchased a 512mb SanDisk Micro Cruzer jumpdrive. when i first opened it up, i inserted it into my computer at work which runs on XP (sp2). i was able to transfer files to the drive. so when i got home that night, i inserted the jumpdrive into my home computer which also runs on XP (sp2). my computer did not recognize it. i also noticed the green light on the jumpdrive lit up for a split second, then faded away. i tried the two ports on the front and the 6 USB ports on the back of my harddrive and nothing happened.
so the next morning i brought it back to work with me and inserted into my computer. now it does not work at all on ANY computer.

any ideas?

thanks in advance

[chrisbliss18]

Sounds like the drive is damaged. Look inside the port on the device. There should be four metal "pins" along one side. See if any of them look bent. Without applying very much pressure, see if the plug has any play (wiggle). If it does, the internals might be damaged.

A possible solution that I found on SanDisk's FAQs was to open Device Manager and check to see if the drive is listed with a yellow exclamation mark. If it is, right-click the device, select uninstall, unplug the device, and plug the device back in.

Another option would be to use the Add Hardware Wizard and see if it finds your drive.

[stranoblaze]

Sounds like the drive is damaged. Look inside the port on the device. There should be four metal "pins" along one side. See if any of them look bent. Without applying very much pressure, see if the plug has any play (wiggle). If it does, the internals might be damaged.

A possible solution that I found on SanDisk's FAQs was to open Device Manager and check to see if the drive is listed with a yellow exclamation mark. If it is, right-click the device, select uninstall, unplug the device, and plug the device back in.

Another option would be to use the Add Hardware Wizard and see if it finds your drive.

yeah i'm thinking it's the drive too. are all the pins supposed to be the same length. the middle two are shorter than the outside pins. they don't look bent. but they do wiggle somewhat.
i emailed sandisk and they sent me this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;892050

i doubt it's the service pack though. i tried the drive on 5 computers and it doesn't work in any of them.

thanks for your reply

[stranoblaze]

so i exchanged the faulty drive and got a new one. it worked for 2 days on my home computer and my work computer. i used it on my home computer this morning and the same thing happened to the first one i got. said that the drive malfunctioned.

is it possible that my computer is frying these flash drives or damaging them?

[stranoblaze]

or will a virus damage the drive too?

[stranoblaze]

sandisk replied, "The issue is probably power. The device is not receiving enough power from the computer to operate correctly."

i'm not buying that

[chrisbliss18]

I'm not buying that either. If the USB ports are functioning and you can run other peripherals on them, there's little chance that they are not supplying enough power.

[stranoblaze]

I'm not buying that either. If the USB ports are functioning and you can run other peripherals on them, there's little chance that they are not supplying enough power.

so what do you think is causing the problem? do you think it's a virus on my computer that is damaging the drive?

[chrisbliss18]

As I said before, I think the drive is damaged.

[stranoblaze]

i talked to some guy in Office Depot and he said another customer told him about the same problem. the salesperson said that the model i have has had alot of issues.

[stranoblaze]

so i decided to try a new brand..i purchased the 1GB Verbatim flash drive.

i've had it for about 1.5 months now and it was working fine until last week. i tried to use it on my home computer. all of a sudden, it kept trying to open but then it would close right away. it constanly opens for .5 a second then closes, then tries to open again, then closes etc. it happens repeatedly. so i tried it at work and the same thing happened. so now i'm beginning to think it's my computer and not the flash drives.

any thoughts?

[chrisbliss18]

What is opening and closing?

[stranoblaze]

What is opening and closing?

when i plug the flash drive in the USB port, it looks like it's going to open the drive, but then it closes...then it tries again, then closes. the hour glass briefly appears next to the cursor, then it goes away...then it appears, and goes away..etc

something is preventing the flashdrive from opening completely

[chrisbliss18]

Flash drives don't "open". Can you describe the windows that are popping up? Usually when you first attach a drive, it quickly scans all the files on the drive to see what type of files are contained on it in order to provide different opens like play movies or play audio. When this scan occurs, a small window with a progress bar quickly pops up and shows the progress of scanning the files.

After the drive is attached, can you see the drive listed in Explorer as an available drive?

[jwenting]

Or rather in your physical disk manager?
Sometimes Windows tries to assign a drive name that already exists as a network drive and you have to change the drive name by hand.
Small glitch, happens only if the first network drive has a name which is the next letter after the last physical drive.

[stranoblaze]

Flash drives don't "open". Can you describe the windows that are popping up? Usually when you first attach a drive, it quickly scans all the files on the drive to see what type of files are contained on it in order to provide different opens like play movies or play audio. When this scan occurs, a small window with a progress bar quickly pops up and shows the progress of scanning the files.

After the drive is attached, can you see the drive listed in Explorer as an available drive?

no windows open up. i just see the hour glass appearing and disappearing by my cursor. i hear the sound that is associated with a program opening but then the sound that is associated with a program closing comes on..it does this cycle repeatedly. the only way i can stop it is if i pull the flash drive out of the USB port.

[stranoblaze]

Or rather in your physical disk manager?
Sometimes Windows tries to assign a drive name that already exists as a network drive and you have to change the drive name by hand.
Small glitch, happens only if the first network drive has a name which is the next letter after the last physical drive.

hmm...i just question why the drive worked for a few weeks and now i'm having this problem with it..i just can pinpoint whether it's my computer causing this or just faulty flash drives.

[jwenting]

try the drive on another computer (or more than one). If it doesn't work there it's the drive...
Simple process of elimination.

[stranoblaze]

try the drive on another computer (or more than one). If it doesn't work there it's the drive...
Simple process of elimination.

i tried my work computer and the same thing happened. just wondering if my home computer damaged the drive.

i originally purchased a sandisk drive and that was damaged too. not sure what the cause was

[CeeGee computer]

I placed a directory full of photos on my jump drive. Bought the drive home to my pc... was working with the photos in the directory -- computer shut down... now the drive will not open at all... just says that it cannot be used without formatting...

Is there anyway to fix the drive so that I can find those photo files? How can I restore those files?

[caperjack]

with thumb drive in usb ,go to mycomputer /right click on the icon the device and go to tools ,and error check ,check device ,run the scan