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My Windows XP not recognize any memory device

Last answer on Nov 19, 2009 6:29:50 am GMT Dario, on Aug 6, 2008 1:33:03 am BST 
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Hello,

My Windows XP not recognize any memory devices (installed on my notebook Acer 4720), like pen drives, memory cards, etc... I tried a lot of things to solve this problem. Can somebody there help me?

Thanks!

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1

Dario, on Aug 6, 2008 1:40:52 am BST
  • +16

When I insert a pen drive or a memory card on my notebook, and then I try to open the device in my Windows XP, the Windows show a message saying

"The disk in drive F is not formatted.

Do you want to format it now?"

Then, I press "Ok". I tried all the ways to format the disk, but no works. Then the Windows show a message saying:

"Windows was unable to complete the format."

and later...

"The disk in drive F cannot be formatted."

   
Reply to Dario

32

sunil, on Mar 14, 2009 2:22:01 pm GMT
  • +1

Hi brother plz send me how to format my device

   
Reply to sunil

49

Giri, on May 6, 2009 4:57:18 am BST
  • +2

Right Click the in My Computer Go to Manage And Disk Management U Can Format there
Thank-Q

   
Reply to Giri

33

John-Mesa, on Mar 14, 2009 2:58:44 pm GMT

My BEST guess is that your flash drive is NOT partitioned...I found that to format my flash drive I had to partition it first.

Go to this URL for additional informatin...if it doesn't work, get back to me...good luck!

http://www.lancelhoff.com/multi-partition-a-usb-flash-drive-­in-windows/

John-Mesa, Arizona

   
Reply to John-Mesa

41

mike, on Apr 8, 2009 1:57:24 pm BST
  • +68

My Windows XP not recognize any memory device

   
Reply to mike

59

jHur, on Aug 23, 2009 10:35:55 am BST

Yeah..i too have the same problem

can anyone help us??

jeez..

   
Reply to jHur

71

 Tinku, on Nov 19, 2009 6:29:50 am GMT

My memory card is not formatted
error window is not formatted unable to window

   
Reply to Tinku

2

visuarchie, on Aug 31, 2008 7:21:46 am BST
  • +2

I have the same problem. Can someone help?

Thanks.
Viswanath

   
Reply to visuarchie

3

Dario, on Aug 31, 2008 7:01:18 pm BST

Is your notebook Acer too?

   
Reply to Dario

4

visuarchie, on Sep 1, 2008 8:39:31 am BST
  • +2

No. I have the problem on my desktop.

   
Reply to visuarchie

5

ricky, on Sep 1, 2008 9:35:54 am BST
  • +3

I just got that problem too, it happened right after i booted an OS from the flash drive and installed win XP from my flash..it seems that it removes the formatting function known as "NTFS" during the installation....dont know how to fix it

   
Reply to ricky

6

Ping, on Sep 5, 2008 12:37:47 am BST
  • +1

You have to format in a low level format; boot from windows 98 then run fdisk locate your flash drive delete partition, restart again on win98 type format <drive> where your flash drive located. Careful when doing this because your c drive is your main drive. CAREFULLLLL!!!!!

   
Reply to Ping

7

Dario, on Sep 23, 2008 4:58:33 pm BST

This no solve my problem. But thank you anyway!

   
Reply to Dario

8

g00022054, on Sep 23, 2008 5:08:15 pm BST
  • +2

I have the same problem. nothing i connect to the drive works, it appears then disappears when i try to copy anything or format it or TOUCH anything on it. If i don't do anything it'll remain inserted.

I need help with this too!

   
Reply to g00022054

9

g00022054, on Sep 23, 2008 5:09:09 pm BST

But I have windows vista-- and my laptop is HP

   
Reply to g00022054

10

vcg, on Sep 24, 2008 2:55:49 pm BST
  • +1

I think this problem can be solved by checking the error of the drive by right clicking on the removable drive drom my computer then click on the properties then tools the click the button check now. this will automatically check the errors on the drive and also rectify if any problem had.

   
Reply to vcg

11

Dario, on Sep 24, 2008 3:35:32 pm BST

Thank you! But no works again... When I do this, don't happens anything!

   
Reply to Dario

13

MO, on Oct 22, 2008 2:58:51 am BST
  • +3

Same problem here. After SP# Update, laptop and desktop will not recognize my Western Digital Ext HD. I'm getting the same messages as original poster. Drive contains ALL my mp3's....please help!!! Thanks

   
Reply to MO

14

juippi, on Oct 30, 2008 11:48:28 am GMT

I have the exact same problem on my work pc. I tried two different memory devices and neither work, however they are both just fine when I use them in any other machine so theres nothing wrong with them.

It went bad after installing SP3 so I think the problem is in windows xp's drivers.

   
Reply to juippi

15

johnny, on Jan 5, 2009 8:10:15 pm GMT
  • +5

I know this post is old already, but if it may help any new commmers.

I did this once with one of my USB flash drives. The way I fixed it was by reformatting it with either the ntfs or the FAT partition. Try this:

1. insert the flash drive into usb port
2. right click on "My Computer" > Manage - The Computer Management window popsup.
3. Select Disk Management
4. Locate your Flash Drive at the bottom where it starts with "Disk 0" which is your Hard Drive.
5. Your Flash Drive should say something like "Disk 1, removable", to the right it should have a blue line which means it's a primary partition.
6. If it has a Black line, then it means that the Flash Drive has not been partitioned. To fix this do this:
7. Right click on the black line. It should give you an option to partion it.
8. Go ahead and partition it to FAT or NTFS which ever option you can get or want.
9. Once it is finished, then you will be able to read and write from the Flash Drive.

Let me know if it does not work or if you are having problems.

   
Reply to johnny

16

mikeewilly, on Jan 6, 2009 7:13:48 pm GMT
  • +6

I'm having the same problem as described above. Flash storage devices that work well on other computers (and currently contain data) will not work on an XP computer I'm currently working on for a friend.

Will your solution (adding a partition vis Disk Management) a) destroy whatever data is currently on the device or b) screw up the device in a fashion where it now works on the problem computer but not on computers it previously worked fine on?

Thanks.
Mike

   
Reply to mikeewilly

17

johnny, on Jan 6, 2009 8:10:19 pm GMT
  • +2

It will do A) erase all the information that is on the device, and it will or should work with any computer that can read a flash drive. Even with the computer that the flash drive was having the problem.

First try this:

Right click on the flash drive and click on explore. If you can access it like that, then you can retrieve all the info needed, then try my solution above.


thanks,

Let me know if you need more help or have more questions.

   
Reply to johnny

18

mikeewilly, on Jan 6, 2009 11:08:06 pm GMT
  • +6

OK. Thanks for the reply.

The problem is not with the device however, it is with the computer. The device works fine with every (>10) computer I've tried it with and I can't afford to have it wiped out because it has over 100GB of archival data.

... and the problem is not with just 1 USB storage device it is with every USB storage device that I plug into this computer.

Thanks,
Mike

   
Reply to mikeewilly

39

USB Drive, on Mar 19, 2009 8:50:53 pm GMT
  • +1

Hi Mike,

did you get your problem solve, pls show me how? I got same when I upgrade my XP to SP3.

Thank and regards

   
Reply to USB Drive

25

alfhyde, on Feb 4, 2009 8:03:37 pm GMT
  • +1

Bingo!!!!!!!!! thanks

I think this is to do with backup. I got "disk full" when backin up 11Gb to a 16Gb USB drive.
Can you help?

   
Reply to alfhyde

27

Terry, on Mar 4, 2009 10:51:09 pm GMT
  • +5

I checked our removable harddrive on my mini notebook and it works and I checked the stuff as you wrote and it does appear with the blue line but if I plug it into my pc, it doesnt show anything blue or black line. Any adivce?

   
Reply to Terry

29

callicom1, on Mar 8, 2009 10:41:04 am GMT
  • +2

You are a legend Johnny Thanks very much worked a treat !!!

   
Reply to callicom1

47

lilchelina, on Apr 16, 2009 3:23:40 pm BST
  • +3

Hey i did all the things you recommended to do.but when i loctate my USB and click on it..the blue line dosent appear..its just empty with nothing that appears on it

   
Reply to lilchelina

50

Genesis, on May 7, 2009 3:19:20 am BST

Jhonny thnxs so much, all i did was format this weird device from asia and now it FINALLY works. thnx a whole lot!!!!!! <3

   
Reply to Genesis

60

Joy, on Aug 31, 2009 5:22:21 pm BST
  • +1

Ok I found your help on the usb flash drive issue with windows xp not recognizing it and it doesn't help. My flash drive works on other computers but I plug it into mine, the drive lights up, the computer says it has a USB storage device, but doesn't read it in my computer for me to access it. When I select my computer > manage > disk management > all that shows is Disc 0 and CD drive... nothing else. What do I do???

   
Reply to Joy

70

SilentLetters, on Nov 2, 2009 5:34:15 am GMT

I have this same problem, the error first shows with the bubble "device is not recognized",
and that in the USB port is an entry "Unkown Device"
and in disk managment, there is no entry for it.

   
Reply to SilentLetters

63

XPUser, on Sep 16, 2009 3:50:06 am BST

Thanks Johnny!!

That worked!!

I only made one modification. Because my storage device was not recognised in the first place, I did the following:

Try a USB storage device that IS recognised (rather than a storage device that is NOT recognised)

The drive will now become visible (it may show up as "F" or similar)

Rename the drive to "U" or some other letter late in the alphabet.

Hope this helps

Cheers
LJP

   
Reply to XPUser

65

Rishabh, on Sep 22, 2009 8:01:29 am BST

Hi johnny,
i tried that list of points you provided.

1. There is nothing in Disk 1,removable.
2. There are 2 items with blue lines on both of them in disk 0.
3. My Hard drive of the company TOSHIBA (30 GB) is working on any other computer but not mine...
4. I have a SONY VAIO desktop.

Could you please help if you have any knowledge?

Thanks with due regards,
Rishabh

   
Reply to Rishabh

67

Vim, on Oct 5, 2009 9:50:15 am BST

It worked, Thank you so much.

   
Reply to Vim

19

spook, on Jan 7, 2009 10:02:17 am GMT
  • +1

Hi i had the same problem but finaly solved it all you have to do is reset your bios back to factory default
thats all i did and have had no more trouble since. hope this solves your prob let me know how it goes if it dont work i still might be able to help you.

   
Reply to spook

20

mar, on Jan 10, 2009 8:43:20 am GMT
  • +1

I'm having the same problem. what are bios? :(

   
Reply to mar

21

spook, on Jan 10, 2009 10:39:26 am GMT
  • +2

Hi the bios is the maincontrol for your computer usualy you can get to by pressing esc on the starting of the pc or you can open up your case and you will find a small jumper normaly next to the battery or in one of the corners
all you have to do is move the jumper to next pin for a few secs then replace it back to original pos make sure your pc is off and unpluged when doing this or you may damage mother board.hope this was helpful

   
Reply to spook

22

manjer, on Jan 22, 2009 12:59:51 am GMT
  • +1

Problem is .... your windows is not installed in the primary partition.. and you are trying to format the primary partition which is not possible.. because the prtition table exists on the primary...... so the solution is if you are formating and installig windows again... do it in primary partition.. then you can format all other exyended partitions...

   
Reply to manjer

23

Nicodemus, on Jan 27, 2009 12:08:04 am GMT
  • +1

I've run across this same problem too just in the past couple weeks. All three of my flash drives give the same "the device is not formatted" message when I try to open them, but it won't allow me to format it. They all work perfectly fine on any other PC.

   
Reply to Nicodemus

45

Greg, on Apr 11, 2009 1:43:13 pm BST
  • +1

Hello,

I have the same exact problem with my laptop. Were you able to solve the problem? If so, how?

Thanks,
Greg

   
Reply to Greg

24

alpharetta, on Jan 31, 2009 11:07:19 am GMT
  • +1

I've been searching boards every where on this as well...i tried 3 different usb in multiple ports on my dell desktop with win xp, SP3 installed. I read where if you disable all the usb installs under hardware they should work when they come back on line. It's formatted fine. FAT, i have an external HD that's been sketchy as well (times out when copying larger files) another post said it was a power drain form other things plugged in, trying that. But again, sometimes the device is recognized, then you go to copy and it fails, other times the device isn't even recoqnized.

   
Reply to alpharetta

26

clear1, on Feb 17, 2009 11:57:34 pm GMT
  • +1

I have similar problem on my HP laptop given to my by my employer. Somehow, I got a key and mouse activity logger got into my system. Don't know how it got in but I was very reluctant to use the laptop so, I used the system restore to restore the laptop to a state about 2-3 weeks old. Malware problem is now gone but this time, the external USB disk drive (an old iOmega 160GB) is not being recognized. It used to be recognized prior to system restore, now when I unplug and plug it back in, it says unknown device.
One note: at the beginning of the system restore, I got a message saying drive E: (which was iOmage external disk's drive letter) was not included in the system backups and hence will not be restored. Okay, I understand that but after I power cycle the laptop umpteen times, why doesn't it recognize as a new USB storage device with content on it ?

   
Reply to clear1

28

dallas, on Mar 7, 2009 4:37:21 pm GMT
  • +1

I have the same problem as the last poster. I ran a restore to get rid of malware and since then my usb devices are not recognized. I am also running xp SP3. I got out the old PS2 mouse and keyboard.

   
Reply to dallas

30

Dave, on Mar 8, 2009 3:45:49 pm GMT
  • +1

For what it is worth, I had a network drive that was mapped on Drive "I". For whatever reason, when I inserted my flash drive, it also tried to map to "I" (what a great OS XP is, huh?.) So, I went into Explorer and disconnected the network drive and refreshed my listed drives. Sure enough, my "I" drive now shows the flash drive. Hope that helped, I was having the same problem!

   
Reply to Dave

31

apache1010, on Mar 11, 2009 10:57:16 pm GMT
  • +1

First, download the MS program named Tweak UI, this PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. Version 2.10 requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2003.

Once you have Tweak UI on your drive, open it and then click on "My Computer"...next select "Drives", then check EACH drive you think your falsh drive is on.

Then return to the main menu and click, "My Computer"...your drive should be displayed.

   
Reply to apache1010

40

PeteS, on Mar 21, 2009 5:40:13 pm GMT
  • +2

I'm going insane here.
I've been searching for answers on the web for the past day and haven't got anything that solves my problem.
I thought this TweakUI thing might help, but when I run it and look at the My Computer section, all the drive letters are checked already - all of them A, B , C,...right through to Z.

My problem is that anything that would normally be identified as a USB Mass Storage Device - which in my case is any one of about 4 flash drives I use from time to time, plus a Seagate External USB hard drive - has, as of today, just completely stopped being recognised by anything other than Device Manager on my WinXP SP3 lenovo T60 laptop. Until at least a few days ago, this was all working fine.

The Seagate External drive just doesn't show up in Explorer, and I can't browse to it from any application (e.g. Word, Excel)
The flash drives, when I insert them into any of the 3 USB ports available, do look as if they've been detected, but clicking on them to open their contents results in a message saying they need to be formatted... and even if I try clicking 'ok' on this, another message comes up saying the drive cannot be accessed.

Looking in Disk Management, there's no sign of the Seagate External drive, whilst the flash drives do show up, but as 'unreadable'...and with no blue or black line against them so there's nothing that can be done in terms of right-clicking, assigning a different drive letter, etc.

I've tried uninstalling all the USB host controllers in device manager, rebooting etc. No joy.

Even tried a Microsoft Tech Support suggestion about deleting LowerLimits and UpperLimits registry entries - didn't do anything other than cause the next reboot to fail and force me to return to Last Known Good Configuration.

HEEELLLPPPP MEEE SOMEBODY PLEEAASE!!!!

   
Reply to PeteS

42

Scott, on Apr 8, 2009 3:05:32 pm BST
  • +1

Success!!!


This answer may not help all of you, but it helped me.

My external SanDisk Cruzer flash drive wasn't being read.

I tried most of the stuff already mentioned...Tweak, resetting, etc. Tried another PC, took the flash drive to a local shop, tried to re-load the drivers, contacted the SanDisk site and did all their suggestions...all to no avail. The guy at the local PC shop said as long as the light on the disk flashes, there's power, and to just keep trying. I tried pulling it out and sticking it back in at random times for a week. Nada. Then, one time, the PC was able to recognize the pictures on the drive, but the U3 system still didn't boot up. Kept trying. A few tries later U3 came up, and I was able to transfer some, but not all the data. It took a few more days, but ultimately it came back up enough times so I could transfer all the data before it crashed again.

So, if the light is working, keep trying!

   
Reply to Scott

43

PeteS, on Apr 8, 2009 7:54:59 pm BST
  • +1

My problem was solved when I realized that my laptop has some security encryption software installed on it (to protect the hard drive if the machine is stolen).
This software has an option to disallow access to unencrypted media - and this option had reset itself so this feature was turned ON.... hence any USB memory stick or external hard disk I plugged in that wasn't encrypted with the same software became 'invisible' to the laptop.
A little right-click and a tick in the right checkbox solved the problem.
Arrgh. All those wasted hours.....

   
Reply to PeteS

44

Gregga // animal, on Apr 10, 2009 8:30:45 am BST
  • +1

Dude!

Try reformating derive letter from F: to something else!!

That worked for me dude!


later shreds!

   
Reply to Gregga // animal

53

Guillermo, on Jul 8, 2009 8:27:45 pm BST

PeteS, I am having the same problem! please can you provide some details on how you solved it?

Thanks and regards

   
Reply to Guillermo

55

VictorTim, on Jul 17, 2009 4:14:48 pm BST

Hi Pete, could you also send me details on how to adjust encryption settings, this problem is killing me. I cant find anything anywhere.

   
Reply to VictorTim

56

tman, on Jul 28, 2009 4:46:40 am BST
  • +1

Pete
I am having the same problem (usb drive shows up as drive F, but when I try opening it, it asks me to format the drive; and the drive works fine on other computers). You mentioned security software on your pc - which security software was it, and how did you turn it off?

thanks

   
Reply to tman

69

bidesi, on Oct 17, 2009 7:40:03 am BST

Hello friends

my transcend 1 gb pen drive was detected by windows xp but it is not opening showing
"the disk drive is not formatted do u want to format now" when i click yes it shows "the
drive is not formatted" ...please help me ....i also tried some solutions posted b y some guys
1. going to disk management :there it shows "the drive is unreadable and has no option"
2. also i tried by putting my windows xp cd and at the format option it not showing the
pen drive...to format...

please help me by replying an appropriate solution to my email::bidesi.mail@indiatimes.com

   
Reply to bidesi
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