My Windows XP not recognize any memory device Solved/Closed

Question

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!

johnny · Accepted Answer

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.

Dario · Answer

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."

visuarchie · Answer

I have the same problem. Can someone help?

Thanks.
Viswanath

Dario · Answer

Is your notebook Acer too?

visuarchie · Answer

No. I have the problem on my desktop.

ricky · Answer

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

Ping · Answer

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!!!!!

Dario · Answer

This no solve my problem. But thank you anyway!

g00022054 · Answer

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!

g00022054 · Answer

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

vcg · Answer

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.

Dario · Answer

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

juippi · Answer

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.

spook · Answer

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.

Nicodemus · Answer

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.

alpharetta · Answer

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.

clear1 · Answer

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 ?

dallas · Answer

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.

Dave · Answer

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!

apache1010 · Answer

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.

Grinch · Answer

Hi.  I've got a problem with my flash drive.  I have a Dell desktop with Windows XP.  Yesterday my SanDisk Cruzer 2.0GB flash drive worked fine, and last night it stopped.  It's not full, since a month ago I got rid of a bunch of stuff.  It's not the PC, since I checked it on another PC.  I insert it into the USB port(s) and the light goes, but the PC is not even recognizing that anything is in it, and no drives show up when I go to My Computer.  I am NOT interested in reformatting...I have information on that drive I need.  Any links, steps, software, etc. that might help me to get the PC to read the drive again, and for me to access the flash drive to save the info, would be greatly appreciated.

John-Mesa, AZ · Answer

I had a similar problem. Here is what I did:, first go tot his URL and download the approporiate Tweakui for XP. :

 https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr2=sg-gac&sado=1&p=tweakui%20download&fr=slv7-msgr&fr2=sfp

Install the Tweakui progran, open it and run the application. Your menu will have the typical laundry list.

1. Click on "My Computer"
2. Then click on "Drives"
3. The right side pane will show your drives, the ones that are active will show check marks.
4. Go to the drive that your "Fash" is plugged into and check the box even if it shows a red ?
5. Hit "Apply:. then "OK" 
6. Go to "My Computer"and your flash drive should now be indicated.

This worked for me, hope it works for you.

Be safe...

John.

Grinch · Answer

John,

It's worse than that...it's a SanDisk 2.0 GB and I've gone to the website and tried to download the U3 program...SanDisk is telling me my flash needs to be a SanDisk product...something has corrupted it all to H*ll...guess I'll try the Geek Squad or something.

You ain't kidding about Smith-Corona...every time I have one of these horrendous IT experiences I'm reminded of the simple days of the 80s and 90s...LMAO

Scott · Answer

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!

EKR Mail me ask Questions at enriquekyle@yahoo.com · Answer

This is the Problem of Flash Drives!
1.) This Won't work Window 95&98
2.) It only Works Windows 2000/XP/Vista
3.) The Very important thing is if you don't do 
"Safe or Remove Devices" to your device if will courrupt
and can't use it no more or you can scan using scandisk
to do that plug your flash drive and go to my computer right click 
to Removable or Flashdisk & go to tools and scan automatic fix errors
4.) if it does not appear then ask me I Know alot about Flash Drives
and Hard Drives that how to format! or Recovery!
"Please send me a messege if you have questions!"

Giri · Answer

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

burns · Answer

Hi

I've got the same problem, all my external removalable storage is recognised by Win Xp but it doesn't read the format (FAT or NTFS). All the drives work correctly on ofther machines so its something wrong with my OS. Anti virus scanners come up with nothing (but can read any attached removable drives pre-windows boot but not after windows is booted). 

I've tried uninstalling all USB drivers and reinstalling them - didn't fix the problem 

I'm at a loss at what to do short of reinstalling windows (but I'm currently travelling around india so that v.difficult). The drives all aare full off photos so reformatting them isn't an option (although the formatting is fine anyway as they work on other computers).

Any suggestions would be hugely apperciated. In short, the drives are fine, but there is an issue with windows reading the format of the drive. Is thefre a conflict going on somewhere?

Cheers
Simon

Kaizen · Answer

Hi,

thanks for the advice,,I was able to reformat my flash drive.

I really appreciate it.

lizzlex · Answer

i had a similar issue, and the problem was a conflicting windows update. I have no idea hwo to fix these bloody things but I had www.fixedlikemagic.com log in and fix it.. much easier and CHEAPER than Geek Squad or the like

giantsfan · Answer

Thank goodness for these forums! I just ran into the same problem and the TweakUI fix worked for me. My PC had not been connected to the internet for several years since I had access at work. I would use a flash drive to bring home anything I wantged to save electronically. Now out of work and need the intertnet for effective job search. Got hooked up and ran Windows update since I wasn't bothering with updates while I was not connected on the PC. First time I plugged the flah drive in, it wouldn't work properly. I could not see it under "My Computer" but could find it in device manager. However I couldn't open files directly, has to copy to my C drive, then open them. I am certain it was an update conflict as last poster mentioned.

When I used TweakUI, all 26 drive options were checked so I unchecked all but C and D (D is my DVD drive), then clicked "Apply". It hung but after 5 minutes or so, I closed with Task Manager, reopened app and checked A (diskette) and F (USB port) then "Apply". It hung again and after 5 minutes I closed with Task Manager BUT my registgry had been updated and the device is recognized and can be accessed in the usual manner now.

Thanks to all who posted. Try this approach!

theophilus · Answer

I had same problem (Windows XP saying none of my USB memory sticks were formatted even though they contained data that was readable on other PCs). It occurred after Windows decided to run a chkdsk /f on start up. I think a driver file got deleted. I copied the contents of C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers from an identical PC at the same Windows update level - (network the PCs together, select all, copy, then paste but avoid overwriting any files by holding down SHIFT when you click on NO to overwrite so it just copies files that aren't on the target PC). 
I then rebooted the target PC and it could once again read my USB memory sticks.
So, I'm afraid I don't know exactly which driver is missing but I think this may be your problem.

RAM · Answer

I was having the same problem.  Went into Device manager, USB contorllers and deleted the USB Mass Storage Device listed there.  Plugged the flash drive back in and Roberts your Father's Brother!

ZERKA · Answer

hi..i have portable usb 500gb hard disk drive..i'm using win xp sp3..till one week ago the hard disk was working fine..then from no reason when I plugged it in the windows found the new hardware but didn't recognize it as a hard disk and wanted the drivers for it..and this hard drive doesn't need drivers..my other 2gb ub disc and mp3 players work fine when I connect them in the usb..i tried reinstalling windows,reinstalling usb drivers, changeing the usb kabel and nothing works..
when I plug in the hard drive in other computers it works just fine..
now I really don't know what to do..
thx for helping

HunkyHannah · Answer

I've tried everthing but nothing seems to work!

Yesterday the computer was fine and recognised the SD card with no problems! Now the light won't even turn on! 

What's wrong with the damn thing!? :)

In 'Computer Management' I only have 'Disc 0' which has a blue line across the top, 'Disc 1' (I) which has nothing next to it and also 'CD-ROM 0' and that's all folks! 

HELP MEEEEEEEEEEE! 

This totally sucks!

jomama · Answer

OK here is my situation.

    All of my external media device(iPod, 4GB SD, .5TB, 2GB) thumb were working fine. Then every time I plug them into my computer it won't regognize them and says they need to be formated. 

   I used another computer to backup and reformat the thumb drive and now it works fine on my computer.
 
    Now that I have done this when I am looking at the computer managment screen it show the thumb drive as NTFS and then below that it says Healthy (active, primary partition) and the area behind that is all white(sorry don't know any other way to describe this).

   But the 4GB SD that I have not formatted on another computer shows like this on the computer managment screen.  It says RAW instead of NTFS and below says Healthy( primary partition) and the background has diagonal blue pinstripes behind this information.

   I have info on the .5TB that I can not lose and have no way to back it up(stuck in Iraq) because of where I am for the next 6 months.


 Any help here? Hope this will help some others on here too.

finnagain · Answer

I have been completely unable to use my, obviously fake< Sony vaio 64 Gb stick, the computer wants to format it all the time, be then cannot do it anyway.
On my ACER laptop it worked fine at first, but after the attempts to format on the XP set, it didnt want to know it any longer until I accidentially asked the laptop for a QUICK format and almost instantly, it was formatted and works fine, but thats a VISTA setup,.... it still refuses to work on the XP

Go figure.....................

Robertrobert · Answer

Hi,
I had the exact same problem... the following worked for me (hope it helps you):

1. Unplug all your other usb devices (try all except keyboard and mouse).
2. Restart computer
3. Insert USB drive and see if it's working

That's it... and it kept working after I reconnected the other devices. But swap the USB ports - i.e. don't plug the same devices back in the same places.

Seems crazy, but this problem was driving me insane and the fix was so simple.

By the way, I think the device causing me grief was a DLink usb wireless network device. Fine after I moved it to a different port.

Good luck,
Robert

ringo · Answer

FINALLY SOLVED!!!!

I've had this problem for about a week on my laptop with XP. USB flash memory that I have used before and contain data were suddenly unusable on my system yet worked on other computers. All I got was a message that the disk was not formatted. Reformatting failed which was a good thing as all data would have been lost.

It's a glitch in service pack 3. I finally resolved the problem by rolling back XP service pack 3 to SP2. Doing that was quite tricky at first as the add/remove programs function didn't allow sp3 to be removed. The work around is simple. This from Microsoft site:

   1. Click Start, click Run, type c:\windows\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\spuninst.exe in the Open box, and then click OK.
   2. When the Windows XP Service Pack 3 Removal Wizard starts, click Next.
   3. Follow the instructions on the screen to remove Windows XP SP3. 

Reboot and you're back to SP2 and your flash drives, USB devices will run as normal.

Sorry if you have Vista cause I haven't got a clue

ratha · Answer

hi friends in my pen drive I have a problem like ..
pendrive is detected but I can.t open response id please insert disk whenever I plug it 

any one can help out me

jennibee123 · Answer

i say call a  computer   worker  to  fix  it    I will call  my   brother  frank

problems solved · Answer

if u run certain antivirus software like avg (malware) then when u plug your jump sticks with illegal "things" on it then "certain " antivirus software corrupts the reg so the jump sticks wont work and do very funny things such as most of your problems,  wont recognize, must format now  etc etc the only real way to fix is reinstall   how to tell if this is the cause     your system wont recognize or does funny things but other computers don't have an issue with the stick

bujji · Answer

when I was keeping the pen drive into my computer it is not showing please slove this problem

My Windows XP not recognize any memory device

42 responses

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