ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

[neenyrules]

ARRGGGHHH!! IM GOING MAD!!!

I recently purchased a 4Gb USB Sandisk Cruxer Micro with U3 to replace my ageing and battered 1gb stick, and eagerly opened it and inserted it into my USB port on my Vaio FS415S, XP Home.

I was surprised to find that not only did the drive install slowly, it then popped up with some dodgy U3 software rubbish!! it would only work occasionally, and when it dod, i couldnt actually add any files. I tried the drive on 3 other pcs, and worked fine, with the U3 software loading, and able to add, view and delete files.

I searched the net, and found a U3 removal tool, which i used on a PC that it works on, and then formatted to FAT32, and then tried again in my Vaio.

But now it still doesnt work, it is detected as a removable drive, but shows available space as 0 bytes, and hangs while it is recognising the drive!! I cant format it, nothing. It is not the drive, as it is now my second USB drive, having sent back the first, and it works fine on other PCs.

My other usb drive (1gig) is also displaying similar problems now, but does show the correct capacity.

SO HAD ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS???

Thanks for any help received!!

[97122769]

THis sounds more like a Microsoft question than a Sony. If its that bad, could you not get a refund and say get something easy like a Corsair which doesnt need drivers.

[neenyrules]

thanks for your reply, and yes i agree, it prob is an XP problem, but im wondering if anyone else with a Vaio has had similar problems, as it may be some Sony software causing a conflict.

I could buy another drive, but as i have now removed the U3 software, it is now a standard USB drive, and my old one is displaying similar problems.

Is it possible my USB ports are faulty or slowly dying?? ALL other USB devices work fine....

[littlebucko]

hi it sounds to me like a windows thing (try a reinstall)
as i have never had any problems even using a terabyte stick (wowzas)
if it was a usb fault then you laptop will auto disable the usb slot preventing the
system from any other faults

[Thalamus.]

i have never had any problems even using a terabyte stick (wowzas)

What terabyte USB Flash Drive do you have littlebucko...

[neenyrules]

i am now convinced it is a problem with either my XP installation or a conflict with software or hardware on my laptop.

The reason i say this is that my 1 gig stick is always recognised properly, is FAT32, and i try to send a 115mb file to it. It starts but then bombs out about 1/4 of the way through - saying "error - cannot find the specified path", and then checking the properties of the drive shows it as 0 bytes available etc.

The sandisk cruzer does the same thing, WHEN it decides to work. I have had it recognized properly just twice, and each time, it has done as above.

So far, the only way i can get it to work is to unplug my USB hub (containing my all in one printer, USB mouse and 320GB usb hard drive), and plugging it into that port, and only then could i successfully transfer a file!!

Does this give anyone an idea of how to fix this?? Maybe failing USB ports (2 & 3 - 1 is the working port)? Reinstall USB drivers??

Please let me know!

[Thalamus.]

So far, the only way i can get it to work is to unplug my USB hub (containing my all in one printer, USB mouse and 320GB usb hard drive), and plugging it into that port, and only then could i successfully transfer a file!!

If your 1 gig stick works when connected directly into the USB port then perhaps the USB hub is not supplying sufficient power to enable your 1 gig stick to work, does your hub come with a power adaptor..?

[neenyrules]

well the USB hub i have is powered, and i have not been plugging it into the hub at all.

Anyway, it appears to have been fixed, i have plugged the hub and the 3 devices into another USB port, and the cruzer is now working correctly is both of the other ports!

Anyone know why that is??

[Thalamus.]

Glad to read that you're USb stick is now working..