Flash drives not recognized

Hi kkirkm,

Welcome to the community.

It is very unusual that you are facing this issue. Dimension 3000 system were manufactured with USB 2.0 and that should recognize your flash drive.

I would like you try in safe mode and see if it is recognizing the flash drive.Also try to reinstall the chipset driver from the link below.

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

To go into safe mode: Press F8 key on startup (DELL logo) and choose safe mode or safe mode with networking.

Please respond in case you need any further assistance or clarification.

Thanks and Regards

DELL_Abhishek_ B

Dell Social Media Responder

You can reach us at: www.en.community.dell.com

OK.  Couldn't install the chipset driver--message said InstallShield Engine iKernal.exe could not be installed.  Went to safe mode and had no trouble getting flash drive to work.  Shut off computer and restarted with flash drive plugged in; computer recognized.  HOWEVER, when I unplugged it and plugged it back in, message saying USB device not recognized came up again.  What in the world is happening???

Hi kkirkm,

Thanks for the reply.

If it is working in the safe mode, then there may be certain software that may be blocking it. You can try to restore the system back to an earlier date and check.make sure your data is backed up as you will loose the data that was stored after the date of the restoration point.

Link for system restore:

support.dell.com/.../document

Please respond in case you need any further assistance or clarification.

Thanks and Regards

DELL_Abhishek_ B

Dell Social Media Responder

You can reach us at: www.en.community.dell.com

USB Flash Drives can be disabled in registry and or by Antivirus programs.  ESPECIALLY IF THE DEVICE IS INFECTED WITH MALWARE.   A manual install of XP service pack 3 may help.   Then run diskmgmt.msc and assign the usb devices a drive letter other than C: or D:

USBSTOR Registry Key

The USBSTOR registry key contains subkeys which are created when USB devices are plugged into the system.

The location of this registry key on a Windows XP system is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetEnumUSBSTOR

setupapi.log Plain-text Log File

The setupapi.log is located in the %windir% directory on Windows XP systems. The setupapi.log contains entries for driver installations of USB devices that have been plugged into the system.

support.microsoft.com/.../330140

Make sure that the drive has a drive letter assigned in Disk Management:

(This method applies to Disk Drives, USB flash drives or CD and DVD drives)

If your hard drive, thumbnail drive, memory stick, or flash memory is recognized in Disk Management but not displayed in Windows Explorer, the drive may not have been assigned a drive letter by Windows.

   Open Computer Management by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, and click System and Security.

   Click Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking Computer Management.

   If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

   Look for a drive that does not have an assigned drive letter and is not labeled as System Reserved.

   Note: The System Reserved drive is reserved by Windows.

   Right-click the unlabeled drive and click Change drive letter and paths…

   Click Add and then click OK to select the first available drive letter.

   If the Change drive letter and paths… option is not available, make sure that the drive is Online.

   If the drive is Offline, right-click the disk number and click Online.

Corrupted registry keys may be causing your CD or DVD drive not to be seen by Windows.

An automated Fix it is available to resolve this issue. To run this Fix it, follow the steps listed in the following KB article:
982116