Two USB flash drives flaking out, one not.

[xielvas]

Two USB flash drives not working correctly; Sandisk Cruiser 8Gb & OCZ Rally2 Turbo 4Gb.
Symptoms with Sandisk Cruiser are as follows:

SanDisk Cruzer Contour

1. The drive isn’t seen at all in Disk Manager.
2. The drive is seen in explorer but the “used space” is 0 and the “free space” is 0.
3. If I uninstall the Cruzer Contour USB Device and reinsert it I can see it in Disk Manager and explorer. I can access the files a short while but it is SLOW and freezes the system and then the drive disappears once again from Disk Manager and explorer shows used space” is 0 and the “free space” is 0.
4. The drive has been low level formatted on another computer. Disk manager was used to recreate partition and format. Applications were installed on another computer.
5. The flash drive works on the other computer.
6. The above occurs on any open ports I have (3) while the USB keyboard and Logitech G9 are connected and function properly.
7. No errors in Device Manager for Hubs/Root Hubs/etc.
8. My Ironkey 2Gb USB flash drive works on both computers without any problems.
OCZ Rally2 Turbo
1. Upon insertion often the OCZ flash drive will go from seen to unseen then back to being detected.
2. The drive IS seen in Disk Manager and shows “Healthy”.
3. The drive IS seen in explorer.
4. The drive is incredibly slow accessing anything on the device and freezes the explorer while waiting for the application to load.
5. The flash drive works in the other computer.
6. The OCZ Rally2 Turbo has been checked on any available USB port with the same results.
7. Any type of error scan run on the drive causes it to freeze then explorer and Disk do not see the flash drive anymore.
8. No errors in Device Manager for Hubs/Root Hubs/etc.
9. My Ironkey 2Gb USB flash drive works on both computers without any problems.

Problematic PC Hardware inventory
• CPU: Intel 670 3.8Ghz (not overclocked)
• Motherboard: DFI Lanparty 875P-T
• Optical Drv: Lite-on DVDRW LH-20A1P
• Hard Drives: WD 15000AHFD-00RAR1 Raptor 150Gb
• 3ware 7500 RAID: 4 disk array of 150Gb drives
•
• Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510SLI (rail voltages 12.1v and 5.1v [under load observed])
• RAM: 2GB matched OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Platinum
• VideoCard: EVGA 7800GS AGP
• Cooling: Water – Swiftech MCP655, DD Black Ice Xtreme II Dual 120mm, Apogee Extreme CPU block, DD Low profile Maze4
• Sound: E-MU 0404 DAS
• Mouse: Logitech G9 connected to hub 0, port 2
• Keyboard: Fatality USB
• Printer: HP 5400 USB
Operating System
• Just reloaded less than a 4 days ago; Windows XP Pro SP3
• Chipset INF drivers were loaded from manufactures website
• Latest BIOS is installed; AwardBIOS v6.00PG

Well that’s about it. Took me almost an hour to compile this message. There is really no other information needed. Like I said the Ironkey works on this system. There is two more items to mention ; I attempted to access the flash disks in Safe Mode and the same thing occurred except with the Ironkey of course and I use USBView to view installed/non-installed USB devices.

Later Mates!
absentem laedit cum ebrio qui litigat

[YeOldeStonecat]

You've covered all the basics which I'd initially recommend..
*Latest chipset .infs
*Latest BIOS.

The only thing I can add to this, is to remove USB ports/controllers in Device manager...reload the chipset .infs...and reboot. Sometimes difficult to do with a USB keyboard and mouse. Can try it remotely or by using PS2 based. The logic for this, is sometimes just installing newer drivers doesn't always update drivers properly, and removing the hardware and letting it fully reinstall with the latest drivers makes for a cleaner update.

The drives appear to always work flawlessly in other computers, pointing the issue solely to this computer.

Before you remove a USB drive, do you always power it down the USB device properly before removal? (that icon in the systray). Many USB devices are "hot swappable"...but I've found that some (such as USB drives) should be properly shut down before removing, to help prevent damage to the drives file system and minimize power surges 'n help avoid shorting them.

A few weeks ago we came across an odd issue that I had never seen before. Some lady in the accounting office of an eye care center changed how she backed up her Quickbooks files, moved from some old external zip drive to a rotation of several USB thumb drives. But she couldn't get the USB drives to properly function on her workstation. She was inserting them in the front USB ports. Coincidentally after trying to use a USB drive, she could not print until she rebooted.

She had some USB printer plugged into one of the back USB ports.
When she plugged one of the USB thumb drives into one of the rear USB ports..it worked fine (just inconvenient for her to reach back there).
When we unplugged her USB printer, the USB thumb drives worked fine in her front USB ports.

To summarize, there is always the chance of some hardware conflict, so next thing I'd try is to unplug your printer, and perhaps try a PS2 keyboard/mouse if you have one avail.

[xielvas]

You've covered all the basics which I'd initially recommend..
*Latest chipset .infs
*Latest BIOS.

The only thing I can add to this, is to remove USB ports/controllers in Device manager...reload the chipset .infs...and reboot. Sometimes difficult to do with a USB keyboard and mouse. Can try it remotely or by using PS2 based. The logic for this, is sometimes just installing newer drivers doesn't always update drivers properly, and removing the hardware and letting it fully reinstall with the latest drivers makes for a cleaner update.

The drives appear to always work flawlessly in other computers, pointing the issue solely to this computer.

Before you remove a USB drive, do you always power it down the USB device properly before removal? (that icon in the systray). Many USB devices are "hot swappable"...but I've found that some (such as USB drives) should be properly shut down before removing, to help prevent damage to the drives file system and minimize power surges 'n help avoid shorting them.

A few weeks ago we came across an odd issue that I had never seen before. Some lady in the accounting office of an eye care center changed how she backed up her Quickbooks files, moved from some old external zip drive to a rotation of several USB thumb drives. But she couldn't get the USB drives to properly function on her workstation. She was inserting them in the front USB ports. Coincidentally after trying to use a USB drive, she could not print until she rebooted.

She had some USB printer plugged into one of the back USB ports.
When she plugged one of the USB thumb drives into one of the rear USB ports..it worked fine (just inconvenient for her to reach back there).
When we unplugged her USB printer, the USB thumb drives worked fine in her front USB ports.

To summarize, there is always the chance of some hardware conflict, so next thing I'd try is to unplug your printer, and perhaps try a PS2 keyboard/mouse if you have one avail.

Obviously I will need a ps2 keyboard and mouse to remove the 82801EB/EH controllers. Otherwise the system won't respond to input after I remove one and leave three others.

[xielvas]

I tried a port in the back but did NOT remove the printer that is plugged in. Damn I miss the old parallel port printers!