having problems with usb flash drive

[shiro]

I have a 1gb usb flash drive that I'm trying to get to work with my pc but for some reason, windows (XP SP2) seems to recognize the drive as a "USB Memory Bar Device", and treats it as a disk drive (asks to format, then comes back and says that it's unformattable). It seems I can't access the drive unless I format it. I've tried it on both my desktop and my laptop with the same results.

I thought usb flash drives were recognized as usb mass storage devices? This is weird I don't know why it won't recognize it as a readily accessible usb flash drive.

This is the only flash drive that I have that does this.

 

[Steve]

There are some 3rd party flash drive setup utilities. HP has a good one on their site somewhere. Use that or another like it to format the drive.

 

[shiro]

hm...not even the format utility seems to be recognizing the drive correctly. Perhaps I have a dud.

I can't format from windows, access the drive, or use the hp utility to format it.
When I right click > properties on it it says the file format is RAW and there are 0 bytes used/free.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: shiro
hm...not even the format utility seems to be recognizing the drive correctly. Perhaps I have a dud.

I can't format from windows, access the drive, or use the hp utility to format it.
When I right click > properties on it it says the file format is RAW and there are 0 bytes used/free.

Silly question, but are you sure the drive isn't write-protected? (had to ask)

If not, I'd suggest an RMA if its still an option.