Bad flash drive?

[Tedster]

Got a new flash drive that by accident I low level formatted somehow. It's made by samsung. Now when I put it in the USB port, the computer will recognize that something is plugged in, but it cannot read the contents. I have tried formatting the drive through windows and it won't work. I cannot access the drive at all.
Any suggestions?

Yes I have bought a replacement, but I was wondering if it is possible to rescue this device.

 

[iss]

if you are using XP go to Start/Programs/Administrative tools/ computer management go to disk management your flash drive should show up there and if it does you can right click on it ( in the lower half of the screen) and partition it or reformat it in order for windows to recognize it.

 

[Tedster]

It will recognize the flash drive exists, but I am unable to format it or change anything. Format attepts fail.
It's a 512MB flash drive so I was kinda pissed when I jacked it up. Is there anyway to FORCE format, like through DOS?

 

[johnp]

How do I install USB flash memory ?

Do flash memory sticks install automatically to USP ports ?.

I bought a generic stick but neither my PC (XP Pro SP1) or my
Laptop (XP Home SP1) acknowledges it, either at boot or if "hot plugged".

The PC USB port immediately identifies the USB laptop mouse,
so the port is ok, but with the stick in the port (hot plug
or boot) no "new hardware" box appears.

The USB controller in Device Manager shows "unknown device".
This disappears/reappears if the memory stick is removed/replaced
and "scan for hardware changes" is invoked, so this is ok.

USB properties for "unknown device" in in device manager
states "no drivers are installed for this device". Driver details states
no drivers are required and if I bug the "update driver" option the
wizard states "The wizard could not find a better match for the
hardware than the software already installed
"

 

[lenso]

i registered just so i can post a solution. i had the same problem yesterday and came upon this site but the solutions posted did nothing for me. i was getting the same "windows could not complete the format" through My Computer as well as the Administrative tools. so i went to lexar's live support. btw, they know nothing. anyway, heres how to fix it if the above solutions don't work for you.

1. Get a win98se bootdisk(bootdisk.com) if you don't have a floppy, theres a link there that shows you how to make a bootable cd.
2. disconnect all harddrives(just taking out the power connections should work fine, THIS IS IMPORTANT SO YOU DON'T SCREW UP)
3. boot up the computer with the bootdisk.
4. use fdisk to delete and recreate the partition on the flash drive.
(since the harddrives have been disconnected, it should probably be "fdisk c:")
5. restart with bootdisk and use "fdisk /mbr" (not sure if you need this step, but I did it because I was getting an error on track 0 which is the MBR and there is no harm)
6. then use "format X:" (assuming x is your drive)

btw, i had a lexar 1 gigabyte jumpdrive sport.

 

[SOLUTIONWORKED]

Lexar jumpdrive 1 gb

Iss- your solution worked for me, I was able to format it through Admin tools in windows menu. And after that I renamed the drive into Lexar media and started copying files. THis all after I talked to Lexar live help ontheir web and even got my rma. Imnot bothering with rma no more.

 

[Tedster]

Some do, some don't. Most of the time Windows will self-install the appropriate drivers. Sometimes this requires a reboot, othertimes not. Most USB drives have their drivers as firmware on the device itself.