Troubleshooting Pen Drive/USB Device Errors and Problems

Each one of us must have definitely got Pen Drives/Plug & Play USB (Universal Serial Bus) Devices like Printer, Mobile Phone, Cameras etc. I have seen many problems related to these devices at various forums.

Here in this post I will try to cover some of the problems with detailed solution/answers to them.

Problem: My Pen Drive is not functioning! It’s neither readable nor writable OR it’s readable but not writable. What to do?

Answer: There can be 2 most probable causes for this problem:

1. Check is there any small Knob in the Pen Drive? This knob is actually meant for Write Protecting Pen Drive. Push this Knob back or forth, your Pen Drive will be unlocked.
2. Another cause is that your Pen Drive have become faulty (No matter when you bought it). Try formatting it from My Computer as shown below:

Or else you must try formatting it with Command Prompt (DOS Based Interface). Type C:\> format x: (Where x: denotes the Drive name where you plugged in your Pen Drive). If both of the above methods fails, your Pen Drive is corrupt. Ask for a Replacement if it’s under warranty period or else go for a new one.

Problem: My computer has only 2 USB Ports! How can I increase the number of USB Ports?

Answer: With USB you can add upto 127 devices to a single computer. In order to do so USB Hubs are used.

With use of Hubs you can easily increase the number of ports in your computer. Just ask your vendor to provide you with a USB Hub.

Problem: What must be the Maximum Length for a USB Cable?

Answer: Suppose you got a Printer and you use to connect it to your PC via USB Cable, than make sure that the distance of Printer/Length of connecting cable must not exceed 5 Meters (16 Feets). The reason behind this is that USB Signals are operational upto 5 meters for best performance.

If still you want to increase this distance, ask your vendor to provide you with USB Repeater Cable.

By using Repeater Cable you can easily extend the distance between your computer and USB peripheral.

Problem: My Pen Drive has 2 GB capacity, but in it’s Properties it is showing 1.9 GB! Where the rest of Space gone?

Answer: This is not a problem or malfunction. A small amount of space is used by File Allocation Table (FAT). All USB Drives generally uses FAT32 file system.

Also if your Pen Drive supports automatic encryption, than a particular encryption software will take a small amount of space on your Drive.

Problem: My Pen Drive has stopped working. I always happily pull it out without dismounting it properly. What to do?

Answer: Most probably your drive has been gone. Try the method mentioned in the first problem above.

Always remember use Safely Remove Hardware feature from the System Tray in order to successfully demount the Pen Drive and hence preventing Data Corruption.

Problem: My system is not detecting Pen Drive/USB Devices at all! What to do?

Answer: Simply follow each step one by one and maybe the problem gets solved:

• Safely remove the Drive/Device and plug it back.
• Try restarting your Computer.
• Sometimes the USB Ports you are using are 1.1 compatible. If you plug-in a USB 2.0 device to it, the device may gets slow or it will take time to detect the device.
• If you are using very old Operating System like Windows 98 or Windows ME, than you have to install the drivers manually. These drivers are usually bundled with the devices or you have to search the internet.

I have tried my best to cover all the Possible common errors, problems and queries. Feel free to ask more (if any) in the comments section below.

Category: Hardware, How To, Windows