USB Flash Drive Questions

[Ramius]

Hi All!
Okay so I will admit to being a diehard XP user and now I am trying to work with windows 7 32 bit. So far I have been able to solve most problems and there are two things in 7 that are driving me crazy! In XP when I inserted my USB flash drive a scandisk 4GB Cruzer, when the window came up asking what I wanted to do, there would be a "sound" upon insertion. Now there is no sound only the "a drive has been inserted message". What happened to the sound or do I need some special driver? What is strange to me is when I turn on my printer which has a memory card reader there is a sound! Second question. When removing the flash drive, the light on the flash drive would turn off. Now I only get a message that the drive is safe to remove and the light on the drive stay on! Makes me very nervous!

Thanks, Ed

 

[Shintaro]

When a USB drive is inserted for the first time Windows installs a driver for it. So it may not make the sound the first time.
However to check that you have the "Device Connect" sound go to Control Panel -> Hardware and Software-> Sound and then the "Sounds" tab.
Look for "Device Connect" select it and then click on the "Test" button to make sure it works.

When you say that the light is on is it flashing? Were you copying files to / from the USB drive?
I would suggest that you wait until the light goes off.

 

[Ramius]

Thank you for the answer! Yes if I go to the "sounds tab" and check the device connected and click "test" everything works except when you insert the USB drive. There is zero activity when removing the flash drive and the light will never go out, you only get the "safe to remove" message.

 

[Shintaro]

Not sure about the sound issue. Maybe someone else has some suggestions.

Did the light on the USB normally go off? When you were using it with Win XP?
Have you had the USB for a long time?

 

[Ramius]

Yes the light normally will go off with XP and yes I have had the USB drive for years.

 

[TrainableMan]

You say the light "stays on" but is it solid or is it flashing on & off? Flashing would be perfectly fine, W7 has a totally redesigned search index and can access drives any time to update but as long as the write buffer is empty the flash drive is "safe to remove". If it is a solid light that can be a sign of trouble with the drive. Do all your flash drives act the same way?

As for the "Device Connect" and "Device Disconnect" sounds, if assigned, they should play any time a USB peripheral is attached or removed from your computer. Try a USB mouse or a different flash drive in that same USB slot - do you get the sounds with them? If it is only this one flash drive that does not make sounds then that could be another sign of trouble with the drive.

 

[Ramius]

Okay so I got the sound to work. Apparently Windows 7 does not like that there is a USB port expander! What I cannot solve is getting the light on the USB drive to turn off! It flashes once and stay on even when there is a message from Windows it is safe to remove. I know it is not the USB drive as I can use it is a Windows XP machine and all is normal and as expected.

 

[TrainableMan]

Unless you start losing files I think all you need to do is change your expectations, W7 is not XP.

 

[Shintaro]

I would suggest that you copy all your files from the USB to the hard disk.
Then format the USB with FAT32.

It *could* be a faulty USB. Better to re-format and see what happens. I am thinking that *possibly* windows is trying to do something with the USB, hence the light stays on. But it's only a theory.

 

[madhav singh]

ya rally so useful.

 

[Shintaro]

So how are you going? Fix? Still the same?