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I recently plugged my new 16Gb SanDisk USB drive into my Windows 7 desktop. The USB drive's light started to rapidly blink. Windows didn't have any error, but the drive was never recognized. When I tried again the drive said it was empty. Do I need a new one?

FIDELIS
2012-03-11 14:25:00
Hello, did you try using a different USB connection?  Sometimes that could be the case in cases like this.  You could also try entering safemode and see if the drive is recognized when in safemode.
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KamilKozyra
2012-03-11 15:26:00
 Thanks :)
2012-03-11 13:55:00
could you see it in device manager? is there any yello sign, if yes right click and choose uninstall. reboot pc and try again the usb driveA Description of the Diskpart Command-Line Utility: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415Follow this and see if it list the usb keyhttp://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/configure-a-usb-flash-drive-to-be-a-windows-7-installation-platform/1446Plug in your USB drive. Open the command prompt (Click Start -> Run -> type cmd.exe and press Enter)Type in the following: 1. diskpart 2. list disk 3. select disk (enter the number that corresponds to your USB drive) 4. clean 5. create partition primary 6. select partition 1 7. active 8. format fs=fat32 quick 9. exit
KamilKozyra
2012-03-11 15:26:00
Thanks for the advice.
KamilKozyra
2012-03-16 14:27:00
I did the Uninstall in Device Manager, but it came back the following day.  Should I clean it?
ha14
2012-03-18 19:10:00
What do you mean it camed back?
KamilKozyra
2012-03-18 19:33:00
The question marks in the device manager, under  Portable Devices, appeared the next day.  I did the command prompt line you said & so far so good :)