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MAJOR Flash Drive Problems


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#1
Banana Boat

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OK, here's the story:

I bought this flash drive from Geeks.com. No CD driver or manual was included. The plan was to plug it into my old Win98SE machine and copy my music files to it, then transfer those to my WinXP laptop.

First BIG problem: Centon's driver download page is a bad joke.... there are NO drivers for my specific model. I tried downloading some of them anyway, and kept getting errors about how the source file is unreadable, thus the download cannot continue. So, I went to DriverGuide.com, who also appeared not to have my model's drivers. A few of the drivers looked iffy, so I downloaded them & installed... no luck. I spent hours sifting through Google and found nothing useful.

Later, I decided to test my new flash drive on my XP-sporting laptop (after all, according to Centon, it's pretty much a plug-n-play affair with XP; no drivers needed, right?).

Second BIG problem: I stick the flash into my USB port, and..... nothing happens, no hardware detection notice or anything. I know for a fact there is nothing wrong with my port because I had just unplugged my tablet from it, which works wonderfully.

The flash drive DOES light up, so I guess it works........ soooo why isn't it working? :whistling:

Edited by Banana Boat, 15 May 2007 - 11:38 PM.

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#2
Banana Boat

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*bump*

Surely, somebody here knows something about USB flash drives. Help?
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#3
shard92

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Sounds to me you got a bad drive. Personally I use Lexar brand drives at home and PNY at work. Have had no issues other than getting 98 to detect drives larger than 1gb. Havent' tried real hard with the 2gb drive on 98 though as all the others work... I have talked to many other people who have bought off brand ones and they have had considerable difficulty... if xp wont' detect it I don't think there is much you can do.... maybe see if there is a usb patch for your machine?....
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#4
Banana Boat

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Sounds to me you got a bad drive. Personally I use Lexar brand drives at home and PNY at work. Have had no issues other than getting 98 to detect drives larger than 1gb. Havent' tried real hard with the 2gb drive on 98 though as all the others work... I have talked to many other people who have bought off brand ones and they have had considerable difficulty... if xp wont' detect it I don't think there is much you can do.... maybe see if there is a usb patch for your machine?....



Oh, there is definitely nothing wrong with the drive, as my Win98 machine detects it when I plug it in, just no drivers to get it going. It lights up when I plug it into the XP machine, it just doesn't detect it. For the record, Centon isn't really an "off-brand"; they seem really well made.
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#5
Banana Boat

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The plot thickens...

I tried all day, yesterday, to contact Centon customer service. First, an email. Then, I started calling. Phone rings, and rings, and rings... then a message taker! (What the...?)

This morning, somebody finally picked up. The customer service rep said he would send me two emails with some solutions.... never got 'em. A few minutes ago, I called back... same guy answers (perhaps the ONLY employee of Centon?), and he says that he DID send the emails. I told him I didn't get them and that I HAD been having problems receiving mail at the given address and told him to resend to an alternate email addy. He said he would.... they have yet to arrive.

Me thinks I'm getting the run-around.

EDIT/UPDATE:

Just got 'em! I'll post back on the results.

Edited by Banana Boat, 16 May 2007 - 12:44 PM.

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#6
Banana Boat

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OK, the flash drive is now working on my XP laptop. It seems the plug is a bit shorter on it than most USB devices, and I kept pressing it really hard and wiggling it around, and now it's doing ok.

As for the Win98 machine, the tech support dude said he will send me a driver and other unspecified material via email.
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#7
Banana Boat

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WooHoo! Problem solved... thanks to absolutely NOBODY on this board. LMAO!!

The tech dude sent me this: http://www.usbline.c...R/ChipsBank.exe

I'm posting it here for others who run into this problem with Win98SE & Centon flash drives, and who also get ZERO help from this lethargic band of pseudo-geek asshats.
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#8
shard92

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Well from your description Centon sounds like a really good brand.... not.... Oh and it would be kind of hard for someone her to help you as the problem was a physical issue with xp that we could not see.... and the driver that makes it work is not something someone would have unless they 1) had a centon drive or 2) worked for centon.... Granted I can't compare lexar's tech support to centons but then again I've never had to contact lexar as their stuff has just worked... ( except for a large drive in win9x and a friend who also uses lexar said all he had to do was reinstall the driver ) Enjoy your centon drive I will stick with lexar...
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