Thinkpads Forum

Hi, this is my first post and would be very happy if someone could help me.

I have a thinkpad 570e with xp sp2 running. I've been having problems getting it to recognize a Kingston data traveler. It's been saying "USB Not Recognized...". I downloaded drivers from ibm (wxpsfd1a.exe). That didn't seem to work for ages...until suddenly my stick was recognized! But only once. I took it out and have had the same problems since. Basically it's only ever recognized the stick twice and I'm not doing anytyhing different for it to work. It's very arbitrary. Weird!

The usb port works for everything else even my nikon camera which I've been using to transfer data instead. THe stick works everywhere else too. There's no viruses anywhere either.

I've looked everywhere for a solution.


Sorry!!!! While writing this I tried turning off, unplugging and trying again. Works!!!!! Any idea how I can avoid this??

colinwill wrote:I have a thinkpad 570e with xp sp2 running. I've been having problems getting it to recognize a Kingston data traveler. It's been saying "USB Not Recognized..." . . . until suddenly my stick was recognized! But only once. . . . It's very arbitrary. Weird!

The usb port works for everything else even my nikon camera which I've been using to transfer data instead. THe stick works everywhere else too. There's no viruses anywhere either.

I've looked everywhere for a solution.


Sorry!!!! While writing this I tried turning off, unplugging and trying again. Works!!!!! Any idea how I can avoid this??

If the USB is the source of power for the device then that is a possible cause of the problem.

The stick may work "everywhere else" -- which probably means that you are using the device in more recently built USB 2.0 ports instead of USB 1.1. I believe the 570 is the USB 1.1 standard -- though it can handle USB 2.0 devices, just at a slower pace.

What is a possible solution? The 570 I rehabilitated sure had a lot of dust in the area of its USB port. A decade had passed since it was new, so simply cleaning out the port may improve the connection sufficiently for the device to draw enough power. Perhaps a light accumulation of dust acts as a resistor that stops your unit from drawing enough power most of the time and thus explaining the erratic pattern.

Time for a pipe cleaner?

Is the USB drive getting a good connection? Space is limited there, and I had similar problems with the 570/E machines I've owned. If the flash drive is physically too big, it would be detected, but never installed. If you have the Ultrabase, try the USB port on there-- its mounted flush if I remember correctly.

Thanks a lot for your replies.

I have an Ultrabase so I can get a good connection with the stick. I've even given it a clean and still no joy. It seems to just work when it wants to.

I've used a cable to connect it to the computer proper and it doesn't work. A very old card reader works in all ports too.