[typicaldata1]

I've run into this problem on HP Insprion laptops and Compaq Presario desktops running Win XP SP3 and XP Media Center SP3. Older 512MB USB 2.0 memory sticks work as expected but new larger sticks (4GB is the one I have) bring up the new hardware installer asking for the driver. The large memory stick shows up in Device Manager as an unknown device. My 4GB Patriot memory stick is identified under "Unknown Device" as "Patriot", so it seems that Windows is able to see "what" it is but not "use" the device. This Patiot stick is NOT U3 but the problem occurs with U3 memory sticks as well. The thought occurs to me that the problem is related to the capacity of the memory stick being larger that the system can recognise and use.

[tek101]

Yours likes this.. ..?: Patriot 4GB Secure Digital High-Capacity (SDHC) Flash Card Model PSF4GSDHC

!http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

For the long shot .." Try on another pc..With Wds XP/SP3.....see if it works ...." If it still doesn't work .....

You migth contact ..; www.patriotmemory.com/support/producttermsp.jsp for support ...I have heard of Patriot Sd card malfunction due to the thin case ...

If Its not that old...they might replace with another one..

Hang tight ...Other members will give you more help.

[typicaldata1]

The patriot is a standard USB "thumb" drive, however this problem is not restricted to just this model. A standard USB 2.0 512MB thumb drive works fine. I'm not sure if the problem is with the BIOS, chipset drivers, or correctable by editing the registry to allow windows to properly recognise thumb drives above a set capacity as in Windows XP with no service packs being unable to recogise a 80GB harddrive because of "harddrive limitations" Remember the "bad old days" and the "4GB limitation" of DOS?

[smax013]

My Windows XP machines have never had a problem recognizing my 8 GB thumb drive.

So, my guess is there is either something wrong with the drives, your system does not like the drives for some reason, or there is something "wrong" with your Windows installation (i.e. some corrupt system file or some program causing problems). It should not be a capacity limit, however.