PC Peripherals peculiar flash drive issue (LEXAR secure 1GB)

[hippy2981]

I have a 3 1/2 years old 1GB flash drive (jump drive) of Lexar with a peculiar issue. It looks like the bottom one in the pic. It's a long story so please bear with me.

When I plug it in, I get a balloon message in XP that says:
"The USB device can perform faster if you connect it to a High Speed USB 2.0 port."

It's been 6 months since it's acting like this - less frequently in the early stages. Once I get this message, I have speed issues with data transfer (like USB 1.1 speeds, very slow speeds. ex: 10s for 8MB song). I don't have data integrity issues - the data is intact. I know for sure that the port is USB2.0 and not 1.1. I have a newer flash drive which does not give me this balloon message so it's the lexar flash that has the issue. Besides, I have tried this on every machine I have and it behaves the same.

I tried
chkdsk /r - no problems
HDTune error scan - no damaged
HDTune benchmark - min 1MB/s, max 1MB/s

Since it's 3 1/2 years old, I would understand it dying - but not behaving half-dead. :S I refuse to let go.

Please help.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
- Arthur C. Clarke

 

[6pack]

check it on different usb ports - does it give the same message always?

 

[hippy2981]

yes. [10 characters]

 

[sydras]

The port might be a USB 2.0 port but the device itself might only support USB 1.1 speeds i.e. it might be a USB 1.1 device.

But 3.5 years old would put it at around Sep 2004. Both USB1.1 and USB2.0 devices were available at the time if I recall correctly.

Have you checked manufacturers specs for this particular model no?

 

[hippy2981]

It started giving me the balloon message since 6 months only. It's USB 2.0.

 

[techie_007]

tried connecting it to the back USB ports on the motherboard? front ports may sometimes give problems.

 

[hippy2981]

I can use my other flash drive on the same ports with no issues.

 

[techie_007]

I can use my other flash drive on the same ports with no issues.

doesnt mean a thing. still try connecting to the back ports

 

[=CrAzYG33K=]

tried connecting it to the back USB ports on the motherboard? front ports may sometimes give problems.

+1 to this!
I myself have come across such a weird situation. Try it. You just might get lucky.

 

[Sasuke_Itachi]

Seems like the USB port is having power variations.

 

[6pack]

try uninstalling the driver for that usb stick and let windows install it again. it might be driver issue.

 

[hippy2981]

+1 to this!
I myself have come across such a weird situation. Try it. You just might get lucky.

tried all ports. still not working.

 

[hippy2981]

try uninstalling the driver for that usb stick and let windows install it again. it might be driver issue.

i did NOT install any additional drivers for this flash since i bought it. so i doubt it's a driver issue.

 

[hippy2981]

bump. bump.