Jul 19

Have you plugged in your USB drive and received the following message from Vista or XP?

USB Device Not Recognized<br /> One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message.

So you click the message and you get basically the same message and no obvious way to solve the problem.

USB Unknown Device

To fix the problem and have XP or Vista recognize your USB drive and show up in My Computer:

1. Book mark this page.

2. Reboot your computer [turn completely off and turn back on]

3. Plug in your USB drive and see if it appears in My Computer.

4. Return to this post using the bookmark you created in step 1.

5. Go to this post and follow the steps outlined.

My Computer Does Not Recognize My USB Drive

6. If step 4 does not work, go to this post and follow the directions.

USB Driver Not Found

7. Maybe your USB is defective, click here to get a new USB flash drive .

May 25

So you have read my post on what BIOS is an what it does. Now you need to find out what version of BIOS you are using now on your computer running Microsoft XP or Vista.

In XP or Vista, go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools and select System Information.

Here is what the menu in XP looks like.
Find BIOS Version XP or Vista

Notice that the BIOS version of my computer is version 6. Also listed is the BIOS manufacturer, Phoenix Technologies dated 1/28/2004.
BIOS Version

On my Vista computer, you can see that the BIOS version is A11

BIOS Version in Vista

Now that you know how to find your BIOS version and what version you have, you can go to the computer or motherboard manufacturer’s web site and download the current BIOS version.

Note: There is another way to find the BIOS version in Windows XP or Vista, and that is watch for the BIOS screen when you first boot up/turn on your computer. The BIOS screen does not stay on very long, thats why I like to find the BIOS version using the System Information panel.
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