Sandisk Cruzer not recognized by Vista

[toreddie]

I've spent several hours attempting to get Vista (Ultimate) to recognize my Sandisk Cruzer (2Gb, U3, SDCZ6-2048, BE0608A1B). The flash drive works fine on my XP Pro notebook and worked on my Vista desktop before I upgraded to Vista.

This is the message I get after plugging the drive in (the light comes on for 3-4 seconds):
"USB devise not recognized. One of the USB devises attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message".

When I click the message I get a new window up which shows a list of USB Root Hub (8 ports), and one is listed as "Unknown USB devise".

I contacted Sandisk tech support three times and got three different answers:
1) Use the U3 uninstall tool from their website to uninstall and reformat the flash drive. I did that, but Vista still does not recognize the drive.
2) You are out of luck. Buy a new flash drive. The version I have (v 2.18) supposedly would NEVER work with Vista regardless of uninstalling and reformatting.
3) It is a driver issue. I was told to search for a Vista driver that would enable Vista to recognize my flash drive. After 2 hrs searching, I can't find anything.

I understand that the U3 software may not be compatible with Vista, but a formatted flash drive should not be a problem. It's a "dumb" drive. Or, so I thought.

Please, anyone, help me with a solution soon. I've got presentations I need off of the Vista machine.

toreddie

[degsy]

Have you tried any other flash keys in your vista setup?

If you cannot find a driver and that model is not supported by vista then you may have to purchase a model that is certified and supported under vista.

[toreddie]

I've tried 3 other drives. 1 works fine, 2 not at all. Supposedly Sandisk is working on an upgrade for all their Cruzer flash drives version 2.17, 2.18, 2.19 and 2.0. Should be available in April.

[degsy]

Sorry, but you may just have to wait for the update.