I have a 2GB Cruzer that apparently intermittently prevents the computer from getting past the initial BIOS screen. If the problem is occurring, when I unplug the Cruzer, the normal boot process takes off immediately. If I leave the drive in, the computer eventually boots, but nothing on the USB tree works. Reformatting the drive (FAT32 or FAT16), even repartitioning it doesn’t help. Happens about 1 time out of 3 to 1 time out of 5. Seems to be limited to date code BE1103VPAB (several sticks do the same). Date code BE1007OFCB works without issue. Happens on multiple computers of the same type. Haven’t replicated it on another motherboard (yet). Motherboard is an Intel Johnstown (Atom) board with the latest Intel BIOS. BIOS is set to disallow USB booting. Setting the USB “Legacy” mode doesn’t change the behavior. Assistance, please? John
Additional information: Moving the stick to another USB port on the same back panel appears to fix the problem. Is it possible that the different date codes represent a change in the power requirements or the power signature on startup?
John
Is the machine’s BIOS set to boot the hard drive first?
What if you remove USB device and plug it in to the same port instead of another port that you have described? Does that work? Also can you confirm your motherboard DOES identify this SanDisk drive in another port at power-up time?
The boot process continues the second I remove the drive. Any port works after the computer has booted, and it can fail in any port when inserted before power-on. At first, I thought it might be power-related and that moving various devices around changed things, but this was just the variability of an intermittent problem. That is, moving it seemed to make it work for a while, but if I kept at the testing, it would eventually fail even in the new positions, and over the course of larger testing would occur at the same rate. Once the computer is booted, it has no problem recognizing the drive in any port. It’s the fact that it inhibits booting that’s the problem.
What is the safe way to do if the cruzer has a bad date?Thanks.
