# Frustrated that PC doesn't recognize Kindle 2 as a USB drive



## mharwell

Santa Claus brought me a Kindle2 and I have really been enjoying it.  Tried for the first time tonight to connect it to my PC running Windows 7 and the Kindle will not mount as a USB drive and computer does not see it attached??  I have tested both USB ports and they are working properly and recognize my iPhone as well as some other USB devices that I tested.  I noticed that the charge indicator light on the Kindle does come on when the USB is attached but that is it.  

And to make matters worse, each time I test it and fail, when I turn the Kindle back on, the battery status at the top right of the Kindle display shows the Kindle to still be in a "charging" mode even though the cable has been detached from the Kindle.  I then have to do a re-set to clear it and get if to funtion properly again.  So the USB connection will charge the Kindle2; but it doesn not recognize it as a USB drive and that is a real bummer .  Has anyone experienced this or have any ideas as to what might be the problem?


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## NogDog

On occasion I have had it take a while (seemed like a minute, probably was more like 20 seconds) for the connection to "take." The vast majority of the time, though, it connects within a few seconds (Windoze 7, 32-bit).


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## mharwell

Well, I call Kindle customer service and we couldn't solve it so they are shipping me a new unit.  Meanwhile, this morning, I brought my Kindle and USB cable to work and plugged it in and it immediately recognized the Kindle and worked perfectly.  

Something I did not mention in my prior post, is that for some reason, when plugging the Kindle USB cable into my "front" USB ports on my Dell PC,  it never felt like it was going in all the way.  Hard to describe but with as many USB devices that I use, I know what it feels like when it plugs in all the way, and for some reason the Kindle cable just feels like it only goes half way when plugging into my PC at home??  All of my other USB cables plug into those very same USB ports and go in all the way and work perfectly so I'm not sure what could be the difference in the Kindle USB cable with the USB ports on my PC??


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## NogDog

Are the USB ports on your computer recessed somewhat (maybe surrounded by some plastic molding or such)? I notice that on my Kindle USB cable, the plastic around the plug is a couple or three millimeters wider and maybe just a hair thicker than the other USB cables I have. Perhaps if your PC has it's USB jacks recessed at all, there could be a problem? If you think that's the issue, maybe you could run to your favorite computer store and see if you can get a USB cable extension that you could plug your Amazon cable into.


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## mharwell

It must be something like that and I am going to take a closer look at it when I get home tonight now that I know that the Kindle and the USB cable work on my PC at work.  Thank you for the advice


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## Ann in Arlington

I have heard that folks with 64 bit Win 7 have issues.  I have 32 bit Win 7 on one machine and XP on the other and have had no problems.  Nog's given you some good thoughts though. . . . .good luck!


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## bendle

Had the same problem last night with my K2 using Vista x64

Here's what I did:

1.  Unplug from computer and Restart Kindle
2.  Restart computer
3.  After computer is restarted and with Kindle OFF, plug back into USB port
4.  Wait a few seconds until you hear the usb plug in sound and then turn Kindle ON.

Vista recognized the kindle again after i did this.

Hope it works.  Good luck!


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## DanL

I just switched to a new computer (HP Elite 7000) with Windows 7 and experienced exactly the same thing. My Kindle is not recognized when I connect to one of the three front USB connectors. Not only is the Kindle not recognized, the Computer function seizes up and I have to shut down with the switch. I don't detect any difference in the way the connection feels. I have a powered USB hub connected to one of the rear USB connectors, though, and the Kindle works fine when it's connected to the hub.

My tentative diagnosis is that the front USB connectors don't have enough power to charge the Kindle and run the CPU simultaneously. My front USB connectors are powerful enough to handle a microphone and a flash drive, but they seem to be marginal with the Kindle.

If you can't access the rear connector easily, I suggest you try a small powered USB hub. It works for me. I plan to do a little experimenting as soon as I have the time. It should be pretty easy to determine exactly where the weakness lies.

Dan


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## DanL

I Googled "kindle usb front rear" and came up with this:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/32965_The_Kindle_2_Review

It looks as though this problem has been around for quite a while.

Dan


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## Betsy the Quilter

mharwell, sounds like you've gotten some good ideas to try; keep us posted on how the new K works or if you resolve the problem with the old one!

Betsy


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## marianneg

My Kindle has always worked fine with my 32-bit Vista laptop.  I was a little apprehensive when I upgraded to 64-bit Windows 7 because it seems to be the 64-bit OS that most people report as not working.  I am happy to report, however, that the Kindle is still working fine.  That makes me tend to agree with DanL that it may be a problem with the particular USB port rather than the OS.


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## gdae23

I was glad to find this thread, as I’ve recently been having a variation of this problem, and couldn’t previously find anything about it online. I’m convinced that it’s the cable itself that is the problem here.

First, some relevant background information:
-I’m using the Windows XP 2005 Windows Media Edition
-The main USB port I use for syncing the Kindle, iPods, etc., is an extension USB cord plugged into the back of the CPU. I also have USB ports on my monitor. In the past, I used the monitor ports to sync iPods, but with more advanced iPods, the monitor ports were apparently no longer powerful enough, and that’s when I set up the extension cord. (The CPU is on the floor, and the back is a bit hard to reach directly.)
-I bought my Kindle 2 last winter, so I have the U.S. version, not the more recent international one.
-I now have 2 Kindle cables – the one that came with my Kindle, which has worked fine all along, and continues to work fine. I plug this into the extension cord CPU USB port to sync. A few weeks ago, I also bought a second cable from Amazon to use for travel / spare purposes. That’s the one I‘m having trouble with. Here’s the story, and my apologies that it’s so long, but hopefully it will help get to the bottom of this:

When I got the second cable, I first used it to charge the Kindle. That worked fine, although it seemed a bit unwieldy when attaching it to the Kindle, and it seemed to take longer than the first cable. A few days later, I  attached the cable to the USB extension cord port to sync the Kindle, and that’s when I had problems similar to what’s been described here. (I also felt like this cable somehow wasn’t connecting as securely as my first cable did, as was mentioned above.) The USB connection screen showed on the Kindle for just a few seconds, then it reverted to the table of contents. I didn’t see the Kindle showing up as connected on my PC screen. (It usually shows as Drive F.) I opened My Computer to see if it showed there, and it did. However, when I tried to open Drive F, I couldn’t, and then the computer froze altogether. I had to reset completely to get out of the mess. (As for the Kindle, when I disconnected the USB  cord, it worked fine.)

I tried this a few times, and it always froze the computer. I reset, tried syncing with my original cable attached to the extension cord port, and that one continued to work fine. I called Kindle customer service and explained all this. The gentleman was very nice, and said he never heard of this problem before, but he would send me a new cable, which he did.

I connected the new cable (cable # 3, now) to the extension cord USB port, and had the same exact problems as with cable # 2. I thought  I should try another USB port, which I hadn’t done before, and first was gong to use another one on the back of the CPU. But that was a pain to get to, so first I tried the port on my monitor. To my surprise, cable #3 worked fine with the monitor port, and I was able to sync the Kindle. When I tried cable #1, the original cable, it didn’t work in the monitor port, although it continued to work in the extension cord CPU port. I had already partly packed up cable # 2 to send back to Amazon, so I never tried that one in the monitor port.

To further confuse the situation – a few days later, after the computer had been turned off completely and back on a few times, I tried cable #3 again. I first attached it to the monitor port – and it didn’t work. I then tried the extension cord port, and it did work. I have no idea why this changed. I hadn’t tried it again until tonight, and thought I would try it before commenting on this thread. Tonight, I attached it to the extension cord port first, and was back to square one – it didn’t recognize the Kindle, froze my computer, and I had to restart. After I restarted, I attached cable # 3 to the monitor port again, and it worked ok. I then attached cable # 1 to the extension cord port, and it worked ok on that one. 

I haven’t recontacted customer service about this, since I was able to use cable # 3. I’m mostly using cable #1, and will use #3 to sync only if absolutely necessary. It seems to work ok to charge the Kindle, so I’ll use it as my travel charger for now. 

Since I have a different operating system from most of you, I don’t think it’s the operating system. Since Matt said his worked on a different computer, I don’t think it’s the computer. Since my Kindle syncs just fine on the original cable, plugged into the extension cord USB port, and my iPods sync fine on this same USB port, I don’t think it’s the Kindle or the USB port. Since cable # 3 worked on the monitor USB port, which has less power than the CPU USB port, that can’t be the issue either.

Basically, that leaves the cable itself. When I spoke to customer service, I asked if there was any difference in the cables for the U.S. edition of Kindle 2 or the international edition, in case that was the problem. I was told it was the same cable. My only guess, then, is that either there’s a bad batch of cables out there that some of us have gotten, or else there really is a difference in the more recent cables and the older ones.  (Although I completely can’t explain why one day cable # 3 worked on one USB port, but the next time it only worked on another. That makes no sense to me. Or why it worked on Matt’s other computer at work.)

Anyway, it seems this isn’t that isolated an incident. Is there a way to get this to the right person’s attention at Amazon so it could be investigated? Calling customer service doesn’t seem to be the way to go, since they don’t seem to have heard about the problem, or know how to resolve it other than by sending new items.


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## khwiggins2

Hello, just got my Kindle DX Global yesterday.

Hope this post helps others.

I have Windows 7 64-bit enterprise edition.

After plugging in kindle to laptop, it looked like driver installed fine and eject device option on bottom bar was available, but I couldn't see the kindle drive.

I went into manage computer -> storage -> disk management and saw that the drive showed there. Funny thing was that it was assigned the same drive letter that I had a mapped network drive on.

So... In disk management, I selected the drive, right click and assign drive letter. I changed it to an unused drive letter and everything worked great from there. I even got the auto-run message when I plug in usb cable.

Hope this helps.

Oh yeah, one other word of advice. The picture looks so good on this that when you first open it up, don't try to peel the screen off thinking it's a plastic coating. 

Thanks,

Ken


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## hera

I've had problems with Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 64-bit.  imo, it is a driver issue.  If I connect my Kindle2(U.S), Windows Explorer may or may not show the kindle, and it will freeze if I try to open the kindle.

However, if I connect my cellphone or my zune* to the computer, wait 5 seconds or so for the drivers to load, then connect the kindle, my computer will read the kindle just fine.  If I connect the kindle, then the phone, I can't read either.  This is why I think it is a driver issue.

Anyway, if you have a phone, mp3 player, camera, or other USB portable device, I would suggest connecting it before connecting your kindle and see if things improve.

*My zune works on Vista 64-bit only.  On Windows 7, the zune doesn't show up as drive or device in Windows Explorer.  Connecting my cellphone first still works under Windows 7.


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## SusanCassidy

khwiggins2 said:


> I went into manage computer -> storage -> disk management and saw that the drive showed there. Funny thing was that it was assigned the same drive letter that I had a mapped network drive on.
> 
> So... In disk management, I selected the drive, right click and assign drive letter. I changed it to an unused drive letter and everything worked great from there. I even got the auto-run message when I plug in usb cable.


I had a similar problem some time ago on my work pc, with a Kindle 1. It didn't seem too smart about 'skipping over' any drives already mapped to drive letters that it wanted to use. For example, if I had F free and G in use, it would not show my SD card as a drive. It appeared to want 2 consecutive drive letters, and if it can't find them, just drops that drive. It seems to like E and F as the starting drive letters.

Ken has a good idea about drive letters, so if other people have this kind of problem - Beware!


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## gdae23

I just came across another possible explanation while browsing for something unrelated to the Kindle:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925196/en-us

Item is titled "A computer that is running Windows XP cannot detect a USB flash drive, an Apple iPod, or an external hard disk drive"


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## NogDog

Something else you could try: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/usb-device-not-recognized/

(Note, if you're using a notebook or other portable, after powering off and unplugging the computer, also remove then reinstall the battery.)


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## PenskeFile

I was having the exact same problem as the OP, and I am also pleased to report that it was resolved by using another cable.  Fortunately, I had another one laying around from when I had cracked the screen on my first Kindle and spent $200 on a replacement.

For the record, it was not a "short" cable, just a different one than the one that would not work!  Strangely, the cable that did not work on this pc (which was causing me the frustration) does work on another pc.  This one (that doesn't work) is a brand new, high-powered laptop (Dell XPS 17) running 64 bit Windows 7.  The other PC, which the "bad" cable DID work on, is a 32-bit machine that was upgraded from XP to W7 and is three years old.

Go figure!


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## Pekindle

I had the same problem with Kindle 3 - on my old computer (Dell, Win XP) I had to connect it on avg. 5times to get one successfull connection. On my new comp (HP, Win 7) it was just a tragedy - no success at all with any USB 2.0 port. There is one USB 3.0 port as well - and - a surprise - with USB 3.0 I have no problem to connect my Kindle (which has USB 2). But don't ask me why.


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## makugx

- -- == CONFIRMATION TO SOLUTION OF THIS PROBLEM  =- --- 

gdae23 SAID It was the cable on a big reply he posted.

AS soon as I read this, I switched the cable and it worked.

THROW THE CABLE THE KINDLE CAME WITH, or make amazon kindle pay for a new one.


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