I know I've run into that problem myself on a system running Win98 ... but I can't remember for sure what I did to fix the problem. I want to say it was telling Windows to look for updated drivers on the internet through the device properties tab in Device Manager, but that might have been Win2K for that.

 

Hopefully someone else here will remember better. ;) 

Win9x doesn't do auto detect/install of the drivers for USB devices well.

 

Generally You need to have Windows 98 drivers for each specific device you wish to use. The drivers have to be installed *before* the device is plugged in for the first time.

 

(note: if you've made the mistake of plugging in the device before you've installed the drivers you may find it still doesn't work *after* installing the proper drivers. The remedy in this situation is manually editing the registry to remove entries made when the device was first plugged in)

 

If the device is a few years old you may be able to find drivers for it. Newer devices will likely not have 9x drivers available.

 

In the case of thumb drives there are a few "generic" drivers available on the Net that will work with a lot (but not all) thumb drives. Google for the specific model of whatever device you're trying to use + Windows 98 drivers.

 

Win 9x was always a little hinky with USB.

 

Good luck.

See, I knew someone else would remember better than me. ;)

I've gone to the bigger name sites and downloaded their driver, usually takes 1 to 3 tries to get most thumbs to work. Sometimes your only option with a premium drive, not a quality brand but a premium, ie somthing with a company logo on it.