USB not recognized

[CASTLEDFW15]

2022 Z71…………

Purchased a couple of USB drives. One for Comedy and one for Music. A pretty common occurrence for me. Gives some other options for road trips when I want a break from SXM or AM/FM. Files downloaded from computer to flash drive fine but when I went to plug in vehicle and test……..”USB not recognized”.

I have the sliding center console and from what I can see the USB in the wireless Charging area is the only USB. Other ports are USB A/C whatever but this is the only true USB port.

I never used or even tested the Front USB on my 21 Premier so no reference. The only difference between the 21 Premier and 22Z71 was the Z71 has Rear Seat Entertainment.

Any ideas?

 

[Micahsd]

I’d check the format of the drive as the file system probably needs to be FAT16 or FAT32. If you have a Windows machine, right click on the drive itself in File Explorer (the old Windows Explorer), select Properiyies and it should tell you the file system on that screen. If it’s ExFAT or NTFS it probably won’t work.

Below is an article walking you through that process.
https://neosmart.net/wiki/identifying-the-filesystem-format-of-a-usb-drive/

If the drive is not showing FAT/FAT16/FAT32 for the format, reformat the drive as that. You will lose all info on the drive and will have to copy everything back to it. When you go to the area above to view the format, when you click on the Tools tab there should be a Format option there to change it. Below is an article on that too.
https://www.stellarinfo.com/blog/how-to-format-usb-drive-using-using-fat-fat32-ntfs-exfat/

If you have a Mac, good luck with it as I have no clue how to format a flash drive in there.

Can you tell I work in IT?

If none of this works, I’d try to connect your phone to the USB port to ensure that is working properly. Make sure it can do more than just charge, such as play media through that connection or AndroidAuto/CarPlay. If none of that works, probably time for a trip to the dealer as the port would be dead. There is more than one port…maybe try the other smaller USB-C port if you’re doing all this in the USB-A (larger) port.

Another thought, if both the USB drives you’re trying to use are the cheapest ones from a no-name manufacturer purchased off Amazon, they could be bad or worse malicious as some flash drives can contain malicious code that can ruin the USB controller itself. I’d stick to name brands.

The USB drives I’ve bought for my wife’s ‘20 Traverse sticks out a tiny amount and looks like those Logitech USB keyboard/mouse RF transmitters but are actually flash drives that are upwards of 64-128 GB in size. I like those in cars as then they don’t stick out which means there’s a low risk of bending it in the port (which can ruin the port). An example of one of those drives from a name brand is below.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LFV52Y6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_W7X884T0RX2FBSJ328S2

 

[Pro299]

Yeah, what Micahsd said. Don't know about the 22's, but on my 21 I never got a FAT32 to work either. FAT16 was the only thing it would recognize.

 

[Samkost]

I know his is an old thread but I hope this might help someone who is experiencing a USB issue in their later years Chevrolet Tahoe or other GM vehicles.
In my 2020 Z71 Tahoe I had an older USB stick with my music on it. It worked fine. Yesterday I had a new USB downloaded stick with more music and it wasn’t identified by my Tahoe….just wouldn’t load.
After calls to the manufacturer of my working USB stick, I was told the newer 3.0 version USB’s won’t work in my 2020 Tahoe Built in 2019. So a software update issue?
Come to find out that only 2.0 version USB’s are compatible, not the newer 3.0’s.
Hope this helps out others out there with this issue.
Good luck all.
Sam