USB flash drive suddenly no longer recognized by vista and xp

I am looking for suggestions to fix usb drive.

The flash drive worked fine for months but failed to be recognized by either XP or Vista machines today.

A same pop up window states that "usb device is not recognized" and the drive is no longer visible in win explorer. (see attached screen captures of the messages). So I can't even attempt to format or repair it.

There was not anything different that I did with this drive. However I was able to pull out a 'ball' of dust from the drive when it first failed. Nothing changed after I got the dust out. So maybe there was a short circuit?

When I insert the drive half way the light begins to blink. If I then insert the drive completely, I get the above message (usb device is not recognized) and the light goes out.

Any thought?

I am prepared to crack open the case and perhaps rewire the circuit. Has anyone successfully tried that before?

Thank you in advance.

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When you go into Device Manager and do view>show hidden devices, are there any usb devices listed as unknown or greyed out?

If so, try uninstalling them and rebooting. Then try your usb flash drive again.

When you go into Device Manager and do view>show hidden devices, are there any usb devices listed as unknown or greyed out?

If so, try uninstalling them and rebooting. Then try your usb flash drive again.

I don't see anything... (included is my Device Manager with show-hidden-devices screenshot )

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I don't see anything... (included is my Device Manager with show-hidden-devices screenshot )

Um....it says Unknown Device right there. It's the one right in the middle.

AJ