USB not in port but still showing on desktop

Hi there,
I am hoping someone can help me with this very strange problem...
I got a new usb & plugged it into my MacBook Pro but it couldn't read it so I went into Disk Utility & erased it & changed the format to MS-DOS (FAT) then it didn't seem to work anyway so I gave up & ejected it. Now every time I turn on my MacBook the icon is still on my desktop! no matter how many times I eject it, when i restart, it is still there... Now the main problem for this is that I have my MacBook partitioned for windows (unfortunate necessity) so when i try to switch to windows it won't start up because "there is a usb plugged in"

Please can anyone help me to get rid of this piece of crap from my computer?

thank you!

sha said:

Hi there,
I am hoping someone can help me with this very strange problem...
I got a new usb & plugged it into my MacBook Pro but it couldn't read it so I went into Disk Utility & erased it & changed the format to MS-DOS (FAT) then it didn't seem to work anyway so I gave up & ejected it. Now every time I turn on my MacBook the icon is still on my desktop! no matter how many times I eject it, when i restart, it is still there... Now the main problem for this is that I have my MacBook partitioned for windows (unfortunate necessity) so when i try to switch to windows it won't start up because "there is a usb plugged in"

Click to expand...

That's extremely odd. Try plugging something else into the USB port that the drive was plugged into. Perhaps that will force it to recognize that the drive isn't plugged in anymore.

Could it be possible that you duplicated the usb(fat) onto your MacHDD? Does it show up when you open up disk utility?

idrinorbarsaku said:

Could it be possible that you duplicated the usb(fat) onto your MacHDD? Does it show up when you open up disk utility?

Click to expand...

Yes it shows up in disk utility... I can even drag folders/documents onto it...

sha said:

Yes it shows up in disk utility... I can even drag folders/documents onto it...

Click to expand...

Well if it's not plugged in, yet shows up in Disk Utility AND is usable, then you are looking at something else entirely.

EDIT: Im wondering now if the reason you can't boot into Windows is because you formatted your Windows partition, not the USB drive. A screen cap of Disk Utility would be helpful.

If you did copy the usb into the mac hdd, then you can simply remove the partition back to how it originally was. That should fix the problem with windows reading it as a usb, as well as removing it from the desktop.

lifeisabeach said:

Well if it's not plugged in, yet shows up in Disk Utility AND is usable, then you are looking at something else entirely.

EDIT: Im wondering now if the reason you can't boot into Windows is because you formatted your Windows partition, not the USB drive. A screen cap of Disk Utility would be helpful.

Click to expand...

I think you might be onto something... I have attached a screen photo of disk utility as you suggested... if this is the case is there anyway to fix it that you know of?

sha said:

I think you might be onto something... I have attached a screen photo of disk utility as you suggested... if this is the case is there anyway to fix it that you know of?

Click to expand...

That definitely looks like you formatted over your Boot Camp partition. Can you post one last screen shot from Disk Utility? Highlight the drive (top line where it says Hitachi), then select Partition on the right. That will tell us if you have an unformatted partition there still, though I'm not certain that it will matter. Your Disk0S3 partition is formatted in the Mac file system, so if that was Boot Camp and you need something back off it, recovery will be very expensive (we're talking hundreds, if not thousands of dollars) if even possible. Disk Warrior might be able to recover it, but I don't have any personal experience with using it.

lifeisabeach said:

That definitely looks like you formatted over your Boot Camp partition. Can you post one last screen shot from Disk Utility? Highlight the drive (top line where it says Hitachi), then select Partition on the right. That will tell us if you have an unformatted partition there still, though I'm not certain that it will matter. Your Disk0S3 partition is formatted in the Mac file system, so if that was Boot Camp and you need something back off it, recovery will be very expensive (we're talking hundreds, if not thousands of dollars) if even possible. Disk Warrior might be able to recover it, but I don't have any personal experience with using it.

Click to expand...

Ok, so i have attached the screen shot & I think you are right...
Luckily I didn't have a whole lot of stuff saved on the windows side...
so i guess i can fix the partition & re-install windows, do i need to un-partition it first & then do the whole thing fresh?. Do you think partitioning it is this best option or would i be better off getting one of those programs like fusion?

I have also attached another screen shot - every time i switch on my computer now this finder window is open..? Do you know of any reason why this would be happening?

& just one more question - my laptop keeps switching itself off! even when there is like over 25% battery left...? does this mean I need a new battery? My Macbook is nearly 3 years old.

Thank you so much for your advice, i really appreciate it.

I'll leave the Windows partitioning questions for others to answer or at least till I am more awake. As for the Finder window opening at startup try the following:

Before you shut down the next time close any windows that you do not what open the next time you start the computer. When you start up again the desktop should appear the way you last left it. you should be able to try this by just logging out then back in. If the problem continues beyond the next startup something else is happening.

sha said:

Ok, so i have attached the screen shot & I think you are right...
Luckily I didn't have a whole lot of stuff saved on the windows side...
so i guess i can fix the partition & re-install windows, do i need to un-partition it first & then do the whole thing fresh?. Do you think partitioning it is this best option or would i be better off getting one of those programs like fusion?

Click to expand...

No doubt about it… you formatted the Boot Camp partition. You should delete that, resize the primary to take up the whole space again so you have just one, then re-run the BC assistant to reinstall Windows.

& just one more question - my laptop keeps switching itself off! even when there is like over 25% battery left...? does this mean I need a new battery? My Macbook is nearly 3 years old.

Thank you so much for your advice, i really appreciate it.

Click to expand...

Possibly, though I'll defer to more experienced advice for that.