12" Killing USB memory sticks

[M376X6]

Got my Ram 3500 in July. I keep music I listen to on memory sticks. To keep things simple I use either 1 or 2 gig sticks and on rare occasions larger memory. I plug my sticks into either
of the ports below the stereo and they work at first. Then the 12" will either completely remove everything stored on them or leave just one song. Sometimes, the sticks when I bring them back to the desk top they say Missing Dir File or the stick is empty. I have lost four of the sticks that even after trying to re-format them the desk top still won't see them and I end up throwing them away. I have tried FAT (File Allocation Table), FAT32, and exFAT. The stereo won't even read exFAT. I waited almost 5 months for a new port cable the dealership felt would solve the issue. It came in a week ago and they installed it earlier this week. No change. The stick I was listening to in the Durango on the way down to pick up the truck worked great. 51 songs loaded and once placed into the Ram 3500 died with Read Error. The desk top later showed the stereo had completely erased everything from the stick. Nothing, absolutely nothing on it. The service coordinator indicated when they brought the truck out that their stick worked fine in it and that it was my formatting that was the issue. When I asked for them to install their stick after it had just wiped out two sticks leaving one stick with only one song on it she indicated that their stick also showed Read Error and therefore the stereo was working!?! A technician was standing there and said the port cable wasn't the issue causing the problems and that it was the stereo. The new cable now by the way won't even show the center console port at all now and supposedly this was also fixed with the new cable. I fly around a lot on business and use memory sticks to listen to the music I enjoy. I almost always rent either Dodge, Ram, or Chrysler vehicles and none of my sticks have ever had a problem. I'm now to wait another month while they obtain a re-conditioned unit to stick in. Am I doing something wrong? Has anyone had or heard of this problem? Thanks, I would appreciate any positive helpful feedback.

 

[jejb]

Seems this is a problem area. Wife has uConnect 5 in her 21 Pacifica and I have uConnect 5 with the 12" screen in my 22 2500. Both have given us fits with USB drives, mostly just not recognizing the drive or way undercounting the number of songs. I did have one get wiped clean in my truck. We've been around the block on the Pacifica and they finally got it working decent, but we had to leave at the dealer for 3 weeks while they worked the "Star Case" on it.

I think the reason you don't see more complaints about this is that not a lot of people use USB drives for music these days. I put up a poll recently on a different Ram forum, and very few said they used them that way.

Try putting all the songs on the root of the drive, after freshly formatting it Fat32. So no folders. See how that works for you.

 

[M376X6]

Almost 6 months and I am finally getting somewhere. Maybe. Some wonderful group called STAR decided they wanted to waste more of my time and have the dealership look into it. STAR had cancelled my reconditioned replacement order from the beginning of December until they were satisfied it was my fault. The dealership manager felt it was my issue also. My sticks were/are being killed by my truck but when he put them into his 2022 Longhorn they worked perfectly. He suspected my pc had a virus, I use AVG and everything in and out of my pc is scanned. My truck is generating the LOST DIR file on the sticks and thay can't see how. STAR said my music has to be loaded in MP3 and using FAT32 so I did it and the truck still destroyed them but worked fine in the manager's truck. I have spent the last few weeks getting nowhere and even at one point being told, very tactfully, that I was a liar by the Service Director, after I stated what his service rep had stated, then being looked at like I was a fool by the Service Manager, and being told by the service rep it was not a priority after almost six months. Supposedly my reconditioned unit is on order. Should take somewhere between four days and four months. I was told at the same time I was told of the new change in order status that I should really stop using outdated technology involved with music on memory sticks and consider something more useful to what the auto manufacturers want us to use. I asked then why are they called media ports then but didn't get an answer. It's a very long story involving all the time, phone calls, emails, travel, and changes I had to make to get to this point over the last four weeks, not taking into consideration the last 5 months. The service rep had placed on the trouble ticket originally that I was having trouble sometimes with my usb sticks. I know, lets go back to 8 tracks!!!!

 

[GlennRH]

Almost wish for an 8 track and a radio with six push buttons hearing all the nightmares with this screen cr$p.

 

[jejb]

Creating the LOST DIR is pretty normal. You could try making the USB drives read only:

How to Create and Remove Read-Only USB Drive in Windows

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[ljmasonwy]

I am constantly having problems with my '22 RAM 3500 reading USB drives. My wife and I are both technologist and work in IT Security. Guarantee MY tech skills are not the issue. My truck has 2 USB-A and 2 USB-C ports beneath the 12" console and a USB-A inside the armrest storage compartment. I had occasional problems with the system reading my USB drives, but since about a year ago, I've had nothing but problems. I have tried USB-As and USB-Cs of various sizes. I have freshly formatted them with FAT32 format (Quick Format and Standard). I have copied files in MP3 format within folders and only in the root directory. Some times they will work the first time I plug them in. Sometimes they just give device read errors. If they work, they delete 10% or more of the tracks or report them unreaddable. I plug them into my android phone or any of three different PCs and they work fine.

The UConnect tech is glitchy and you can't even install 3rd party apps to get around the glitches, such as a different MP3 player. My entire dash will go dark for random reasons, and require an engine shut down and restart. The 12" will blank out and need to be rebooted. The environment controls won't function... the list goes on.

Chrysler/Dodge/RAM/Stellantis has had tech issues in every iteration for vehicles in the last decade and just can't get their **** together... If my next truck isn't a RAM, THIS is the reason.

 

[M376X6]

Since last January I have finally given up. At least the truck has not completely rendered the USB sticks completely unusable since then. I have wasted so much time dealing with incompetent service personnel at my dealership and the "Engineers" who I am quite convinced couldn't find their ass sitting on both hands palms up! I have tried everything. FAT, FAT32, sticks under 1gig, MP3, read only, and still the sticks come back saying there is a Lost Dir and almost still on a weekly basis the system will simply wipe out most of the songs I have downloaded. I was in the dealership last week to see about possibly ordering a Durango Hellcat and standing there in the showroom was the service director. Who chuckled out "here is the unicorn." Because I like the 400 plus songs I have and will load the ones I want to hear instead of the monotonous crap sirius keeps repeating. The finance director, owner and I were standing there and the director got a little testy about the comment. You know why I know it's related to the 2022's and the 12 inch disaster they installed in them, because in the 2018 Power Wagon, the 2019 Charger Hellcat, the 2019 Durango R/T, the 2022 Power Wagon, and the 2023 Durango SRT not a damn one, has had an issue with the USB sticks! Not one. The Power Wagons belong to my Son. I owned the 2019 Durango R/T and traded it in on the 23 SRT, and stupidly, I traded my Charger Hellcat and 2012 3500 in on the 2022 Ram 3500 Limited. I have rented lots of various vehicles while I travelled for business over the last 8 years before retiring last April and not one of them has any issues with my sticks. We rented a Cadillac Escalade to comfortably haul out our three old pups up to Wyoming to visit our Son last August and the Cad never had one issue with the sticks and none of the rentals ever had a problem either. I get frustrated with myself because I have such animosity over the truck and Stellantis because of a stupid faulty stereo system. When I can look past the issue with the stereo I love the truck. Powerful, comfortable, stylish, great economy when I keep my foot out of it, and a lot of features that are really supportive of hauling our hunting vehicles, trailers, and slide in camper all over the Western US to hunt.

 

[jejb]

I am constantly having problems with my '22 RAM 3500 reading USB drives. My wife and I are both technologist and work in IT Security. Guarantee MY tech skills are not the issue. My truck has 2 USB-A and 2 USB-C ports beneath the 12" console and a USB-A inside the armrest storage compartment. I had occasional problems with the system reading my USB drives, but since about a year ago, I've had nothing but problems. I have tried USB-As and USB-Cs of various sizes. I have freshly formatted them with FAT32 format (Quick Format and Standard). I have copied files in MP3 format within folders and only in the root directory. Some times they will work the first time I plug them in. Sometimes they just give device read errors. If they work, they delete 10% or more of the tracks or report them unreaddable. I plug them into my android phone or any of three different PCs and they work fine.

The UConnect tech is glitchy and you can't even install 3rd party apps to get around the glitches, such as a different MP3 player. My entire dash will go dark for random reasons, and require an engine shut down and restart. The 12" will blank out and need to be rebooted. The environment controls won't function... the list goes on.

Chrysler/Dodge/RAM/Stellantis has had tech issues in every iteration for vehicles in the last decade and just can't get their **** together... If my next truck isn't a RAM, THIS is the reason.

That sucks. What level of uConnect SW are you at? My initial issues with USB drives have pretty much disappeared with updates. I'm pretty happy with uConnect these days. No real complaints.

I've never had my dash or 12" screen go black though, so you likely have deeper issues.

 

[heefageLA]

My wife laughs at me because I use a 32 GB stick with THOUSANDS of songs on it. I use it like my own personal radio station. Put that baby on random and never hear the same song twice.
Ive had several UConnects over the years and never knew this was a problem. (Knocking on wood)

 

[M376X6]

They tried everything, updates, even a new system. The Service Coordinator, not the unicorn comment manager would take my sticks that I provided in every format, size, WMA mp3 etc. etc. and he would plug them into his 2020 Ram, no troubles, everyone worked and no issues. Plug them into my truck either with original stereo or the new (perhaps refurbished) stereo and wham, Lost Dir and there is something wrong with this song so it will be permanently skipped on this USB. I'd have to reformat it and reload it to get it to work. I tried emailing the original Stellantis service rep last week and Stellantis said the incident was closed out and I would have to start all over again.

 

[Mister Luck]

Logic could be the USB port itself is wired incorrectly
I can only use the USB port inside my center console for flash drives or my smart phone
My system Identifies the USB port inside the console as iPOD
The USB port on the dash only charges devices and is not used by the Uconnect

 

[Mister Luck]

I am constantly having problems with my '22 RAM 3500 reading USB drives. My wife and I are both technologist and work in IT Security. Guarantee MY tech skills are not the issue. My truck has 2 USB-A and 2 USB-C ports beneath the 12" console and a USB-A inside the armrest storage compartment. I had occasional problems with the system reading my USB drives, but since about a year ago, I've had nothing but problems. I have tried USB-As and USB-Cs of various sizes. I have freshly formatted them with FAT32 format (Quick Format and Standard). I have copied files in MP3 format within folders and only in the root directory. Some times they will work the first time I plug them in. Sometimes they just give device read errors. If they work, they delete 10% or more of the tracks or report them unreaddable. I plug them into my android phone or any of three different PCs and they work fine.

The UConnect tech is glitchy and you can't even install 3rd party apps to get around the glitches, such as a different MP3 player. My entire dash will go dark for random reasons, and require an engine shut down and restart. The 12" will blank out and need to be rebooted. The environment controls won't function... the list goes on.

Chrysler/Dodge/RAM/Stellantis has had tech issues in every iteration for vehicles in the last decade and just can't get their **** together... If my next truck isn't a RAM, THIS is the reason.

That was another question since thieves use “CAN injection” to access home security from sharing a phone with a vehicles automation system I would assume manufacturers can not be held responsible unless the Uconnect is wiped clean every-time of data before exiting.

 

[jejb]

The USB port on the dash only charges devices and is not used by the Uconnect

The USB ports on the dash of my 22 2500 Ltd Longhorn are certainly used by uConnect to play media on thumb drives.

 

[chri5k]

You could try one of these USB drives with physical write protect. I used them in computer forensics. $20 for a 16GB stick.

Kanguru USB Drives With A Physical Write Protect Switch

Kanguru is proud to offer USB flash drives, solid-state drives (SSD), and hard drives (HDD) with a physical write-protect switch. Check out our selection here.

www.kanguru.com

 

[M376X6]

Mine also, the USB ports under my 12" screen are active data. The USB port I have in the center console under the arm pad is power only. At least on my truck

 

[Mister Luck]

Mine also, the USB ports under my 12" screen are active data. The USB port I have in the center console under the arm pad is power only. At least on my truck

Wire gauge and quality correlates to data transfer, same number of pins for USB type A . Wire leads and connector pins quality’s leaves many variables that should be verified.
I get the same quality of data with a self powered file device as a external powered device , the difference is the reliability of the powered device is greater.
Can you use a powered Bluetooth dongle for data transfer instead of USB ?

 

[M376X6]

How about I pay over a hundred thousand dollars for a truck and the USB ports and stereo work like they're supposed to.

 

[Mister Luck]

How about I pay over a hundred thousand dollars for a truck and the USB ports and stereo work like they're supposed to.

I would investigate the manufacturer of the unit, when I worked for Mitsubishi they used infinity units and they used those in their flagship models there maybe a separate warranty issue that your dealer is unaware of.
I think it is illogical that your console USB does not connect to your head unit as it is a secure compartment ideal for the containment of externally connected devices.

 

[Mojo88]

How about I pay over a hundred thousand dollars for a truck and the USB ports and stereo work like they're supposed to.

Buddy, I feel your pain. I use same method for playing music and audio books, loading up assorted USB sticks. I would be out of my mind pizzed off, paying a small fortune for a vehicle and having it continually mess up a very basic task.

Please keep posting. I hope you can get it resolved.

 

[Lil' Rob]

The USB reader in the truck may not like the size of the stick...something to do with its processor...too much stuff for it search through and/or read. I've seen other devices I use USB's for puke and load files slowly on 32GB USB drives. I use a 64 in my truck and don't have issues as described by the OP, but it does occasionally load stuff slowly, especially when searching for specific stuff. But, yes, I agree...for the cost of these vehicles, this shouldn't be an issue to worry about.