Unable to play mp3 music on USB memory stick

[Lexxieman]

I wonder if someone can help me.

I have just part exchanged my 2014 Lexus IS300h for a 2019 one. On the 2014 one I could play music (MP3) from USB memory sticks. On the 2019 one I cannot even though they are the same memory sticks from the previous car. There is power to the USBs because the light at the tip of the memory stick comes on and I can charge my phone. I have tried unplugging, plugging back in again etc. The USB 1 and 2 in the source menu are greyed out and cannot be selected.

Any ideas? 

[PDM]

Hi Chris,

I assume the stick still works in a computer?

Did you also try a different memory stick in the new IS?

Can I ask what brand of stick it is?  There have been issues with the early release of at least one sandisk usb stick when used in vehicles. The ultra-fit I think it is.

Paul

[Herbie]

The problem with USB flash drives is that they were never really meant to be 'permanent' storage, merely just a means of transferring files from one device to another. Their failure mode rarely gives any warning and I have literally seen them be alright at, say, 10am and completely given up the ghost half an hour later.

[Mincey]

1 hour ago, Herbie said:

The problem with USB flash drives is that they were never really meant to be 'permanent' storage, merely just a means of transferring files from one device to another. Their failure mode rarely gives any warning and I have literally seen them be alright at, say, 10am and completely given up the ghost half an hour later.

I've got one which works on two of my laptops and not another. I've also lost count of the flash drives I've had over the years which suddenly go "poof". Don't get me started on CD-Rs. I dug out some from the early 2000s yesterday and about 25% were unusable. It's lucky that I haven't had to refer to them in the past 20 years... .;-)

[Bounce75]

I had this problem when I first purchased my IS300h back in Feb, I have a Mac & it wouldn't recognise anything on it.

I ended up using my Son's Window PC & formatting in Fat32, that seemed to to the trick.

[Lexxieman]

Thanks for your replies. Yes the USB memory stick plays on my desktop computer with no issues. I do not know who the manufacturer is, the format is FAT 32.  I bought 6 from amazon and put audio books on them to play in the car. I have tried a couple of others that worked in my previous Lexus and they do not play in this one either. I have copied the present one on to a CD which plays ok on the Lexus CD player, thank goodness Lexus have not done away with CD players yet like some other manufacturers have.

The car has come with a 12 month warranty so if I cannot cajole the USB sockets into working I will see if the Lexus garage can fix it when I take it in for a service. 

[PDM]

Chris,

If you can, try copying the data to another stick, preferably another brand of stick.  If there are still issues, it sounds like a vehicle problem.  Sounds like you have set everything up properly (fat32 etc).

Cheers,

Paul

[Blotfred1]

I swapped my IS 300h for a NX300H. The USB is greyed out on the available media screen on the NX but It played and was readily accessible on the IS.

The stick works fine on my computer.  Any ideas??

[Steven C]

I had the same problem on another car brand. Newer cars seem to have changed to the NTFS file system. I dragged the songs off the stick re-formated it to NTFS put them back on it and all worked fine. My ES seems to read both file systems.

[PDM]

On 5/22/2024 at 5:50 PM, Blotfred1 said:

I swapped my IS 300h for a NX300H. The USB is greyed out on the available media screen on the NX but It played and was readily accessible on the IS.

The stick works fine on my computer.  Any ideas??

It's odd that it worked on an IS but not a facelift NX. Does any other stick get recognised in the car? You have two sockets in that gen of NX I think in the centre console, both of which should support data. Have you tried both sockets?

How large is the stick? I believe an MM17 or MM19 (if you have car play or android auto) should support 128GB minimum, but must be formatted FAT32.

I'm hesitant to say, because it's easy to blame the car, but as the same stick worked in an IS300h (with probably MM13?) perhaps the USB ports in the NX are broken because MM17/19 should be able to read anything that MM13 can read.

Please check these things and let us know.

Paul

[Mr_Groundhog]

On 5/29/2021 at 12:42 PM, Bounce75 said:

I had this problem when I first purchased my IS300h back in Feb, I have a Mac & it wouldn't recognise anything on it.

I ended up using my Son's Window PC & formatting in Fat32, that seemed to to the trick.

you can format a drive as fat32 on a mac too