Flash Drive not working on my computer. Fixes have failed.

I have a 16GB flash drive that my laptop is not allowing me to use. I'm able to use it with other computers, but not my own. I have already googled the problem for solutions and have tried them to no success and hope someone can offer me further advice. Here's what I've tried so far:

I went to Device Manager and found my flash drive which has a "!" symbol that means the driver is out of date. I clicked to update driver, and I get a message saying my driver is already up to date, even though that symbol is still there.

In Device Manager, I also right clicked on the flash drive and then selected "Uninstall Device" and then unplugged the flash drive from the port and then reinserted it. It still doesn't work.

I also tried the option of "Disable Device", and then I unplugged it and then plugged it back in again and re-enabled it, and it still didn't work.

I also right clicked the device and then clicked on Properties, and the following message was there: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. (Code 38)The driver could not be loaded because a previous version of the driver is still in memory"

I've also tried restarting my computer, but that didn't help either.

So, does anyone have any other ideas? I know it's a good flash drive since it works in other computers, so the problem seems to be with mine. I just don't know what to do next.

These are some troubleshooting steps:

Try both USB 2 and 3 ports.
Try BIOS legacy versus UEFI native, versus UEFI with CSM
Try turning off ultrafast and or fast boot
Try turning off secure boot

Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC | Tutorials
Enable or Disable Fast Boot in UEFI Firmware Settings for Windows | Tutorials

Try another flash drive: for example
Find a flash drive that you can format ( > or 8 GB)
Create a bootable windows 10 iso:
DriveLetterView - View/Change/Remove drive letters assignment in your system
Download Windows 10 ISO File | Tutorials

Confirm that this flash drive can boot another computer and then report into the thread whether this flash drive can/cannot boot the problematic computer.

For the problematic flash drive: are you able to clean or format this drive?

Establish whether the problems is with only one flash drive or with any flash drive by comparing to the bootable windows 10 iso.

With the problematic flash drive inserted in a USB port:
Open file explorer > this pc > post an image into the thread
Open disk management > widen two columns: status and volume > for the rows make sure the contents with the parenthesis for sources is in full view and that none of the letters are cutoff > post an image into the thread
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of | Tutorials

These are some hot keys"
List of PC brands with their corresponding hot-keys

Download and install: DriveLetterView - View/Change/Remove drive letters assignment in your system
Post an image into the thread

I would do simple things for a start without any in depth diagnostics.

Remove the USB Flash drive.

The USB drivers are part of chipset on most Laptops, they appear in various places in the Device Manager.

The obvious ones to start with are under USB controllers. Or where ever you are getting the "!" mark.
There will be a whole list under that heading, 9 on mine.

"Uninstall Device" for each of those.

Windows, or Windows updates will install the correct drivers automatically. Dell may also supply the drivers.

The reason to "Uninstall Device" is that this should start with a clean slate, and correct drivers will be installed.

Helmut said:

I would do simple things for a start without any in depth diagnostics.

Remove the USB Flash drive.

The USB drivers are part of chipset on most Laptops, they appear in various places in the Device Manager.

The obvious ones to start with are under USB controllers. Or where ever you are getting the "!" mark.
There will be a whole list under that heading, 9 on mine.

"Uninstall Device" for each of those.

Windows, or Windows updates will install the correct drivers automatically. Dell may also supply the drivers.

The reason to "Uninstall Device" is that this should start with a clean slate, and correct drivers will be installed.

I had tried the Uninstall Device idea before, and it didn't work.
However, I restarted my computer again, and now everything is fine. I wonder why it didn't solve the problem when I tried it before.
But thank you both for your help! I'll keep your posts in mind if this problem comes up again, which I'm sure it will since it's happened in the past, but only temporarily.

For preventative maintenance run these commands on the computer to check:
operating system
component store
drive file system

1) Open administrative command prompt and type or copy and paste:
2) sfc /scannow
3) dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
4) chkdsk /scan
5) When these have completed > right click on the top bar or title bar of the administrative command prompt box > left click on edit then select all > right click on the top bar again > left click on edit then copy > paste into the thread