Flash Drive Won't Mount Except At Startup

Just bought a little 1Gb USB Flash drive which is USB 1.1 compatible. I want it for transferring files back and forth between my OS 10.4 G5 at home and the old blue and white G3 (OS 9.2.2) I have to use at work.
Trouble is, the G3 won't mount the drive unless it's inserted before startup. Apple System Profiler knows it's there when I put it in one of the USB slots on the back of the computer or in the spare slot on the Macally keyboard, but in neither case does it mount. I've looked at the USB events log in System Profiler and it registers the device being inserted and its call on the USB Mass Storage driver like this:
13436.785: [ 75579098]: Driver - Hub Driver - Device found, calling USBHubAddDevice. Port 3
13437.266: [ 75580125]: Expert - LoadClassDriver: USBCompositeDevice1.5.6 - calling driver initialize routine... 0
13437.267: [ 75580125]: Expert - LoadClassDriver: USBCompositeDevice1.5.6 - driver initialization completed 0
13437.578: [-1744497139]: Expert - LoadInterfaceDriver: USBMassStorageDriver - calling driver initialize routine... 0
13437.580: [-1744497139]: Expert - LoadInterfaceDriver: USBMassStorageDriver - driver initialization completed 0
So there's nothing there that says "fail" there unless that's what the zero at the end of each line means.
If I shut down the computer, insert the drive then start up, it shows up on the desktop no problem. It won't show up again if I trash and remove it though.
However, a graphite G4 in my office, which also runs OS 9.2.2 and seems to have an identical system install, will mount the drive with no problem on any of its USB ports.
Is this a case of the G3's USB ports being underpowered and there's no way round it, or is there a fix out there somewhere?
G3 Blue & White   Mac OS 9.2.x  

However, a graphite G4 in my office, which also runs OS 9.2.2 and seems to have an identical system install, will mount the drive with no problem on any of its USB ports.
Try this: Copy all of the extensions on the G4 that have USB in their names into the Extensions folder on the G3, replacing the USB extensions that are there; then restart and test again. Some of them may be older or newer versions than the ones on the G3 now, and that can make a difference. Note that in OS 9.x, it isn't always the newer versions of the USB extensions that work better.
Also see this user tip from Apple employee Joerg Weise. In it he lists 6 USB extensions (with version numbers) that can often resolve USB problems in OS 9, even under circumstances different from those described at the beginning of his comments.

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    Took a while, but it has installed OK. But some applications weren't restored and now the Time Machine drive won't mount on the Macbook at all. When I open up time machine - and try to choose a backup disc nothing comes up.
    The drive shows up on a PC when i connect it (but won;t read it as its mac formatted) so I'm pretty sure there;s nothing wrong with the drive.

    Also, be aware that TM thinks you got a new Mac, not a new logic board. Thus you won't see your TM backups in the normal way. You'll need the (badly named) +*Browse Other Time Machine Disks+* option (see #E2 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip* at the top of this forum).
    In addition, when you start doing new backups, TM will start a whole new "sequence," as if it were a different Mac. See #C8 in the Troubleshooting Tip for options.

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