USB drive still tells me it's write protected. "current read-only" is the problem, not "read-only". Thanks for Bootice link, nice program. Don't have Linux.
It's as if the USB had a write protect switch enabled (which it doesn't). Don't know linux code but seems similar enough to DOS in this case... the method you linked doesn't appear to have a modifier that would force a write protected drive to format (maybe that is implied in Linux?)
Restoring your USB key to its original state using Linux:
A. First we need to delete the old partitions that remain on the USB key.
Open a terminal and type sudo su
Type fdisk -l and note your USB drive letter.
Type fdisk /dev/sdx (replacing x with your drive letter)
Type d to proceed to delete a partition
Type 1 to select the 1st partition and press enter
Type d to proceed to delete another partition (fdisk should automatically select the second partition)