USB storage gone wild lol...

Question

ggogeta 0 Light Poster

15 Years Ago

Hi,

Here's the buzz:

I've just reinstalled Win Xp Pro sp3, as it'd take longer to fix than to reinstall...

Anyways, I can plug any usb stick to any Usb ports, and it's gonna work.

But, I can't plug my external hard drive, which worked fine before the reinstallation. Windows does not even make a "I got something new connecting" sound. Nothing happens in the device manager. No USB port seems to work with this 2.5 IN hard drive.

So I tried plugging that hard drive on my laptop --> works fine... tried on a friend's laptop, worked fine.

Then,, I went to the device manager, clicked on view>show hidden devices, and uninstalled everything under "storage volumes". Note that you can't see this if you did not click on "show hidden devices". Rebooted.

didn't work.

Help! lol.. Never seen that before.

windows-nt-2000-xp

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Latest Post 15 Years Ago Latest Post by klrdn

Bob_180_Bob 41 Posting Virtuoso

15 Years Ago

Hi,
If the drive is a SATA you may have to reinstall it before windows will recognize it.

Try running "install new hardware" in the control panel and use the SATA installation disk to install. If you don't have one, go online and get one from there.

jbennet 1,618 Most Valuable Poster

15 Years Ago

Right click my computer -> manage -> disk management

is it there?

c-tech 3 Junior Poster

15 Years Ago

hi there!
could there be an issue with the power being supplied to the drive by the computer? that would be my best bet.

Bob_180_Bob 41 Posting Virtuoso

15 Years Ago

Hi,
Go online, find a driver for the hard drive and use the installation program and see what happens, you can not do any harm and it may work.

jbennet 1,618 Most Valuable Poster

15 Years Ago

he doesnt need a driver if he has XP

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ggogeta 0 Light Poster · Answer 1 · 2008-11-04T00:04:35+00:00

This hard drive worked without additionnal drivers. just like a USB stick. But now when I plug it, windows does not see any new devices at all.

It works in any other computers though.

ggogeta 0 Light Poster · Answer 2 · 2008-11-07T08:18:59+00:00

any ideas? I havn't found any solution yet.

ggogeta 0 Light Poster · Answer 3 · 2008-11-08T00:42:38+00:00

It's not there. Which is why I'm about to think Aliens want something from me.

ggogeta 0 Light Poster · Answer 4 · 2008-11-17T10:53:37+00:00

It works flawlessly on any other Win xp computer.

Bob_180_Bob 41 Posting Virtuoso · Answer 5 · 2008-11-17T14:44:44+00:00

He doesn't need a driver if it is working on XP but it is not and it is not even recognized by XP so, by installing a driver, it could cause XP to find the HD

gerbil 216 Industrious Poster · Answer 6 · 2008-11-17T18:52:30+00:00

Mmm.. the drive is USB... so SATA etc should not come into the equation? It would be entirely up to the disk controller to deal with disk interfacing from USB. And USB 2.0 drivers were incorporated in SP! and SP2.
I like this bit: "as it'd take longer to fix than to reinstall...?

jbennet 1,618 Most Valuable Poster Team Colleague Featured Poster · Answer 7 · 2008-11-18T02:14:17+00:00

Exactly what i was saying (actually native usb mass storage drivers are in Windows 2000 and ME), its just SP1 and SP2 increased the speed

ggogeta 0 Light Poster · Answer 8 · 2008-11-18T02:21:44+00:00

Please read my post... it is working CORRECTLY on ANY OTHER WIN XP MACHINE. Even ones that never seen an external hard drive for all their usefull life :p

Everyone agrees that if it needed a driver, there would still be a yellow question mark in the device manager. There are none in my device manager.

gerbil 216 Industrious Poster · Answer 9 · 2008-11-18T19:06:04+00:00

I do understand, gogetta, but don't know the answer. I could make one point... do other USB devices that make a substantial power drain on the USB host work on your machine? Not thinking thumbdrives here, but maybe a wireless receiver or somesuch.

ggogeta 0 Light Poster · Answer 10 · 2008-11-18T21:58:35+00:00

It could be but what's bugging me is that it all worked flawlessly before I formatted the hard drive.

Now right after windows is finished installing, it won't work... All the other usb devices do. No new devices since the formatting.

Aliens I tell you! haha. Though I'd really like to find the answer.

gerbil 216 Industrious Poster · Answer 11 · 2008-11-19T07:46:02+00:00

gerbil 216 Industrious Poster

15 Years Ago

If it IS aliens... post the pics.

Bob_180_Bob 41 Posting Virtuoso · Answer 12 · 2008-11-19T09:45:50+00:00

Please read my post... it is working CORRECTLY on ANY OTHER WIN XP MACHINE. Even ones that never seen an external hard drive for all their usefull life :p
Everyone agrees that if it needed a driver, there would still be a yellow question mark in the device manager. There are none in my device manager.

Is this correct, you have a reference to your drive in the Device Manager only if you "Show Hidden Devices" (without a yellow exclamation mark) but if you right click "My Computer", "Manage", there is no reference to your drive??

ggogeta 0 Light Poster · Answer 13 · 2008-11-19T10:48:39+00:00

I can't see it anywhere. I tried uninstalling all the useless hidden device, with no luck.

c-tech 3 Junior Poster · Answer 14 · 2008-11-19T19:35:04+00:00

:-/ can i suggest trying to repair windows? it's probably some missing file my friend or even try sfc /scannow.

Bob_180_Bob 41 Posting Virtuoso · Answer 15 · 2008-11-20T09:15:56+00:00

Hi,
You certainly present a problem, as you have only just reinstalled windows, maybe, a reformat and reinstall might fix the problem if a windows repair or sfc don't work.

Do all other USB devices work on it???

klrdn 0 Newbie Poster · Answer 16 · 2008-11-21T04:40:57+00:00

If USB Drive was not plugged in during SP3Install - try it that way.