USB storage gone wild lol...

[ggogeta]

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.

[Bob_180_Bob]

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.

[ggogeta]

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]

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

[jbennet]

Right click my computer -> manage -> disk management

is it there?

[ggogeta]

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

[c-tech]

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]

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]

he doesnt need a driver if he has XP

[ggogeta]

It works flawlessly on any other Win xp computer.

[Bob_180_Bob]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

If it IS aliens... post the pics.

[Bob_180_Bob]

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]

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

[c-tech]

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