External hard drive registers as unknown device...

[Marcus Fox]

I have bought a USB hard drive from eBay, but am having problems, but wanted
to check that it was faulty rather than a configuration error or my own
stupidity before I contact the seller for a replacement.

Basically I have the HDD in the case, and the two USB plugs (note two, for
additional power and stability - says the seller's blurb. These 2 USB plugs
are connected to one wire which terminates in a plug that fits into the back
of the device.

I plug it in and the LED flashes green. XP bubbles a window up saying "
Found New Hardware", then " USB Device" and then "USB device not
recognised - troubleshoot, etc etc" Uninstall, retry, same effect. Have
tried
this with two different hard drives, but no effect. It is listed in System,
Device Manager as an unknown device under USB controllers.

However, this device works perfectly well in another XP system.

Any ideas?

 

[Rich Barry]

Marcus, the first question Do you have Windows Update SP1 Installed?
the second, did you enable or
set an IRQ for USB Controllers in the Bios?

 

[Marcus Fox]

Marcus, the first question Do you have Windows Update SP1 Installed?
the second, did you enable or
set an IRQ for USB Controllers in the Bios?

Yes, I have SP1 installed, as do both computers, the one on which it works,
and the one on which it does not. I have not modified the BIOS, but all my
other USB devices I have used work in all my ports, apart from my Viewquest
webcam which causes the problem computer to hang, but works on other
computer.

Marcus