External HD/USB/"The format did not complete successfully"

[Guest]

1. Installed USB2.0 card and breakout box - successful

2. WD Knowledge Base says about installing HD into USB enclosure:
"Although WD hard drives should work properly in external FireWire and/or
USB enclosures, we are not able to provide technical support for drives in
this configuration beyond suggested jumper settings and warranty replacement.
The suggested jumper setting for a WD EIDE drive used in an external
enclosure is single (pins 4-6)."

3. Set jumpers, install Western Digital 120 GB Ultra ATA/100 into Adaptec
External housing - successful

4. Go to Computer Management/Disk Management and drive is recognized.
Partition it successfully, assign a drive letter (X - mnemonic for external).
Display indicates Disk2 Online and Healthy. Finally I format it and the
process goes to 100% and quits with a message "The format did not complete
successfully." Tried also as a Quick Format without success.

(Of note, but perhaps not of importance, Disk Management then no longer
recognizes the hard drive - have to reboot.

 

[Michael Tissington]

Do you have anything else connected to your USB ?

In device Manager what do you see for USB ?

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

1. Installed USB2.0 card and breakout box - successful

2. WD Knowledge Base says about installing HD into USB enclosure:
"Although WD hard drives should work properly in external FireWire and/or
USB enclosures, we are not able to provide technical support for drives in
this configuration beyond suggested jumper settings and warranty
replacement.
The suggested jumper setting for a WD EIDE drive used in an external
enclosure is single (pins 4-6)."

3. Set jumpers, install Western Digital 120 GB Ultra ATA/100 into Adaptec
External housing - successful

4. Go to Computer Management/Disk Management and drive is recognized.
Partition it successfully, assign a drive letter (X - mnemonic for
external).
Display indicates Disk2 Online and Healthy. Finally I format it and the
process goes to 100% and quits with a message "The format did not complete
successfully." Tried also as a Quick Format without success.

(Of note, but perhaps not of importance, Disk Management then no longer
recognizes the hard drive - have to reboot.

If you have a floppy drive I suggest you make a DOS boot disk and load DUSE
(the DOS USB driver). A DOS boot disk can be downloaded from
www.bootdisk.com and 'Google' for DUSE. Use the boot disk to boot to dos
and format the external drive from DOS. That should fix it.

 

[Anna]

1. Installed USB2.0 card and breakout box - successful

2. WD Knowledge Base says about installing HD into USB enclosure:
"Although WD hard drives should work properly in external FireWire and/or
USB enclosures, we are not able to provide technical support for drives in
this configuration beyond suggested jumper settings and warranty
replacement.
The suggested jumper setting for a WD EIDE drive used in an external
enclosure is single (pins 4-6)."

3. Set jumpers, install Western Digital 120 GB Ultra ATA/100 into Adaptec
External housing - successful

4. Go to Computer Management/Disk Management and drive is recognized.
Partition it successfully, assign a drive letter (X - mnemonic for
external).
Display indicates Disk2 Online and Healthy. Finally I format it and the
process goes to 100% and quits with a message "The format did not complete
successfully." Tried also as a Quick Format without success.

(Of note, but perhaps not of importance, Disk Management then no longer
recognizes the hard drive - have to reboot.

WilDeliver:
I take it a "breakout box" is a USB external hard drive enclosure, yes?
We'll assume that the enclosure is non-defective.

We've run into a similar problem along the lines you described and here's
what we've found...

1. Try the re:formatting process a number of times. We've sometimes found
that on the third or even fourth try, the formatting "took" and there were
no further problems using the USBEHD.

2. Ensure that your USB cable is secure on both ends. If you have another
USB cable available, use it. And I assume you've connected the drive
*directly* to your USB PCI card and not through any USB hub, right?

3. Remove the HD from the enclosure and install it temporarily as an
internal drive. Try formatting it again via Disk Management.

4. If still no go, download the WD disk diagnostic utility and test the
drive for any defects.

5. Should the drive prove non-defective, try formatting it using a Win9x/Me
Startup floppy disk which contains the FDISK & FORMAT commands. If you don't
have one, there are a number of websites that have this DOS boot disk
available for download. I'm not familiar with the "DUSE" disk mentioned by
Edward Thompson in another posting, but I suppose that works as well. Should
the formatting be successful, your drive will be formatted FAT32 rather than
NTFS. But that should be of no consequence with an external drive.
Understand that you will need to connect the drive as an internal drive in
order to format it with a DOS floppy. DOS will not recognize a USBEHD.

Could you clarify your final statement that following the failed formatting
attempt, you "have to reboot". What happens when you reboot? The problem
still remains does it not?
Anna

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

WilDeliver:
I take it a "breakout box" is a USB external hard drive enclosure, yes?
We'll assume that the enclosure is non-defective.

We've run into a similar problem along the lines you described and here's
what we've found...

1. Try the re:formatting process a number of times. We've sometimes found
that on the third or even fourth try, the formatting "took" and there were
no further problems using the USBEHD.

2. Ensure that your USB cable is secure on both ends. If you have another
USB cable available, use it. And I assume you've connected the drive
*directly* to your USB PCI card and not through any USB hub, right?

3. Remove the HD from the enclosure and install it temporarily as an
internal drive. Try formatting it again via Disk Management.

4. If still no go, download the WD disk diagnostic utility and test the
drive for any defects.

5. Should the drive prove non-defective, try formatting it using a
Win9x/Me Startup floppy disk which contains the FDISK & FORMAT commands.
If you don't have one, there are a number of websites that have this DOS
boot disk available for download. I'm not familiar with the "DUSE" disk
mentioned by Edward Thompson in another posting, but I suppose that works
as well. Should the formatting be successful, your drive will be formatted
FAT32 rather than NTFS. But that should be of no consequence with an
external drive. Understand that you will need to connect the drive as an
internal drive in order to format it with a DOS floppy. DOS will not
recognize a USBEHD.

Could you clarify your final statement that following the failed
formatting attempt, you "have to reboot". What happens when you reboot?
The problem still remains does it not?
Anna

To use a USB drive with DOS you need to load a USB driver, I use DUSE. It
simply is not correct to say you cannot use USB or firewire with DOS, you
can provided you load the drivers. The drivers are readily available via
'Google'.

 

[Richard Urban]

What many people fail to mention is that the external enclosure interface or
connecting cable may be defective. I have found this to be the case, more
than a bad drive. A decent USB cable alone is going to cost about $10.00
minimum, yet people buy a cut rate case (with cable) for $24.95 and expect
miracles.

If a drive can be formatted out of the case, but fails when installed in the
external enclosure it is a sure sign that the enclosure is at fault.

Additionally, people tend to put a "spare" drive in an external enclosure
and expect faultless service. Why is the drive a spare? Was it taken out of
service because there was some inherent problem, and the drive was
subsequently replaced? That is the problem frequently, I fear. People forget
that the drive was problematical when installed in a computer - yet expect
it to function in an external enclosure.

Again, you get what you pay for. I have never had any problems with the
following:

USB only =
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/pr...&cat=/Technology/USB/USB+Hard+Drive+Enclosure

USB plus Firewire =
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/pr...&cat=/Technology/USB/USB+Hard+Drive+Enclosure

Comparison =
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/pr...&cat=/Technology/USB/USB+Hard+Drive+Enclosure


--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Anna]

To use a USB drive with DOS you need to load a USB driver, I use DUSE. It
simply is not correct to say you cannot use USB or firewire with DOS, you
can provided you load the drivers. The drivers are readily available via
'Google'.

Edward:
Thanks for the information re the DUSE program. I note that in a number of
prior postings you have mentioned that program in this context. I had
previously requested additional details from you about using that program
but I haven't come across any response.

Would you be good enough to provide details about using that program? I note
the DUSE 4.4 program can be downloaded from the
http://www.stefan2000.com/darkehorse/PC/DOS/Drivers/USB/ site.

1. Is it simply a matter of adding the DUSE.exe (and DUSELDR.COM?) file(s)
to a DOS boot disk, e.g., a Win9x/Me Startup floppy boot disk) in order to
use the program? Could you provide specific details re using the program?

2. Do I understand from what you're indicating that when you boot to a DOS
boot disk containing the DUSE file(s) with a USB external HD connected to
the system, the USBEHD will be recognized for the purposes of utilizing the
FDISK & FORMAT commands? So that one could delete/create partitions and
format partitions on a USBEHD in this manner?

I (and I'm sure others) look forward to your response.
Anna

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

snip>

Edward:
Thanks for the information re the DUSE program. I note that in a number of
prior postings you have mentioned that program in this context. I had
previously requested additional details from you about using that program
but I haven't come across any response.

Would you be good enough to provide details about using that program? I
note the DUSE 4.4 program can be downloaded from the
http://www.stefan2000.com/darkehorse/PC/DOS/Drivers/USB/ site.

1. Is it simply a matter of adding the DUSE.exe (and DUSELDR.COM?) file(s)
to a DOS boot disk, e.g., a Win9x/Me Startup floppy boot disk) in order to
use the program? Could you provide specific details re using the program?

2. Do I understand from what you're indicating that when you boot to a DOS
boot disk containing the DUSE file(s) with a USB external HD connected to
the system, the USBEHD will be recognized for the purposes of utilizing
the FDISK & FORMAT commands? So that one could delete/create partitions
and format partitions on a USBEHD in this manner?

I (and I'm sure others) look forward to your response.
Anna

I'm sorry I didn't respond to your question, I must have missed it. On the
site you have mentioned I note the author has done all the 'hard work' and
compiled bootable disks that incorporate the USB drivers. Just download one
of his files, run the 'exe' and create a floppy, that should do the trick.
I am sure fdisk and format are included on his disks but I haven't checked.
If the utilities you need aren't on the disk you can add them yourself of
course.

If you want to create your own disk you need to add the 'duse.exe' file to
the bootable floppy and modify 'config.sys' with the line 'device=duse.exe'
or 'devicehigh=duse.exe'.
When you now boot from the floppy, you will be able to read and write to
your USB drive.

As a suggestion go to www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm where you will find
everything you need to build a suitable floppy.

As others have mentioned and you almost certainly know, format in DOS will
only allow you to format FAT, however once the disk is formatted converting
to NTFS should not be a problem.

Hope this helps.

 

[Anna]

snip>

I'm sorry I didn't respond to your question, I must have missed it. On the
site you have mentioned I note the author has done all the 'hard work' and
compiled bootable disks that incorporate the USB drivers. Just download
one of his files, run the 'exe' and create a floppy, that should do the
trick. I am sure fdisk and format are included on his disks but I haven't
checked. If the utilities you need aren't on the disk you can add them
yourself of course.

If you want to create your own disk you need to add the 'duse.exe' file to
the bootable floppy and modify 'config.sys' with the line
'device=duse.exe' or 'devicehigh=duse.exe'.
When you now boot from the floppy, you will be able to read and write to
your USB drive.

As a suggestion go to www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm where you will find
everything you need to build a suitable floppy.

As others have mentioned and you almost certainly know, format in DOS will
only allow you to format FAT, however once the disk is formatted
converting to NTFS should not be a problem.

Hope this helps.

Edward:
Thanks for the additional information re the DUSE program.

We usually use a standard DOS boot floppy created as a Win9x/Me Startup
floppy disk to boot to DOS to access the FDISK & FORMAT commands when the
need arises to partition/format large-capacity HDs FAT32. I assume there's
no need to use any other type of DOS boot floppy to use the DUSE program
after one modifies that boot floppy disk along the lines you indicated.

I added the duse.exe (and duseldr.com) files to a DOS boot floppy disk and
modified the config.sys file as you described. With a USBEHD connected to
the system, we booted with that floppy. But we could not get to a prompt.
The final message at the end of the boot process indicated "DUSE version 4.4
Build 110 Release (General) ..." and then a blinking cursor. No prompt. We
tried it with different USBEHDs connected with the same results.

If you could shed any light on this initial failure I would appreciate
hearing about it.
Anna

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

Edward:
Thanks for the additional information re the DUSE program.

We usually use a standard DOS boot floppy created as a Win9x/Me Startup
floppy disk to boot to DOS to access the FDISK & FORMAT commands when the
need arises to partition/format large-capacity HDs FAT32. I assume there's
no need to use any other type of DOS boot floppy to use the DUSE program
after one modifies that boot floppy disk along the lines you indicated.

I added the duse.exe (and duseldr.com) files to a DOS boot floppy disk and
modified the config.sys file as you described. With a USBEHD connected to
the system, we booted with that floppy. But we could not get to a prompt.
The final message at the end of the boot process indicated "DUSE version
4.4
Build 110 Release (General) ..." and then a blinking cursor. No prompt. We
tried it with different USBEHDs connected with the same results.

If you could shed any light on this initial failure I would appreciate
hearing about it.
Anna

It's a little difficult to troubleshoot your problem. I suppose there is an
outside chance that the DUSE file is corrupt. I assume your config.sys file
is similar to that shown in example 2 at www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm.

Your problem has nothing to do with connected USB devices but with the
bootable disk. What is strange is if you have a mistake in the config.sys
script it is usually ignored and shows up as a error. In your case the boot
process hangs which may indicate a corrupt driver file, likely the DUSE
file. You could download a fresh copy of DUSE and retry.

What I would do is to download a bootable 'USB' floppy from
http://www.stefan2000.com/darkehorse/PC/DOS/Drivers/USB/ and try that. If
it functions then it will tell you the problem lies with the configuration
on your floppy disk and isn't something more fundamental. You can then
compare the differences between the disks and identify the differences. My
money is on a 'bad' copy of DUSE.exe

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

It's a little difficult to troubleshoot your problem. I suppose there is
an
outside chance that the DUSE file is corrupt. I assume your config.sys
file is similar to that shown in example 2 at www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm.

Your problem has nothing to do with connected USB devices but with the
bootable disk. What is strange is if you have a mistake in the config.sys
script it is usually ignored and shows up as a error. In your case the
boot
process hangs which may indicate a corrupt driver file, likely the DUSE
file. You could download a fresh copy of DUSE and retry.

What I would do is to download a bootable 'USB' floppy from
http://www.stefan2000.com/darkehorse/PC/DOS/Drivers/USB/ and try that. If
it functions then it will tell you the problem lies with the configuration
on your floppy disk and isn't something more fundamental. You can then
compare the differences between the disks and identify the differences. My
money is on a 'bad' copy of DUSE.exe

Hope this helps and good luck.

Since posting the above, your problems prompted me to retry my trusted
multiboot floppy (USB/Firewire/CDROM) and much to my chagrin I find I have
identical problems to yourself. Duse 4.4 causes the boot to hang (no A:
prompt). Duse 4.9 loads the USB driver and the EHD is corectly identified
during POST but the drive cannot be seen in fdisk or gdisk Why this is I
really can't begin to speculate. I know the configuration I have used to
function without problems on my three machines, what has changed to cause
this hiccup is presently a mystery.

I have managed to get to the point where POST indicates the USB driver is
loaded and the EHD identification is shown but no drive letter. The lack of
a driver letter is not surprising as both my EHDs are formated NTFS. However
if I run fdisk or gdisk the EHD is not recognised. I guess it is back to
the drawing board. I have tried all combinations of Duse and aspi drivers
together with the Iomega 'guest' solution but so far no success.

If I find a workable solution I will post back.

 

[Anna]

(Background: The issue here is using a DOS-based program to recognize a USB
external HD for the purposes of partitioning/formatting such drive. This
would involve situations where (for one reason or another) a user wants to
partition/format a large-capacity, i.e., > 32 GB, USBEHD in FAT32. As we
know, a "normal" DOS boot disk will *not* recognize a USBEHD.)


Edward responds...

Since posting the above, your problems prompted me to retry my trusted
multiboot floppy (USB/Firewire/CDROM) and much to my chagrin I find I have
identical problems to yourself. Duse 4.4 causes the boot to hang (no A:
prompt). Duse 4.9 loads the USB driver and the EHD is corectly identified
during POST but the drive cannot be seen in fdisk or gdisk Why this is I
really can't begin to speculate. I know the configuration I have used to
function without problems on my three machines, what has changed to cause
this hiccup is presently a mystery.

I have managed to get to the point where POST indicates the USB driver is
loaded and the EHD identification is shown but no drive letter. The lack
of a driver letter is not surprising as both my EHDs are formated NTFS.
However if I run fdisk or gdisk the EHD is not recognised. I guess it is
back to the drawing board. I have tried all combinations of Duse and aspi
drivers together with the Iomega 'guest' solution but so far no success.

If I find a workable solution I will post back.

Edward:
Thanks for the additional info. I spent the better part of the morning
yesterday trying this or that configuration with a DOS boot disk & the DUSE
program. All my efforts ended in failure, i.e., I was unable to get the
FDISK command to recognize the existence of a USBEHD. Like you, I tried
various aspisys files in the configuration, but to no avail. I finally gave
up in frustration.

I do look forward to any further posts by you re this issue. Since what we
are discussing has no further relevance to this specific thread, might I
suggest that we use the subject "Using a DOS boot floppy disk to recognize a
USB external HD", or some such? I'll be on the lookout for it.

Incidentally, you might be interested to know that we're (slowly) moving
away from using USBEHDs as we are building more & more machines with SATA
capability. The newer motherboards, are, of course, SATA-capable, and many
of them are coming equipped with an external SATA port. This yields
substantial benefits in that we can now easily connect an external SATA
drive to the machine which the system sees as an *internal* drive. Thus, the
"external" SATA drive is eminently bootable and of course has substantial
speed advantages over a USB/Firewire EHD. Note the SATA drive utilizes the
system's PS so that no external PS is necessary. It would seem the best of
all possible worlds, no? In those cases where the motherboard has SATA
capability but no external SATA port, we've been using a simple, relatively
inexpensive I/O device attached to the PCI slot openings on the rear of the
computer that contains SATA data/power connectors. Again, no external PS is
needed for the SATA drive.

We've been encouraging our customers who are contemplating purchasing a new
system or upgrading their present system to build a system around a
SATA-equipped motherboard, particularly one with four (or more) SATA
connectors.
Anna

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

(Background: The issue here is using a DOS-based program to recognize a
USB external HD for the purposes of partitioning/formatting such drive.
This would involve situations where (for one reason or another) a user
wants to partition/format a large-capacity, i.e., > 32 GB, USBEHD in
FAT32. As we know, a "normal" DOS boot disk will *not* recognize a
USBEHD.)



Edward responds...





Edward:
Thanks for the additional info. I spent the better part of the morning
yesterday trying this or that configuration with a DOS boot disk & the
DUSE program. All my efforts ended in failure, i.e., I was unable to get
the FDISK command to recognize the existence of a USBEHD. Like you, I
tried various aspisys files in the configuration, but to no avail. I
finally gave up in frustration.

I do look forward to any further posts by you re this issue. Since what we
are discussing has no further relevance to this specific thread, might I
suggest that we use the subject "Using a DOS boot floppy disk to recognize
a USB external HD", or some such? I'll be on the lookout for it.

Incidentally, you might be interested to know that we're (slowly) moving
away from using USBEHDs as we are building more & more machines with SATA
capability. The newer motherboards, are, of course, SATA-capable, and many
of them are coming equipped with an external SATA port. This yields
substantial benefits in that we can now easily connect an external SATA
drive to the machine which the system sees as an *internal* drive. Thus,
the "external" SATA drive is eminently bootable and of course has
substantial speed advantages over a USB/Firewire EHD. Note the SATA drive
utilizes the system's PS so that no external PS is necessary. It would
seem the best of all possible worlds, no? In those cases where the
motherboard has SATA capability but no external SATA port, we've been
using a simple, relatively inexpensive I/O device attached to the PCI slot
openings on the rear of the computer that contains SATA data/power
connectors. Again, no external PS is needed for the SATA drive.

We've been encouraging our customers who are contemplating purchasing a
new system or upgrading their present system to build a system around a
SATA-equipped motherboard, particularly one with four (or more) SATA
connectors.
Anna

OK Anna I'm pleased to report I can now access my USB EHD from DOS on my
systems. The key files are 'usbaspi.sys' and 'di1000dd.sys'. The
'usbaspi.sys' MUST be the Panasonic version that can be found in the
Panasonic driver klxrw40an.exe, folder F2H. The driver 'di1000dd.sys' can
be found in 'mhairu.zip'. You can find both files by 'Googling' but if you
have a problem let me know and I can email them to you. The entries in
config.sys should be device=usbaspi.sys /w /v and device=di1000dd.sys.

This works OK for me. The versions of these two files seem to be critical.
It maybe that other versions of the files, of which there seem to be many,
will also 'work' but the collective wisdom on the web is the versions I have
indicated are the 'definitive' versions. On the basis of 'don't fix it if
it ain't broke' I've only tried the recommended files and can confirm they
'work'. Now I'm back to where I thought I was a few days ago, that is a
working floppy to load usb driver in DOS, I'm now going to try to get the
DUSE driver working.

Hope this 'solution' will work for you.

 

[Sharon F]

Incidentally, you might be interested to know that we're (slowly) moving
away from using USBEHDs as we are building more & more machines with SATA
capability. The newer motherboards, are, of course, SATA-capable, and many
of them are coming equipped with an external SATA port. This yields
substantial benefits in that we can now easily connect an external SATA
drive to the machine which the system sees as an *internal* drive. Thus, the
"external" SATA drive is eminently bootable and of course has substantial
speed advantages over a USB/Firewire EHD. Note the SATA drive utilizes the
system's PS so that no external PS is necessary. It would seem the best of
all possible worlds, no?

Not Edward, but find the info interesting. Won't be upgrading my desktop
until late next year. Much can change in the hardware arena in that amount
of time but will file this tidbit anyhow. Thanks for the info, Anna.

 

[Anna]

OK Anna I'm pleased to report I can now access my USB EHD from DOS on my
systems. The key files are 'usbaspi.sys' and 'di1000dd.sys'. The
'usbaspi.sys' MUST be the Panasonic version that can be found in the
Panasonic driver klxrw40an.exe, folder F2H. The driver 'di1000dd.sys' can
be found in 'mhairu.zip'. You can find both files by 'Googling' but if
you have a problem let me know and I can email them to you. The entries
in config.sys should be device=usbaspi.sys /w /v and device=di1000dd.sys.

This works OK for me. The versions of these two files seem to be
critical. It maybe that other versions of the files, of which there seem
to be many, will also 'work' but the collective wisdom on the web is the
versions I have indicated are the 'definitive' versions. On the basis of
'don't fix it if it ain't broke' I've only tried the recommended files and
can confirm they 'work'. Now I'm back to where I thought I was a few days
ago, that is a working floppy to load usb driver in DOS, I'm now going to
try to get the DUSE driver working.

Hope this 'solution' will work for you.

Edward:
Seems I'm getting closer but no brass ring just yet...

At the end of the boot process I get a "divide overflow" error and can go no
further.

Here's a snapshot of my floppy:
autoexec.bat
command.com
config.sys
DI1000DD.sys
drvspace.bin
duse.exe
duseldr.com
emm386.exe
fdisk.exe
format.com
himem.sys
Io.sys
mscdex.exe
msdos.sys
usbaspi.sys

Contents of autoexec.bat file:
@echo off
duseldr a:\duse.exe
MSCDEX /D:USBCDROM /S /M:15 /V

Contents of config.sys file:
device=a:\himem.sys
devicehigh=a:\emm386.exe
device=a:\usbaspi.sys
device=a:\DI1000DD.SYS
dos=high,umb

My DI1000DD.sys file totals 16,368 bytes
My usbaspi.sys file totals 39,179 bytes

See anything untoward in the above?
Anna

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

Edward:
Seems I'm getting closer but no brass ring just yet...

At the end of the boot process I get a "divide overflow" error and can go
no further.

Here's a snapshot of my floppy:
autoexec.bat
command.com
config.sys
DI1000DD.sys
drvspace.bin
duse.exe
duseldr.com
emm386.exe
fdisk.exe
format.com
himem.sys
Io.sys
mscdex.exe
msdos.sys
usbaspi.sys

Contents of autoexec.bat file:
@echo off
duseldr a:\duse.exe
MSCDEX /D:USBCDROM /S /M:15 /V

Contents of config.sys file:
device=a:\himem.sys
devicehigh=a:\emm386.exe
device=a:\usbaspi.sys
device=a:\DI1000DD.SYS
dos=high,umb

My DI1000DD.sys file totals 16,368 bytes
My usbaspi.sys file totals 39,179 bytes

See anything untoward in the above?
Anna

I would guess you have a conflict with 'duse' in the autoexec.bat file. I
can't see the purpose of 'duse' as you are using usbaspi.sys as you usb
driver. Either remove or 'rem' out the duse entry and with luck it will be
OK.

Not that it matters but your dos=high,umb is redundant unless you intend to
use 'devicehigh' instead of 'device'. Further you have mscdex in
autoexec.bat that points to a cdrom but there is no correspondiung drive
(device) in config.sys. The mscdex line doesn'rt do any 'harm' but doesn't
do amything without a driver (device) e.g. device =a:\usbcdrom.

Hope this helps.