Undetected Hard Drives

[Guest]

I currently have a primary hard drive with two partitions and a collection of
USB drives with the following configuration: 6 drives on a single Belkin
7-poprt hub connected to a USB port (with only 5 of the drives recognized), 3
drives on a single Belkin 7-port hub (with only 2 of the drives recognized)
connected to a second USB port , and a single drive directly connected to a
third USB hub.

I can take one drive off the 3 drive hub, and the third drive will be
recognized on a reboot. The one taken off will not be recognized if I
connect it. Thus, nothing is wrong with the drives themselves. The ports
used on the hub make no difference either. I have also switched hubs --
several times -- to no avail.

Removing the single directly connected drive does not help with recognition
of the others.

I tried a Microsoft hot-fix that seemed to indicate that it would solve this
problem, but that was a no-go as well.

Something is clearly wrong here. Any ideas?

Shel

 

[Guest]

I forgot one essential piece of information in my earlier posting. I am
running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2. I had an earlier build
that I replaced with an updated version of a recent build. The problem did
not occur until I did a complete reinstall with my current version.

 

[Tom Ferguson]

Unplug the whole complexity of USB drives. Also, unplug the Belkin hubs.
Start the computer and make sure your internal drives are properly
recognised.



Navigate to Control Panel Administrative Tools Computer Management
Disk Management. Use that facility to move your CD devices down to W
and X. You should then restart the computer so Windows will complete
device detestation and assignment.



Now attach your two Belkin hubs directly to USB ports on the computer.
Power them up by attaching the power. (Good grief, I hope they are
powered with all those USB drives needing spin-up and running power.)



Next, attach one drive to one of the hubs. Wait for it to be detected and
a drive letter assigned. Now, attach one drive to the other hub and wait
for it to be detected.



Proceed with each in turn. Attach five drives to each hub.



Finally, the "acid test"- Let it run for a while. Then quit windows and
power off the computer before powering off the drives or hubs. Restart by
switching on the drives, wait a moment and start the computer.



If you don't mind me asking, do these drives contain any installed
programs or are they all backup or user files in some combination?



Note: make sure all drives are running before any pen drives or memory
sticks are added to the mix. Drive letter assignment conflicts can result
otherwise.



Let us know. I have never tried this with so many external drives. It
might be necessary to make manual drive letter assignments. And check
periodically to be sure that assignments have not shifted for some
reason. In my view, this arrangement cannot be considered robust.



Tom

MSMVP

Windows Shell/User









:I forgot one essential piece of information in my earlier posting. I am
: running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2. I had an earlier
build
: that I replaced with an updated version of a recent build. The problem
did
: not occur until I did a complete reinstall with my current version.
:
:
: "Shel" wrote:
:
: > I currently have a primary hard drive with two partitions and a
collection of
: > USB drives with the following configuration: 6 drives on a single
Belkin
: > 7-poprt hub connected to a USB port (with only 5 of the drives
recognized), 3
: > drives on a single Belkin 7-port hub (with only 2 of the drives
recognized)
: > connected to a second USB port , and a single drive directly
connected to a
: > third USB hub.
: >
: > I can take one drive off the 3 drive hub, and the third drive will be
: > recognized on a reboot. The one taken off will not be recognized if
I
: > connect it. Thus, nothing is wrong with the drives themselves. The
ports
: > used on the hub make no difference either. I have also switched
hubs --
: > several times -- to no avail.
: >
: > Removing the single directly connected drive does not help with
recognition
: > of the others.
: >
: > I tried a Microsoft hot-fix that seemed to indicate that it would
solve this
: > problem, but that was a no-go as well.
: >
: > Something is clearly wrong here. Any ideas?
: >
: > Shel

 

[Guest]

Okay. I tried following your instructions. Result was that XP detected only
three drives before it quit. I tried again. Now it does not detect any.

Why is it that whenever I take some advice from a Microsoft "expert" the
situation only gets worse? I was just recovering from an one of those
occasions that resulted in my reformatting my primary drive and reloading the
operating system and all of my applications after having been helped by a
Microsoft "expert." That was the plan, anyway. Now I am worse off than
ever. Thanks a bunch.

Does anyone that is NOT a Microsoft "expert" have any ideas?

By the way, I was speaking to a colleague today about this problem. He has
a similar problem with XP not detecting a USB drive. He thought that the
drive was bad until he tried it on another system.

 

[Ron Martell]

Okay. I tried following your instructions. Result was that XP detected only
three drives before it quit. I tried again. Now it does not detect any.

Why is it that whenever I take some advice from a Microsoft "expert" the
situation only gets worse? I was just recovering from an one of those
occasions that resulted in my reformatting my primary drive and reloading the
operating system and all of my applications after having been helped by a
Microsoft "expert." That was the plan, anyway. Now I am worse off than
ever. Thanks a bunch.

Does anyone that is NOT a Microsoft "expert" have any ideas?

By the way, I was speaking to a colleague today about this problem. He has
a similar problem with XP not detecting a USB drive. He thought that the
drive was bad until he tried it on another system.

Your problem is not just one of not detecting "a" USB drive. Your
problems are with 10 USB drives connected simultaneously and not all
of them being detected correctly.

Personally I think it is foolhardy to even attempt such a
configuration, and I cannot envisage a circumstance where there would
not be a better method of connecting the required amount of disk
storage capacity.

Also I do not see anything in Tom's suggestions that would have caused
any problems whatever with your installed Windows unless it is
installed on one of the 10 USB drives and you are booting from that
drive. Again, a foolhardy choice and one that is officially
unsupported in Windows XP (booting from a removable drive, that is).

However, you do have this hardware and the objective is to make it
work reliably.

Have you followed Tom's suggestion regarding the drive letter
assignments for your CD/DVD drives? If not then please do this. It
can make a difference with this type of problem.

Go to the motherboard manufacturer's web site and check for any
updated BIOS versions and/or any updated motherboard driver files for
your specific make and model of motherboard. Download and install
these if there are any.

WARNING!!!!!!! Be very very careful if you do a motherboard BIOS
update. Ensure that you have the correct BIOS update files for your
exact model and revision number of motherboard and that you follow the
specified procedures *exactly*. A botched or aborted motherboard BIOS
update can leave your computer unusable.

If the problems persist after this updating or if there are no BIOS or
driver updates available then boot the computer into Safe Mode. Open
Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager. Select each of
the USB related items in turn and uninstall/remove it. When all have
been removed reboot the computer normally. Windows will redetect the
USB items and reload the drivers and configuration settings for them.
Hopefully this will resolve the issues.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."