Unknown Device - External USB drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fraser
  • Start date Start date
F

Fraser

I run XP Pro. I have been using 2 x 80gb external USB
drives of different manufacturers to back-up my internal
drive. Yesterday both of these disks when connected came
up as "unknown device" then said "ready to use" but they
are not seen in file mgr. I have tried starting in safe
mode and deleting and rediscovering the device etc but
the same thing happens. I have even deleted the USB
directory in the registry but the same thing happens.
The USB port works fine as it does see a 64mb thumb disk
drive. The external devices also work on a laptop
running XP Pro. Given XP is usually good in this area I
am not sure what to do next???? Fraser
 
Fraser said:
I run XP Pro. I have been using 2 x 80gb external USB
drives of different manufacturers to back-up my internal
drive. Yesterday both of these disks when connected came
up as "unknown device" then said "ready to use" but they
are not seen in file mgr. I have tried starting in safe
mode and deleting and rediscovering the device etc but
the same thing happens. I have even deleted the USB
directory in the registry but the same thing happens.
The USB port works fine as it does see a 64mb thumb disk
drive. The external devices also work on a laptop
running XP Pro. Given XP is usually good in this area I
am not sure what to do next???? Fraser
Click to expand...

Try this. I used it to solve an unknown device problem with a USB memory
key.

1 - Start XP in safe mode, by pressing F8 repeatedly while the computer is
booting. Then select "Safe Mode" from the top of the list and press Enter.

2 - Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware >Device Manager. Select View,
and then show hidden devices. Select Storage Volumes (should be near the
bottom) then right click on (any) Generic Volume(s) and click "uninstall".
Do this repeatedly until they no longer uninstall. Do the same for any other
USB devices (leave the USB controllers section until last).

3 - Then go to the USB controllers section and uninstall everything that can
be found there. Don't worry, they will be re-detected on re-boot. When they
are all gone, re-boot the computer. The computer will detect your USB ports
and re-install them. It will probably ask you to re-start after this, but if
it does not, do it anyway.

4 - Plug in your USB device(s) and cross your fingers.

Marcus
 
Marcus...thanks for your suggestion. I have tried this
and no luck. I see a new posting today called mass
storage that seems virtually the same as me so it might
be a bigger problem.....maybe with a Windows
update ?...Fraser
 
Back
Top