K
KJS
COMPUTER: my mon-techie friend's home Dell Dimension 8250, with WinXP Pro
sp2, with latest Windows Updates and Office XP updates applied
PROBLEM: imo, XP not recognizing file systems on any drives other than C:\
drive. I belive this is an operating system issue and not a hardware issue!
C:\ system drive
D:\ DVD/CD-RW
E:\ secondary drive
F:\ SanDisk USB flash "thumb" drive
SYMPTOMS:
I have a Western Digital 20 GB secondary internal hard disk as E:\. It has
been working fine for the last two years. Recently, while trying to access
this disk, Windows displays message, "The disk in this drive is not
formatted. Do you want to format it now?"
When I insert a CD into the D:\ it spins for ~5-10 secs but then shows
nothing in the right pane of Windows Explorer. Does not even give me the
usual prompt to, "Please insert a disk into drive D:". It doesn't hang
Windows Explorer, just sits there with D:\ actually selected in left pane.
This is particularly odd as normally one would get the "insert disk" prompt.
To test for drive readability, I successfully *booted* from the Windows XP
installation CD-ROM. It read the CD fine so not a defective or broken
CD-ROM. This also rules out that maybe the CD I inserted was bad or had
scratches.
When I insert either om my two SanDisk USB 512MB flash, Windows Explorer
"assigns" it a drive letter but does not show it as formatted, ie- "The disk
in this drive is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?" Even if I do
select to format the drive, the format process fails. This drive has beeen
tested on two other WinXP installtions and works fine .
NOTES:
- no 'X' or '!' to be found in Device Manager.
- ran Ad-aware, SpyBot, MS Antispyware and Symantec Antivirus Corp Edition
scan but they reported nothing worth examining further, ie- tracking
cookies, no viruses.
Was on tech support call with Dell. Dell's "final answer"/suggestion was to
reformat h/d then reinstall WinXP. I am trying to avoid doing this cus once
I install new o/s and all programs I've officially become my friend's
on-call tech support person for any *future* problems that may arise
With Dell, I tried but did not have luck with the following:
- Removed/reinstalled D: and F: drive devices. For the NEC branded CD-ROM I
updated the firmware.
- Tried "Error Message When You Install and Configure a Subordinate Drive"
fix from
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812581&Product=winxp
- Similar to Q812581 above but felt it did not directly apply as no Easy CD
Creator program is installed on computer:
[title: "CD-ROM access is missing and messages cite error Code 31, Code 32,
Code 19, Code 39, or Code 41 after you remove Easy CD Creator in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];q314060 ]
- Resetting NV-RAM
The only thing I have not tried is Doug Know's "CD/DVD fix"
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_cd_dvd_fix.htm.
I somehow doubt this will fix my problem as I believe his fix only
addresses a CD/DVD drive issue and does not specifically address the bigger
overall problem that I am having, that of WinXP not recognizing file systems
on additional drives.
Again, I belive this is an operating sytem issue and not a hardware issue.
Thoughts?
sp2, with latest Windows Updates and Office XP updates applied
PROBLEM: imo, XP not recognizing file systems on any drives other than C:\
drive. I belive this is an operating system issue and not a hardware issue!
C:\ system drive
D:\ DVD/CD-RW
E:\ secondary drive
F:\ SanDisk USB flash "thumb" drive
SYMPTOMS:
I have a Western Digital 20 GB secondary internal hard disk as E:\. It has
been working fine for the last two years. Recently, while trying to access
this disk, Windows displays message, "The disk in this drive is not
formatted. Do you want to format it now?"
When I insert a CD into the D:\ it spins for ~5-10 secs but then shows
nothing in the right pane of Windows Explorer. Does not even give me the
usual prompt to, "Please insert a disk into drive D:". It doesn't hang
Windows Explorer, just sits there with D:\ actually selected in left pane.
This is particularly odd as normally one would get the "insert disk" prompt.
To test for drive readability, I successfully *booted* from the Windows XP
installation CD-ROM. It read the CD fine so not a defective or broken
CD-ROM. This also rules out that maybe the CD I inserted was bad or had
scratches.
When I insert either om my two SanDisk USB 512MB flash, Windows Explorer
"assigns" it a drive letter but does not show it as formatted, ie- "The disk
in this drive is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?" Even if I do
select to format the drive, the format process fails. This drive has beeen
tested on two other WinXP installtions and works fine .
NOTES:
- no 'X' or '!' to be found in Device Manager.
- ran Ad-aware, SpyBot, MS Antispyware and Symantec Antivirus Corp Edition
scan but they reported nothing worth examining further, ie- tracking
cookies, no viruses.
Was on tech support call with Dell. Dell's "final answer"/suggestion was to
reformat h/d then reinstall WinXP. I am trying to avoid doing this cus once
I install new o/s and all programs I've officially become my friend's
on-call tech support person for any *future* problems that may arise
With Dell, I tried but did not have luck with the following:
- Removed/reinstalled D: and F: drive devices. For the NEC branded CD-ROM I
updated the firmware.
- Tried "Error Message When You Install and Configure a Subordinate Drive"
fix from
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812581&Product=winxp
- Similar to Q812581 above but felt it did not directly apply as no Easy CD
Creator program is installed on computer:
[title: "CD-ROM access is missing and messages cite error Code 31, Code 32,
Code 19, Code 39, or Code 41 after you remove Easy CD Creator in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];q314060 ]
- Resetting NV-RAM
The only thing I have not tried is Doug Know's "CD/DVD fix"
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_cd_dvd_fix.htm.
I somehow doubt this will fix my problem as I believe his fix only
addresses a CD/DVD drive issue and does not specifically address the bigger
overall problem that I am having, that of WinXP not recognizing file systems
on additional drives.
Again, I belive this is an operating sytem issue and not a hardware issue.
Thoughts?