USB 2.0 disk drive not recognised by WinXP

I have just rebuilt Win XP Home on a 2.6GHz computer. The WinXP, a firewall, Office, etc are all installed and all working well. I then connected my USB external drive up.

WinXP initially recognised it was there but complained it didn't know how to talk to it - something I found strange. I did not knowingly tick any box to say "not detect this again" but did cancel out of the dialog. Now XP no longer says anything when I connect the drive to the computer & power it on

The drive still works on my Win2K Pro machine (which I'm going to rebuild with XP soon, hence why I want to move it to the XP mahine) so I know it's okay.

Any clues on how to get Windows XP to detect it again, and load drivers this time?

 

There is no drive (that I can find) to uninstall. Tried rebooting, plugging it in again, nothing happens ie WinXP doesn't want to know about it.

There is a [small] CD - a DOC file on it says nothing to install as it will be auto-detected. This is exactly what happened on Win2K Pro.

Win XP is fully patched, including SP2.

It's connected directly into a USB port on the back of the computer. It's an external USB case with a 20GB drive in it, powered via USB.

 

Try changing the USB port and/or the cable.

 

You may not have the USB Controller drivers installed (or at least the USB 2.0 Controller drivers).

Go to the motherboard manufacturer's website and look up the model of your motherboard. Get the latest motherboard/chipset drivers and install those. Some chipset drivers list USB Controller drivers separately from the other drivers.

If the USB (2.0) Controllers are installed correctly you will see a listing in Device Manager under Universal Serial Bus Controllers for "USB Enhanced Host Controller ".

Matt

 

Found problem - USB drive now working

Thanks for all the ideas. Got me on the right track.

Solution was simple in the end - for some reason the USB ports on the motherboard can't deliver enough power for the drive. I fitted a *powered* USB hub, even though the motherboard has more than enough ports (6) for me. I only have 3 USB devices; mouse, the hard drive (when I connect it) and my camera (when I connect that). I also have a printer but don't count that as it has it's own power.

I presume my power supply in this newer machine is not as grunty as the older machine ... or the older motherboard delivers more power to it's 2 USB ports (one for the printer and one for the USB drive). Lack of power prevented it detecting the drive correctly hence why nothing in Device Manager etc for the drive except for USB controllers with VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller listed & others).