Resolved External hard drive not recognized

Running Windows 7 Home Premium on HP 630

I have an external hard drive attached, Seagate 2TB backup/expansion. My laptop no longer recognizes this drive, it displays as 'unknown' device and the message comes that the software did not successfully install.

For a few days previously I would get a display showing that I needed to reformat the drive and at other times for no apparent reason I would get a little window asking what I wanted to do with the drive, just as you would get when plugging it in or turning it on.

I can't figure out what to do with this. Seagates web page is pretty vague, it appears that to 'force Windows' to get driver updates. Windows must first recognize the device. Please help with any suggestions or thoughts.

I did perform a restore to a previous date, no help there...

James

 

Thanks PeteC! I knew it had to be something too simple to be true... had a bad slot on my USB hub.