summary:
This problem may be an unresolvable hardware incompatibility between my usb hard drive ("Maxtor Personal Storage 3100") and this PC motherboard (gateway model 510x). On the other hand, the BIOS usb drivers enable DOS to see the drive fine! It's only in windows that it's not recognized... So doesn't that eliminate the "mobo/device incompatibility" issue?
details:
Originally I was having a hard drive issue (see
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Q_21835842.html)
. I eventually reformatted the drive / partition and reinstalled windows. Windows boots fine now, except for a s.m.a.r.t. HD warning that I was getting at bootup and disabled. (Hard drive is probably dying -- a separate issue.)
This here question post is about how a brand new installation of windows XP Home SP2 on this PC (gateway model 510x) can see OTHER usb drives in all usb ports, but does not see THIS usb drive in any port. Other PCs detect and see the "problem" usb drive fine. So the problem exists ONLY on this PC, with ONLY this one usb hard drive, and ONLY in windows . (The "problem" usb drive is recognized in dos -- the BIOS has dos usb support!)
Specficially, the error I get (in windows XP) is:
"USB device not recognized. One of the usb devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and windows does not recognize it"
Device manager says "unknown device" - but all other devices are OK -- motherboard, video, sound -- all drivers are fine.
After I reinstalled windows I updated device drivers, including motherboard/chipset, which went fine. The problem with the usb drive existed before and after I updated the chipset drivers. (I didnt' check the version - -maybe the original chipset drivers were already up to date).
I tried different cables. No joy.
I updated the bios, but did not resolve the USB option.(again, to be clear -- the BIOS (old and new vers) has a USB boot option, that recongizes usb drives -- including the "problem" drive, IN DOS. Without any special boot disk with usb drives! (the bios has built in usb support). SO -- I can see the "problem" drive in DOS, but NOT in Windows.
based on info on the following pages...
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Q_20824773.htmlhttp://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Q_20915592.htmlhttp://www.ntcompatible.com/Desperately_need_help_---_USB_Devices_Not_Recognized_t32356.html-- I am ignoring the "irq / resource conficts" question, since all the USB ports work fine -- it's device specfic. (I'm only using one usb device at at time to rule that out) (To be clear - I am getting NO alerts in device manager about conflicts -- Only the "unknown device" usb listing)
-- I tried going into dev mgr & deleting all root hubs and rebooted so they'd redetect - no help.
-- I unplugged the power units to the usb devices at both end of the power supply (wall and device), and unplugged PC power cord at PSU port. (to disperse built up charges) No help yet.
-- I didn't bother doing the "DisableSelectiveSuspend" registry tweak, becuase that seems port-specific, not device specific.
Sorry for the length, just trying to give you all the info.
Is there something else anyone would suggest I try?
*****
PS -- although booting to a DOS prompt, using e.g. HIren's boot cd > DOs, does allow me to see the drive, and likewise, HIren's > Partition Magic, also sees the USB drive -- on the other hand, when I use the Acronis boot CD to boot to "Full Version" so it can recognize USB drives, it gives an error regarding the usb drive.
