Flash drive will not install on Windows 2000 server

reboot.

Normally there driver CD is coming with these drives. Was there anything for Win2000?
Also did you restart the machine since first attempt to install the drive?

No, there is no CD for the drive. Most of the ones I have bought recently do not have CD's. I checked with ADATA and the only separate driver is for Win98 and no, it did not work. Adata said it should work with W2k and the error message is a Windows message.  Also I have rebooted several times since trying this drive the first time. No difference,

Look at Code 19 resolving instructions: http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B310123&x=16&y=14

The MS article cited above was no help at all. It amounted to "estart and then edit the registry".

So I started over and rebooted. I then installed the flash drive and looked through the registry for "A-Data". The only places where it was mentioned, it also mentioned Service as USBStor. Now that service is not listed in Services.msc. The files are there though. USBStor.inf, USBStor,pnf, USBStor,sys.  So how do I get the service working, assuming it will fix the problem?

On the premise that I needed to install USBStor as service, I checked the KB for "adding service to Services,msc". The KB article listed the location of all services and I did find USBStor already installed and listed. So Now I'm stumped again! Any help, anyone?

Now I am curious to know if this problem happens with Adata devices only. Do you have kingston or transcend device at hand?

I have a Western Digital BEV1600 USB external Hard Drive, the one they call "My Passport". I just plugged that one in and the response was exactly the same with exactly the same error messages.

Problem is in usbstor.sys driver. What is the date of your driver?
I have attached the newer driver for you. Please backup your system first.
Then copy out the usbstor.sys from here C:\Windows\System32\drivers to another disk.
Then download attached sys driver and copy it to C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory replacing the original driver.
Restart and try to connect the USB drive.
As EE does not allow attaching such file types I changed the extension from .sys to .png
You need to change it back prior to putting into C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory.
usbstor.png

Check out
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/20375/

Also take a look to see if you can install any usb devices at all, try a mouse even. It could also be an issue with your motherboard.

Please check the device manager to see what has exclamation points.
Check the manufacturer's web site for any hardware updates to your server.

Tried to replace the USBStor.sys driver as instructed. The only thing that changed was the OS took a long time to reboot and then created it's own USBStor.sys file. Otherwise, the reaction to the A-Data drvie was the same.

What is the date of creation of your own usbstor.sys file?
I have found many references to the problem and most discussed is the outdated usbstor.sys driver.

The OS's versin of USBStor.sys is dated 7/20/2002.

Did you try installing any other usb device such as a mouse or keyboard? Do any usb items work?

Do you have a test machine where you can install Window 2000 SP4 on?

I just had an oportunity to follow up on the usb device issue. I just plugged in a usb mouse into this machine and it installed with no problem. Furthermore, it worked fine despite having a PS/2 mouse still plugged in. I unplugged to USB mouse and the PS/2 mouse continued working fine. So what does that tell you about our Flash drive. That maybe it really doesn't support W2k sp4?

Go into device manager and set the view to devices by connection.
Plug in the usb flash drive and see what its installing under.
Remove that item along with the flash drive.
Restart and install all drivers back, restart and plug in the usb.

What drivers am I supposed to re-install and where do I get them?

Do you have a test machine where you can install Window 2000 SP4 on? This would let you connect the drive and see if it is admitted. If yes then get the drivers from it and copy them to problem machine.

I just installed W2k server on a empty test machine and without ANY updates or SP's, the flash drive installed fine. So I tried installing SP 4 and it worked fine with the drive. I decided to try the usb external hard drive I have. It works fine on this new test machine but not on the problem Win2k. So despite the fact that the usb mouse works on the Win2k machine, neither drive will work.  All works fine on the test machine. So, next idea? Hey, how about re-installing SP4 on the Win2k? Is that feasible, or is it risky?

If you take backup of existing configuration on Win2K and then reinstall SP4 - you risk nothing. Always possible to recover from backup image.

I would recommend the following, and it may not be a good solution for you:
If you are going to reinstall the operating system, might as well go to Windows 2003.
2000 is no longer supported by MS.
This may be a good time to replace the box. A less labor intensive undertaking.

In the mean time, can you please post the events from the event log associated with the insertion and attempted installs?

PCGenieLA:What drivers am I supposed to re-install and where do I get them?
Since we are not actually deleting any files, it should find the drivers automatically.

Finally had a chance to backup and re-install SP4. Went in fine except for an error message could not find file ASPPerf.dll. Took a long time to boot up up but finally did so. Everything seems to work OK, but still no difference to flash drive installation. Same error message. BTW the only messages displayed during startup is the one from Service Control manager complain ing it cannot start IIS admin because it can't find a file (ASPPerf.dll?). Doubt it has anything to do with the USB problem. Unless there any other ideas. I guess I'm staring an upgrade to 2003 or 2008

Check if 2003 has the same problem on this machine. It could be that hardware issue is causing the problem. Sure if 2003 brings up same flash drive problem.

That was one of the first things I did. It worked fine on the 2003 machine. I just did it again and it just worked fine again. Also, remember that I installed Win2k on another, blank, machine and the flash drive worked fine there.

I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and upgrade to either 2003 or 2008. Ah, the mysteries of the universe!