USB Mass Storage Device Not Recognized (XP)

**VB2** · December 29th, 2006, 05:11 AM

I hope this thread is still live. I am not sure if this is the same problem or not.

My machine seems to have difficulty recognizing a number of USB mass storage devices (but not all of them). It recognizes my mp3 player/ext. hard drive and one USB flash drive I own, but it will not recognize my camera [it's supposed to act as a drive according to the manufacturer] or a number of other flash drives.

When I attach one of the problematic devices, the Found New Hardware wizard starts up, but ultimately returns the errors:

"Cannot Install This Hardware

There was a problem installing this hardware:

[device name here]

an error occured in the installation of the device

The data is invalid."

I could be more confused than I realize, but it doesn't seem to me like this is a drive letter assignment issue.

My usbstor.inf file appears to be valid. I've tried replacing usbstor.sys, as well, and it made no difference.

I am interested to know more about the solution chargoldie found, but I don't know anything about working with my BIOS or how to do the XP repair which he mentions.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

VB2

**CCT** · December 29th, 2006, 09:12 AM

Welcome to WinDrivers;

This site:

http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/USBProblems.htm

offers some guidance. What it all boils down to is sometimes USB stuff works and sometimes it don't and noone really seems to have an all-inclusive work around.

Having said that, if you use WinXP and have SP2 and your bios is set to enable USB2 high speed and your connections are good and your USB internal and external cables are good and your devices are meant for USB2 and are good THEN the stuff should work.

BUT, it might not!

Go figure.

**VB2** · December 29th, 2006, 05:47 PM

CCT, thanks for the site link, that may be handy for future issues.

However, I managed to figure it out and fix it with a little help from another forum. It's apparently a problem with the permissions in the registry. "All" you have to do to fix it is to open the registry editor, find the registry entry for the device, set the Permissions to Allow Full Control, and then reboot.

The real difficulty is finding the registry entry. Since my issue was with USB devices, it was under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Enum/USB, however, others have apparently had the same issue with PCI card devices. The following instructions (basically what I did also) were posted by Erekose on 2/20/02 in Google's Windows XP discussion group:

"To fix this problem, go to Start, Run... and
type "regedt32" without the quotes to run the Registry
Editor. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ENUM\P CI and
you will see a number of keys of the form "VEN_xxxx",
where xxxx are strings
like "1102&DEV_0004&SUBSYS_00011103&REV_04". Under each of
these folders will be another folder with a long numerical
name. Open each folder and look for the "DeviceDesc" which
matches the hardware you are trying to install. Right
Click on the "VEN_xxxx" for that device and
select 'Permissions' and then tick "Allow" for "Full
Control". Close Regedit"

I hope this might help anyone else who has the same/similar problem.

VB2

**CCT** · December 29th, 2006, 09:07 PM

Thanks for the heads-up on that 'fix'. Just don't expect it to work every time a similar problem arises.

Glad it did this time for you though!

**NooNoo** · January 2nd, 2007, 05:35 PM

Data is invalid is well known here... just permissions to sort out because the driver writers forgot about the permissions!

CCT that fix works everytime with that error message. The data is invalid means the permissions are not set correctly.

**Zerase** · January 5th, 2007, 09:39 PM

I am getting the same error someone above me posted just recently. I bought a new External HDD that uses usb2.0. Everytime I plug in the USB cord, windows searches through the new hardware wizard, finds something, and immediately returns with that message I want to scream at - " The data is invalid".

Im am running Windows XP with Service Pack 2. I found the USB file within Regedit that pertains directly to the External HDD and switched to allow full permission. I went back into device manager where it was seeing External HDD with an exclamation point and went to update driver. Again, it searched, found it, and immediately returned the exact same "The Data is invalid" error.

At this point Im under the impression that windows files are missing, or I missed something else. I cannot for the life of me get this thing installed and Im at wits end with it.

**NooNoo** · January 6th, 2007, 04:56 AM

Welcome to Windrivers Zerase

Is the XP Home or Pro?
Do you have administrator rights?
What's the make and model of the external drive?
Are you sure the permissions "stuck" on the key you changed? Are you positive you changed the right key?

Start, run, type in
SFC /SCANNOW
Click OK

SFC will go through and check that the system files are all in order. Do you have automatic updates turned on? Are you sure that updates are being installed?

**Zerase** · January 6th, 2007, 01:17 PM

To answer your questions:

1) XP Pro
2) I have administrative rights. Its my home computer.
3) The model is a Western Digital 80GB My Book Essential Edition External HDD.
4) This Im not sure of. I went directly to the registry where he mentioned, which was easy to find. I saw the entry pertaining to the external HDD, right clicked, set permission to Allow on full control. Exited. I just went and checked, it says that permission is still granted to full control to both System and Everyone.

**NooNoo** · January 6th, 2007, 05:52 PM

And what happened with SFC /SCANNOW and what about your updates?

**Zerase** · January 6th, 2007, 06:03 PM

Automatic updates are both turned on and install automatically.

The SFC /scannow didnt show any missing files - it went through checking everything and then closed with no report of errors or missing files.

I plugged this in to another computer in the other room and it works fine. I setup a network between the two and for now am just routing it from my computer to the other and then onto the drive.

I still wish I knew why it refuses to work on just mine lol.

**NooNoo** · January 6th, 2007, 06:45 PM

OK, I think you may have changed the wrong VEN key... did you plug it in to a different usb port on the computer that has this problem? If so, you may have another ven key. Check through all the VEN keys under the PCI key.

Stupid thing is, this is xp, so the driver is by microsoft in XP2 - unless this comes with a special driver?

**CCT** · January 6th, 2007, 07:28 PM

Person in this thread had a similar situation and did a repair install and it fixed it up.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hard..._21972492.html

**Zerase** · January 6th, 2007, 07:59 PM

Funny thing. I realized I didnt change the VEN key, but the VID key under USB. This external HDD shows up under the USB section in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ENUM\U SB. That is the file I gave permission to all.

Searching under PCI in that same area, the external HDD is NOT listed there as any VEN key unfortunately. The USB is directly to the motherboard, Im not using a PCI card that has USB ports. USB is enabled on this computer, and my controller, digital cam, and monitor USB all work fine.

Shame though, though it was something as that easy I missed ;/

Edit: I would love do repair this if possible. But I have 0 idea how. I loaded up the computer with the win XP CD in, booted into it and there was a Repair install option. Click it, it brought me to a DoS screen, and said to type exit to exit. I have no idea what Im supposed to be doing there. Any help in that would be wonderful.

**NooNoo** · January 7th, 2007, 05:37 AM

Zerase, give permission for the whole of USB then. PCI is not necessarily a slot... things can be attached to the PCI BUS (pathway) but not be PCI cards... onboard sound for instance, and of course your USB ports.

Before you repair though, a couple of quick ideas

1. Download the latest chipset drivers for your machine and install them. Reboot then try again.
2. At the top of this forum is a sticky thread with a tool for examining usb drives - what does that have to say about your usb drive?

Repair installs is easy. Backup your valuable data just in case (it shouldn't be affected but murphy's law applies to anything on a computer). If you have a branded computer (gateway/hp/packard bell etc) then you most likely have restore cds and will not be able to do a repair - in which case, post your make and model for further advice.

To reapir grab your XP CD, boot from it, allow setup to run and ignore the first repair option... tell it to install XP. When you have done the F8 to accept the licence and it's copied a bunch of files it will stop at a screen where it asks you which partition to put XP on. Your current XP installation will show in the lower half of the screen. In the upper portion there is the option to repair the existing installation (you may have to highlight it using the arrow keys).

Having chosen repair, get your CD key ready as it will need that, and don't forget to set your keyboard and local language settings when it asks.

All updates you have done will have been removed, so it is important to get them as soon as possible. If your XP CD is pre SP2 then get SP2 before trying the usb drive again. If it's post SP2, you can try the drive before you get anymore updates. Either way make sure you get the updates asap.

**binkar** · May 24th, 2007, 06:48 AM

i have problems with connecting usb device with extension cables.While using extension i get the message "No drivers are installed for 5.1.2600.0.It's publisher is Microsoft.When i connects directly to the usb port there is no problem.
Kindly give remedy for this problem.