USB mass storage device detected as "Unknown Device"

[unknownperson]

Hi there,

I am having trouble with a 60GB USB hardrive. It works fine when I plug it into a computer almost exactly the same as mine (as I built them both), however when I connect it to my computer it says "your device may not have been installed correctly" in the little speech bubble. It detects it as an "Unknown Device" and won't let me install drivers because it is an "Unknown Device".

I thought it might be something to do with the power settings of my motherboard/USB setup.

In device manager there are no conflicts and all the USB Root Hubs appear to be fine.

My computer is a AMD Athlon XP 3000 + with Windows XP Professional installed, with SP2. My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-7VT600.

I have tried all the USB ports (six in total).

Does anybody have any ideas.

Thanks,

Paul.

[hudsonsmith]

Welcome to windrivers paul. Is your usb working with other devices? If not, try updating the chipset drivers. If so, are you connecting the drive with an external power source attached? These drives draw too much power to run off the hub.

[unknownperson]

Hi there,

Yes all my USB devices are working. My mouse and my DSL modem.

The drive does not run off an external power source. If the hub isn't generating enough power, what can I do?

The other computer which it works on has the same motherboard (well almost the same, except it has additional updates ie. firewire).

Thanks,

Paul.

[hudsonsmith]

I'm surprised - most external hard drives come with an external power supply. If not, you could buy a usb hub with an external power supply. Can't say why it works on your other computer - maybe you have fewer connected usb devices drawing power?

[unknownperson]

I have tried removing all other USB devices, including my mouse!!!
No luck.

On the other computer, the USB drive draws a measly 10ma, so I don't see how it would be a lack of power problem.

Thanks for your help anyway, let me know if you have any other ideas.

[rock5025]

I'm experiencing the same or similar problem. I've read the posts on this issue but I'm not quite clear about some of the terminology or instructions on possible solutions. I have XP on a GIB 7N400 Pro2 motherboard, w/ DDR400, 5 PCI and RAID, if I'm describing correctly. This was a recent installation following a crash. My Lexar 256 jump drive is not recognized by XP, however other USB devices attached are working properly. Working thru this w/Lexar support indicated that I should install drivers USBSTOR.inf and USBSTOR.sys, which Lexar provided. I've been unsuccessful in XP Device Manager of installing those drivers. XP gives me an error msg that specified location doesn't contain info about device hardware, meaning that XP will not recognize the 2 driver files above from the location where I specifiy for XP to look.

[unknownperson]

Working thru this w/Lexar support indicated that I should install drivers USBSTOR.inf and USBSTOR.sys, which Lexar provided. I've been unsuccessful in XP Device Manager of installing those drivers. XP gives me an error msg that specified location doesn't contain info about device hardware, meaning that XP will not recognize the 2 driver files above from the location where I specifiy for XP to look.

Yep same prob for me. Those two files are exactly the ones that I need to install, I know they work with the device but XP won't let me install them.

The fact that it is detected as an unknown device possibly means that no drivers will ever be suited for it....

[turning japanese]

I have a very similar problem with a floppy drive + card reader which attaches internally to the motherboard's USB connector. It seems to be very tempermental. It is often detected as "unknown device" on startup and doesn't function as a card reader. Yesterday after a series of disconnect / reconnect/ restarts it was able to properly detect the device and set it up for the USB card readers to work. Today again though it fails to detect the device on startup. This is a very annoying problem indeed.

Colin

[Prophet Zarquon]

I am also suffering greatly from this issue.

On WinXP Pro SP2, I connected a JVC Hard Disk Drive video camera via the USB (v1) port. Windows detected it just fine and assigned drive letters G: and I:. The files were visible.

Then I connected a Fujitech 80GB USB Hard Drive. This drive is powered off the hub. There is no power input (nor indeed any connections at all, except the USB plug). The power source is NOT relevant to this issue: It runs just fine on old notebooks and draws very little power. My PC has six USB ports and can provide 500ma PER PLUG. This drive draws less than 1/4 that.

The USB HDD was recognized as a USB Mass Storage Device, but Windows failed to provide it with Drive Letters, instead requesting specific drivers. Very well... I loaded the driver disc. No Autorun.inf, and no setup program. Just a help file written in another language I can't display, and four different drivers, all named the same. The first was refused as not being meant for that device. The second ran, but at the end, presented a Not Verified Compatible with XP dialog. Knowing the disc said it contained 95/98, 2000, Me and XP drivers, I opted to cancel and try the next driver. But when I hit Stop Installation, the device was detected and operated normally!

Unsure why it worked, I tried to transfer some files from the JVC camera to the Fujitech USB HDD. One problem: The JVC camera was gone! I did a Safely Remove Hardware, on each unit and disconnected them both.

Now neither will come up again! The Camera says it is in USB MASS STORAGE mode, the Fujitech drive powers up and flashes Ready, but both are identified only as a USB Unknown Device!

My Phone (Normally a USB Mass Storage device) now shows USB Unknown Device. My USB Flash Memory now shows as a USB Unknown Device. Any and all USB Mass Storage Devices I connect now fail identification!

My USBSTOR.SYS file is still in place and has not been modified lately. The issue does not seem to lie with the USB Mass Storage driver, but rather with the device Identification process. I tried Uninstalling my USB devices (LinXcel Webcam, ATI RF Remote, Ninjatech USB-powered Lava Lamp, etc). They fail to be recognized, but if I run the setup program, they work. However USB Mass Storage Devices do not have drivers to load, and I cannot make them come up as such, they are always just Unknown Device...

HELP! I need my phone for work, and this PC is the only one with the video editing tools I need to complete the video project. The camera and Fujitech drive still work on other machines, but I can't find any way to fix mine! I will NOT re-install, as that's just stupid. I can't possibly replace some of the tools loaded on this machine. My BIOS has not been changed in any way (BIOSCAN). What has changed is the USB Device Identification system. It's gone! What can I do?

[Hoges]

Hi i have the same problem? Did you find a solution

[GG-Xtreme]

I am having a similar problem, except that no USB devices work on my computer at all (waiting for thread to be approved).

[street1]

There is a lot of helpful HowTo's at USBMan.

http://www.usbman.com/WinME%20USB%20Guide.htm