XP USB Drive not detected or installed fix

[CCT]

'It did show up in Diskmanagement on my brothers comp, but I couldnt initiate it, so no luck there.'

Is that the computer you mentioned that it 'did work on'?

It is possible the USB cable is bad.

[moertb]

'It did show up in Diskmanagement on my brothers comp, but I couldnt initiate it, so no luck there.'

Is that the computer you mentioned that it 'did work on'?

It is possible the USB cable is bad.

First of all, thank you so much for taking time trying to help me! Means a lot.

That's not the computer it worked fine on. That was the third laptop which I don't have any possibility to operate on anymore. I never looked in Diskmanagement on the computer that I couldn't initiate it before. But it's basically the same problem that I have.

Tried another cable now, but nothing changed.

[CCT]

And it still works on the 1 laptop?

[moertb]

And it still works on the 1 laptop?

It's a bit messy now. So:

There's one laptop that's work perfect with the harddrive.
There's one laptop where the harddrive shows up in DiskMgm, but I can't initiate.
There's one laptop (mine) where nothing works, it just says that the drivers were installed perfectly and it's ready to use.

The 1st laptop is in USA right now, and I'm in Seden.

[CCT]

'There's one laptop (mine) where nothing works, it just says that the drivers were installed perfectly and it's ready to use.'


So, start with that one ONLY!

First, no drivers are required, so something is amiss at that level.

Go back to the start of this thread, and follow the chain of advice on THAT laptop.

It sounds more and more like your USB registry entries are confused and need to be cleaned up.

[moertb]

'There's one laptop (mine) where nothing works, it just says that the drivers were installed perfectly and it's ready to use.'


So, start with that one ONLY!

First, no drivers are required, so something is amiss at that level.

Go back to the start of this thread, and follow the chain of advice on THAT laptop.

It sounds more and more like your USB registry entries are confused and need to be cleaned up.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E980-E325 11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

There should be a upperfilter in this directory, but there isn't. What is wrong?

[moertb]

Problem:
Windows XP does not recognize USB Mass Storage Drives
Device is detected and listed with an exclaimation mark in Device Manager

Solution:
After spending hours on internet and reading through numerous posts, I found

following solutions which will definately work (as they worked for me):

1. Delete following file: windows\inf\infcache.1

2. Go to windows\inf folder and see if you have read/write permissions for

following files:
usbstor.inf
usbstor.pnf
If not, open security settings for above files and add your username for

read/write access.

3. Open registry editor and:
Delete following keys:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\ <read all keys and delete all those

saying USB Mass Storage Driver>

Add following keys:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Usb
Add a new DWoRD Value and name it "DisableSelectiveSuspend". Give it value 1

4. Make sure you have USBSTOR.SYS file in your windows\system32\drivers folder

(It wasn't there in my case). Just Google using Usbstor.sys and you will find

the file to download. Save it at above location.

is every number a single solution, or do I have all four steps?

[CCT]

'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contr o l\Class\{4D36E980-E325 11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

There should be a upperfilter in this directory, but there isn't. What is wrong?'

There 'might be' a filter - not always - I don't have one.

That is just a thing to check - some installs and some additional things installed may put a filter there - that's why you check for it.

That second post is a four-step checklist of things you want to do and check on.

[moertb]

'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contr o l\Class\{4D36E980-E325 11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

There should be a upperfilter in this directory, but there isn't. What is wrong?'

There 'might be' a filter - not always - I don't have one.

That is just a thing to check - some installs and some additional things installed may put a filter there - that's why you check for it.

That second post is a four-step checklist of things you want to do and check on.

Did both things, no success

Is this hopeless you think or do you have any other ideas?

[CCT]

Well, it's up to you, but the options come down to;

1: IF you can see the device in Device Manager;
. plug the drive in to the machine
. goto start, control panel,system,device manager
. scroll down to Universal Serial Bus controllers
. right click USB Mass Storage Device and delete driver.
. unplug the USB storage drive and plug it back in.

2:
.Unplug ALL USB devices except mouse.
.Open Device Manager
.View, Show Hidden Devices.
.Uninstall all devices under USB Controllers.
.Uninstall any USB disks from Disk Drives.
.Uninstall all devices under Storage Volumes. Say no to any reboot prompts until you are finished. Also, if a Storage Volume doesn't uninstall, ignore it and move to the next one.
.If you have a yellow ? with unknown devices, uninstall all of the entries there as well.
.When this is done, reboot TWICE
.Reconnect the USB devices and see if they're recognized properly.

3: EXTREME thing is obviously to do a complete CLEAN INSTALL, and then things will either be as they should or you'll know your motherboard has issues.

This means copying off EVERYTHING you value and making sure you know your internet and other passwords and DNS numbers and all that stuff.

[ramesh_kore]

Problem:
Windows XP does not recognize USB Mass Storage Drives
Device is detected and listed with an exclaimation mark in Device Manager

Solution:
After spending hours on internet and reading through numerous posts, I found

following solutions which will definately work (as they worked for me):

1. Delete following file: windows\inf\infcache.1

2. Go to windows\inf folder and see if you have read/write permissions for

following files:
usbstor.inf
usbstor.pnf
If not, open security settings for above files and add your username for

read/write access.

3. Open registry editor and:
Delete following keys:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\ <read all keys and delete all those

saying USB Mass Storage Driver>

Add following keys:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Usb
Add a new DWoRD Value and name it "DisableSelectiveSuspend". Give it value 1

4. Make sure you have USBSTOR.SYS file in your windows\system32\drivers folder

(It wasn't there in my case). Just Google using Usbstor.sys and you will find

the file to download. Save it at above location.

Hi....Its still nor working on my PC....please suggest. Any new mass storage device on computer but drivers are not being detected. Please help....

[NooNoo]

If you have the problem where disk management wants to INITIALISE the drive, it means there is not enough power to the drive from the USB.

Yes, it might work on one laptop, but not on another - this is because some laptops have better voltage provision on the USB ports than another.

Is this a laptop drive or a desktop 3.5" drive? A laptop (2.5") drive should work without a problem on most laptops without a power cable... some will need to have a USB Y cable to give it enough power.

Desktop hard drives nearly always need their own power supply on any machine.

[chimera12]

hi guys,my fren's pc also encountered this problem,but he's using a usb card,when he
plugs in the thumbdrive,the thumbdrive's led is on but win xp cant detect nor show
the drive in My Computer,is there any fix for it?

[Mamzer]

Hi all,

I first found this site through Google, which led me to a thread started by SpazTastic in 2004.

My problem - a newly purchased "Shintaro" flash memory stick was not detected and installed by Windows XP Home SP3 on my Toshiba Satellite A60 laptop. No drive letter assigned.

My existing "Verbatim" memory stick has no problem being recognised by my system.
I tried the suggested fixes, including resetting permissions in regedit for the USB key in HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE\SYSTEM\....etc. This produced no result immediately, this or may not have played a part in the final solution.

The new memory stick worked fine on my work computer, XP Professional, so I made a note of the drivers through Device Manager.

The same drivers were present on my Laptop in System32\Drivers, but for some reason were not detected-installed by the "install new hardware" wizard from the Device Manager when set to automatically find drivers.

My solution - From the Device Manager, navigate the "update driver wizard" directly to the driver files in the System32\drivers folder.

In the "Driver" tab of the problem device's properties window, select Update Driver, select "Install from a list or specific location.

In the next window select "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install." In the next window, select "Have Disk".

The next window will tell you to install from disk, which we do not have. Instead, select "Browse" & navigate to the Program Files\Windows folder.

At this stage you will see that the wizard is looking for a "*.inf" file & that windows has an "inf" folder. Open the "inf" folder & click on the "usb.inf" to open.

Now, the correct driver for the "USB Mass Storage Device" under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" are installed (USBSTOR.SYS). The device now appears under "My Computer" with its own drive letter. However, I Still get the message that the hardware was not installed.

Going back to the Device manager, I found that now I have a problem with "Disk Drives". Repeating the same procedure with the new problem device, I found that as soon as I navigated to the Windows\inf folder, the wizard suggested the file to open (1394.inf), which I did. The "Disk Drive" error was now fixed.

However, now, in Device Manager, I get the yellow ? next Other Device. Repeat the samed procedure, again at the "inf" folder the wizard suggests the file to open (I've forgotten it's name). Viola!! Everything works, no errors.

In Device Manager, my memeory sticks appear under Disk Drives, Storage Volumes & Universal Serial Bus Controllers.

This solution worked for me & perhaps will help someone else. It's worth a try before messing with the registry. The Windows\inf folder is a hidden folder. You will need to show hidden files & folder in Folder Options.

[sivakumar]

Post No 7 which is given by prasanthsonline perfectly solves my problems

Thanks.