Jerryaki

Hello, I saw that another poster had this issue about 3 months back, but his solution involved reformatting his machine and losing all of his work...

here is my situation:

1) I received the new Western Digital My Passport Essential external drive 160gb, but I'm having troubles "installing" it on my XP desktop. On my second desktop, it works fine (plug and play).

2) When I plug the hard drive in via USB - it recognizes it and a balloon pops up saying its detected a USB device but then Windows loads up the "Found New Hardware Wizard" - and it cannot install the HDD because the drivers are on the drive itself.

3) Opening up My Computer and Disk Manager shows that the computer cannot see the drive. It appears in Device Manager as "Other USB Device."

4) WD Tech Support sent me a power boost (Dual USB) cable. I don't believe that that's the issue.

5) Per the prior post, I have uninstalled all USB ports, and then had Windows reinstall all the USB 2.0 drivers. Same result once i plus in the passport.

Any help at all would be appreciated. I could reformat the machine, but then...how do i back it up without this HDD?!

Jerryaki

Forgot to mention, i am running a home built Shuttle XPC with windows XP (recently updated to service pack 3). 3200+Athlon, 2G RAM, not sure if i need any other info. Thanks again.

Jerryaki

update: tried rolling back to service pack 2, same issue. so now have rolled it forward to service pack 3 again.

Deleted090308

Welcome to TSF.

Try this:
With all USB devices disconnected (except keyboard/mouse) >>
Open Device manager and expand "Universal serial bus controllers" >>
Right click the USB devices >> choose "Uninstall". Do this with all USB devices.


Restart the computer and let Windows reinstall the USB devices.
Then connect the external drive.

Jerryaki

hi eneles, thanks for the tip. i saw that method on another post, so i've tried to do that. no luck.

Jerryaki

looking at your screenshot, i do notice one thing. my USB options in device manager say "generic USB" or the like, but on the PC where it works it says "VIA USB" just like yours. are those different USB drivers?

Deleted090308

What's the brand/model of your computer?
Try reinstalling the chipset driver.

Jerryaki

i have a barebones shuttle SN95G (this is an older one). a quick googling brought up the following specs:

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 (Socket 939) Processors (i have athlon 64 3200+)
Chipset - NVIDIA nForce 3 Ultra
FSB - 200 MHz
Memory - 2 x DIMM DDR 400 or 333; up to 2GB Max (i have 2 gigs installed)
Slots - 1 x 8X AGP, 1 x PCI
Onboard IDE - 2 x ATA133 headers; 2 x Serial ATA 150 headers
USB 2.0 - 4 ports (2 rear, 2 front panel)

will try re-installing the chipset drivers and let you know how it goes. thanks for the advice!

Jerryaki

re-installed chipset driver to no avail. at my brother's suggestion, when the hardware wizard pops up, he told me to have it search within the windows/system32 folder for the driver/software. that also did not work.

any other thoughts???

Deleted090308

Run the System File Checker:
Click Start >> Run >> Type sfc /scannow (note space after sfc), then click OK.
You may be asked to insert your Windows disc.

If that doesn't help, we need the exact system specifications. This will help:
Download and run Everest.
That program will produce a list of what's inside your computer.
In Everest press the "Report" menu - then "Quick report - All pages > Plain text.
Save the report. Please post back, with that report as an attachment.

How to post an attachment.

Does the drive have a power source of its own? Is it connected "directly" to the computer (no hub etc)?

Jerryaki

ran the system file checker, which finished and then closed, so i am assuming that means i don't have any issues.

is there a specific section in the everest report that you need to see to troubleshoot? i can cut and paste specific sections that you need to see rather than have you go through the entire report. thank you!

Jerryaki

and sorry, to answer your last question, it powers off of the usb, and i am now using the power boost (dual USB head) cable when plugging it in. i've tried plugging it into the front, back, and external hub ports, all the same.

Deleted090308

The drive is probably not getting enough power from the USB port(s).

What are the voltages - and what happens to them when you connect the HDD?
You can use SensorsView to monitor the voltages.

Jerryaki

installed the app and here is what it is reading:

Attached Images

voltages.jpg (70.6 KB, 3 views)

Deleted090308

Looks OK, except the temps are a bit high.

The nForce 3 Ultra chipset is known for being difficult.
What's the name of the motherboard?

Jerryaki

here you go, sir:

Motherboard:

CPU Type - AMD Athlon 64, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3200+

Motherboard Name - Shuttle FN95 v2 (1 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

Motherboard Chipset - nVIDIA nForce3 Ultra, AMD Hammer

System Memory - 2048 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)

BIOS Type - Award (10/07/04)

Deleted090308

Go to nVidia's download page: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Use option 2 to auto detect a chipset (motherboard) driver.

If that doesn't help - repair the XP installation.

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install.

Jerryaki

thank you very much for continuing to troubleshoot this. i will try both and let you know what happens.

Jerryaki

nvidia updated a display driver, but that doesn't seem to have any effect on the external HD.

not sure yet if i am going to proceed with the repair install, as i have not backed up my files and i have a slew of applications where i don't have the install discs with me. i guess the passport is doomed to not work with this PC.

thanks for your help eneles, please post here if you can think of something else that won't involve reinstalling the OS. really appreciate it!