Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems

peter762033 · 11-06-2009, 09:26 AM

Hi, im tyring to install my new WD 1tb elements external hard drive. When i connect it to the computer it recognises it and brings up the windows hardware wizard, it starts to install the hard drive, but then the wizard says it 'cannot install this hardware' and 'the system cannot find the file specified'. Has anybody else had this problem? Oh and im using XP.

Hope someone can help me get this thing working :P

thanks

peter762033 · 11-06-2009, 02:08 PM

ok ive done a few screenshots of my problem,

It starts ok then i get that message, also it shows up in the safely remove hardware area but i get that exclamation mark, weird, hope you can help,

thanks

aurelius2000 · 11-06-2009, 02:10 PM

Shut down your PC. Plug in the device. Then restart and let the wizard do its thing. If there is still an issue let us know.

**raptor_pa** · 11-06-2009, 02:14 PM

You may want to unplug the wireless USB adapter, we had a case a few months ago where a USB wireless was preventing the installation.

peter762033 · 11-06-2009, 03:07 PM

Thanks for the replys guys, much appreciated. Ive just tried both of your suggestions and ive still got the same problem :s any more ideas?

thanks

peter762033 · 11-07-2009, 05:41 AM

Ok, i just tried the hard drive on another computer which is running vista and it installed the drivers automatically and works perfectly, so i guess its something to do with my computer and not the drive...

thanks

**raptor_pa** · 11-07-2009, 07:40 AM

In device manager, remove all the usb port, then restart and let the system reload the drivers.

peter762033 · 11-07-2009, 10:08 AM

Ok ive just done that and im still getting the same problem, i looked in the device manager aswell and it says i have a code 28 error, are there any windows updates which could help?

thanks

peter762033 · 11-07-2009, 10:56 AM

Well i got in tousch with the WD support team and they suggested this,

Does your drive work properly if you reset your computer's BIOS back to the defaults? Also, have you updated the computer's BIOS to the latest release?

Not really to sure what this means, can someone explain? Also would this solve the issue?

thanks

peter762033 · 11-08-2009, 12:29 PM

I just had a thought but i dont know if it would work, im running xp with sp2, if i updated it to sp3 could that help?

thanks

**raptor_pa** · 11-08-2009, 05:21 PM

The BIOS setup usually has an option somewhere to reset to the default settings. You can enter setup during the boot process by pressing ( usually on of these) DELETE, F2 OR F10

peter762033 · 11-09-2009, 12:13 PM

Ok i will try that if i have too. I noticed that the drive was present in the my computer area so i put a few files on the drive to see what would happen and they all went onto the drive and work perfectly. This is weird because im still getting the windows hardware error message error and the yellow exclamation mark in safely remove hardware but i can use the hard drive. What could be the problem because it seems really weird to me?

thanks

11-06-2009, 09:26 AM	#1 (permalink)
peter762033 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8 OS: xp	Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems Hi, im tyring to install my new WD 1tb elements external hard drive. When i connect it to the computer it recognises it and brings up the windows hardware wizard, it starts to install the hard drive, but then the wizard says it 'cannot install this hardware' and 'the system cannot find the file specified'. Has anybody else had this problem? Oh and im using XP. Hope someone can help me get this thing working :P thanks

11-06-2009, 02:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
peter762033 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8 OS: xp	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems ok ive done a few screenshots of my problem, It starts ok then i get that message, also it shows up in the safely remove hardware area but i get that exclamation mark, weird, hope you can help, thanks

11-06-2009, 02:10 PM	#3 (permalink)
aurelius2000 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 205 OS: Windows XP SP3/Windows Vista SP2	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems Shut down your PC. Plug in the device. Then restart and let the wizard do its thing. If there is still an issue let us know.

11-06-2009, 02:14 PM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,903 OS: XP	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems You may want to unplug the wireless USB adapter, we had a case a few months ago where a USB wireless was preventing the installation. __________________

11-06-2009, 03:07 PM	#5 (permalink)
peter762033 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8 OS: xp	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems Thanks for the replys guys, much appreciated. Ive just tried both of your suggestions and ive still got the same problem :s any more ideas? thanks

11-07-2009, 05:41 AM	#6 (permalink)
peter762033 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8 OS: xp	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems Ok, i just tried the hard drive on another computer which is running vista and it installed the drivers automatically and works perfectly, so i guess its something to do with my computer and not the drive... thanks

11-07-2009, 07:40 AM	#7 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,903 OS: XP	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems In device manager, remove all the usb port, then restart and let the system reload the drivers. __________________

11-07-2009, 10:08 AM	#8 (permalink)
peter762033 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8 OS: xp	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems Ok ive just done that and im still getting the same problem, i looked in the device manager aswell and it says i have a code 28 error, are there any windows updates which could help? thanks

11-07-2009, 10:56 AM	#9 (permalink)
peter762033 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8 OS: xp	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems Well i got in tousch with the WD support team and they suggested this, Does your drive work properly if you reset your computer's BIOS back to the defaults? Also, have you updated the computer's BIOS to the latest release? Not really to sure what this means, can someone explain? Also would this solve the issue? thanks

11-08-2009, 12:29 PM	#10 (permalink)
peter762033 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8 OS: xp	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems I just had a thought but i dont know if it would work, im running xp with sp2, if i updated it to sp3 could that help? thanks

11-08-2009, 05:21 PM	#11 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,903 OS: XP	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems The BIOS setup usually has an option somewhere to reset to the default settings. You can enter setup during the boot process by pressing ( usually on of these) DELETE, F2 OR F10 __________________

11-09-2009, 12:13 PM	#12 (permalink)
peter762033 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8 OS: xp	Re: Western digital 1tb external hard drive install problems Ok i will try that if i have too. I noticed that the drive was present in the my computer area so i put a few files on the drive to see what would happen and they all went onto the drive and work perfectly. This is weird because im still getting the windows hardware error message error and the yellow exclamation mark in safely remove hardware but i can use the hard drive. What could be the problem because it seems really weird to me? thanks