External Hard Drive not recognized by Windows XP

gerling182 · 09-25-2007, 05:17 PM

Hi there,

I have an Acer Aspire 5610 laptop. Windows died recently and if I use the Acer recovery program I will lose the contents of my hard drives - something I am very keen to avoid. So I got my hands on a Windows XP Pro CD and have installed Windows. The problem is now I cannot for the life of me get it to recognize my Maxtor USB external hard drive. My USB mouse works so the ports aren't dead. I've installed every little thing I can find on the Acer/Intel/Microsoft/Maxtor websites etc but still nothing. I've tried uninstalling the USB ports and reinstalling them - still nothing. I've checked device manager to see if it's recognized but not mapping correctly - it's not in device manager. I went into my BIOS to ensure that USB was enabled and it's not an option in the menu (I have PhoenixBIOS). I have tested the External Hard Drive on other PC's and it works fine. When I plug it into my notebook it plays the sound to say it's recognized a USB input and then the USB symbol displays in the Task Bar with the Message "Device Not Recognized" - what can I do to get this to work - I've spent 26 hours so far and nothing has worked and it would take me forever to back 120GB onto DVDs! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

**manic** · 09-25-2007, 06:25 PM

Is sp2 installed?

gerling182 · 09-25-2007, 06:41 PM

Yes, SP2 has been installed

**manic** · 09-25-2007, 07:04 PM

Is there a way for you to install chipset drivers? When you reinstalled
windows it may have whacked that out.....

gerling182 · 09-25-2007, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manic

Is there a way for you to install chipset drivers? When you reinstalled
windows it may have whacked that out.....

Already done, went to the Intel site and downloaded the latest Chipset drivers - still nothing.

**manic** · 09-25-2007, 08:04 PM

That is odd, and you checked bios for anything pertaining to enabling
usb2.0. Have you tried it in safe mode? Worth a shot. You said it
worked in other pc's. If you have another pc you could hook the drive
up to that, then share on a network and dump files from laptop to
the drive that way.

gerling182 · 09-25-2007, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manic

That is odd, and you checked bios for anything pertaining to enabling
usb2.0. Have you tried it in safe mode? Worth a shot. You said it
worked in other pc's. If you have another pc you could hook the drive
up to that, then share on a network and dump files from laptop to
the drive that way.

I've checked BIOS, but according to Phoenix it should live under Advanced - however there is no USB 2.0 under Advanced to enable or disable. I'd think that might be the problem - but the mouse works so I'm guessing it must be enabled.

Tried safe mode, didn't make a difference either.

How easy is it to network two laptops - I've never done it before?

**manic** · 09-26-2007, 04:14 AM

Are you sure your not missing a sub menu in bios? When you high
light/or hit enter on some items it will open a sub menu giving you
more options. Your mouse is probably not usb2.0.

gerling182 · 09-26-2007, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manic

Are you sure your not missing a sub menu in bios? When you high
light/or hit enter on some items it will open a sub menu giving you
more options. Your mouse is probably not usb2.0.

Definitely not missing a submenu, there is only one item in Advanced and it's got nothing to do with USB (you can't even select it).

09-25-2007, 05:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
gerling182 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Windows XP Pro	External Hard Drive not recognized by Windows XP Hi there, I have an Acer Aspire 5610 laptop. Windows died recently and if I use the Acer recovery program I will lose the contents of my hard drives - something I am very keen to avoid. So I got my hands on a Windows XP Pro CD and have installed Windows. The problem is now I cannot for the life of me get it to recognize my Maxtor USB external hard drive. My USB mouse works so the ports aren't dead. I've installed every little thing I can find on the Acer/Intel/Microsoft/Maxtor websites etc but still nothing. I've tried uninstalling the USB ports and reinstalling them - still nothing. I've checked device manager to see if it's recognized but not mapping correctly - it's not in device manager. I went into my BIOS to ensure that USB was enabled and it's not an option in the menu (I have PhoenixBIOS). I have tested the External Hard Drive on other PC's and it works fine. When I plug it into my notebook it plays the sound to say it's recognized a USB input and then the USB symbol displays in the Task Bar with the Message "Device Not Recognized" - what can I do to get this to work - I've spent 26 hours so far and nothing has worked and it would take me forever to back 120GB onto DVDs! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

09-25-2007, 06:25 PM	#2 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,246 OS: xp	Re: External Hard Drive not recognized by Windows XP Is sp2 installed? __________________

09-25-2007, 06:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
gerling182 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Windows XP Pro	Re: External Hard Drive not recognized by Windows XP Yes, SP2 has been installed

09-25-2007, 07:04 PM	#4 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,246 OS: xp	Re: External Hard Drive not recognized by Windows XP Is there a way for you to install chipset drivers? When you reinstalled windows it may have whacked that out..... __________________

09-25-2007, 08:04 PM	#6 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,246 OS: xp	Re: External Hard Drive not recognized by Windows XP That is odd, and you checked bios for anything pertaining to enabling usb2.0. Have you tried it in safe mode? Worth a shot. You said it worked in other pc's. If you have another pc you could hook the drive up to that, then share on a network and dump files from laptop to the drive that way. __________________

09-26-2007, 04:14 AM	#8 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,246 OS: xp	Re: External Hard Drive not recognized by Windows XP Are you sure your not missing a sub menu in bios? When you high light/or hit enter on some items it will open a sub menu giving you more options. Your mouse is probably not usb2.0. __________________