USB device not recognised

[cmcf]

Hi all,

I've purchased a brand new 2.5" hard disk and a caddy for it to plug into and then into my PC. Plug it in and it says "USB device not recognised". So i think i should format it, so i plug it directly into a laptop i have and put an XP disc in and do a Quick NTFS format. Once done I plug it back into my PC via usb and it works!! or does it? I restart my PC with it all connected and when i get back in again it comes back with USB device not recongised again.

Any ideas how i can get this problem fixed??

Many thanks in advance.

Chris

 

[DelJo63]

first, a Quick FMT only updates the FREE space and if you really needed a
reformat, do the whole 9 yards to set all the block numbers.

However, USB devices are normally preformatted FAT32 and formatting is not necessary.

If the device is unknow, you need to load the drivers for it; trt this first:
Power off and attach the device to your XP system.
Now power on and let XP recognize the new device and find its own driver for it.
After the system settles down, use the Device Mgr to verify it's operational OR
update the driver for that specific device.

 

[cmcf]

thanks for your help.

the device does show up in device manager as unknown. When it did work it shows up as a Mass storage device using the usbstor.sys driver only.

I dont have any other drivers for it but it shouldnt need a special one.

i may try giving it full format like you say although i have another 2.5" hard disk and this works with no problems using the same caddy.

slightly confused about this

 

[Rick]

USB device not recognised

This drive does not work in your computer and you'll never get it formatted if it tells you this. You need to fix this error.

If the drive is USB powered, make sure you plugging it directly into the back of your computer. Sometimes front, side and top USB ports don't deliver enough power. Do not plug the device into a hub. If you have an external power supply that was given with the unit, plug that in first, then the USB cable.

If it still doesn't work, take it back and get a different brand. You'll save yourself some headaches.

Also, Windows doesn't care about the file system when trying to 'recognize' the device, so don't worry about formatting it yet. You need to get Windows to recognize it first as a USB device before you can manipulate it.

 

[cmcf]

Ok, i've done a full NTFS reformat of the hard disk and i'm still getting the same problem.

The caddy is powered via USB. Maybe it hasn't got enough power to power the 60GB hard disk. I have an identical set up (same caddy) but with a 20GB hard disk and it works perfectly.

Any other suggestions would be welcomed

Thanks

 

[Tmagic650]

What motherboard do you have installed in the "device not recognized" computer? This does sound like a USB power issue. I use a Seagate 100GB 2.5 inch drive in an external USB 2 enclosure. This device is powered by the USB port alone, but the external enclosure has a 5 volt input if needed. The external drive works perfectly under XP Pro, SP2