USB Hard drive drivers not found

[DavidR]

I plugged in an external hard drive (basic laptop drive in an external case with USB cable). WinXP said it could not find drivers for it and failed. This is a pretty basic setup - what could be wrong? My USB mouse and camera work just fine.

[Hamid]

What USB HDD (HDD enclosure) are you using?
Does the USB HDD work on another machine?

[DavidR]

It is an IBM external drive case. Old but serviceable. It works fine on my desktop.

This is sort of the same problem as another thread I started - new USB devices simply don't work. Drivers are not loaded. I have tried new Kingston USB flash drive, this hard drive and a Canon A560 camera. The T60p sees the device, correctly identifies it but then fails to find or load the drivers.

Curiously, it sees my two different USB mice and a Canon A520 all of which were installed months ago.

So, something has changed. Of course I have installed and un-installed several programs, run RegistryFirstAid and CCleaner many times, defragged with PerfectDisk, swept for spyware with SpySweeper, used SystemUpdate regularly, done WindowsUpdate regularly, etc.

Somehow I need to get it back so new USB devices are installed, but I really don't want to start over from scratch.

[Charles Mann]

DavidR..In reference to this thread and your other thread about USB devices. I too had problems with my T60p 2623DDU, and the use of USB devices. And I am certain that my problem was in my use of Registry First Aid, not paying close attention to which entries were deleted or altered. Almost a month ago I reinstalled Win XP Pro to factory level and all of my needed applications, MS Access 2000, MS Office 2003, Adobe Photo Shop, misc junk. I use a Mini-doc with its four USB ports to attache a LaCie 500gb drive, Video Capturer, external DVD writer, and mouse. Registry First Aid was NOT installed, and my use of any USB device has been flawless. I am not saying Registry First Aid has any problems, it has been my use of the application.

Charles

[DavidR]

If I have scrambled the USB PNP registry entries, how can I unscramble them? I really don't want to re-install, update, update, update, update, register, register, register, clean, clean, clean, etc, etc, etc, etc. unless I have no other choice. There has got to be a way!!!

For instance -

Is there some software that ruing it's install wold fix it?

Could I Ghost the drive, wipe it clean, re-install Windows and then Ghost back everything except the registry? (I really don't think so).

Could I somehow identify the entries that are needed and put them back?

Where would I find the expert ho knows?

[Charles Mann]

DavidR…The way I recovered my system was with the factory restore…I do not know enough about the system registry to be of any help…In my case, the driver that was needed was “USBStore.sys”, and it was in the folder “C:\Windows\System32\drivers\USBStore.sys”, where it should be….but I guess the registry did not point to it. Windows would prompt for the CD to install, but when I tried to give it the proper path, the path was rejected. I guess windows needs an “.inf” file to identify the device and path to driver?? In my infinite wisdom, attained from a career of small system hardware and software support in IBM, I bit the bullet, and after a critical file backup, did a system restore, followed by installation of all applications. I might add that there were numerous “Restore Points” made along the way. But my ThinkPad has been without problems since.


Charles

[DavidR]

Thanks for the ideas.

I fixed it (sort of), here's how:

1) Search C: for *.inf including hidden and system folders
2) Sort by name
3) Find USBStore.inf
4) Point to that folder during the install of the device.

BINGO !!!

Caveat:
When I unplug the flash drive and plug it back in, Windows (in it's infinite wisdom) says it is a new device and I then press esc to abort the search for drivers pop up. Then it says that there may be a problem with the device. So I press Esc again.

But, hey - it works! Esc twice is way better than not working.

Thanks for the kick that started my brain!

[Charles Mann]

DavidR..I am happy to hear that you have a work around of your USB problem. I get so pis.ed at windows, when I don’t know what it is doing..but maybe that is best.

When I installed Vista on the second HDD, and all of my USB problems went away, I knew that it was a software problem, not hardware. And in your other USB thread there was mention of Registry First Aid, the bells started ringing. Thank You Bill Morrow for Thinkpads.com, and all that post here…And yes, I have made a donation.

Charles