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WinXP USB and external HDD issues

C

coolVariable

Diamond Member
Helped a co-worker do a re-install of WinXP on his lenovo laptop (a 7 hour saga).
He now has a couple of weird issues:

1. USB devices are recognized (the nice plug-in sound plays) but no drivers are automatically installed. For EVERY device, he has to go into device manage, click "Update Driver" => Automatic ... => driver installs and device works fine. WTF is wrong?

2. External USB HDDs are recognized (all drivers installed manually) but they do not show up in Windows Explorer. First I thought the issue would be that windows assigns no driver letter (why doesn't it do it??). I went into Computer Management => Disk Management and manually assign a drive letter. Still the disk doesn't show up in Windows Explorer! But here's the weird thing - I can navigate to the disk via the command prompt and access it just fine (at this moment running xcopy to copy 10GB of data to the internal drive).

I have never experienced these issues ever before. How to fix?

 
I remember that I experienced problem #2 once, but I cant right now recall the fix. So Ill think about it & hopefully remember the solution & be able to report back. (The good news is that it is correctable.)
 
Try to control WE's view:

Change the Windows Explorer Default Startup Folder

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then right-click Windows Explorer.
2. On the menu that appears, click Properties.
3. In the Target box, append the "/root" command-line switch to the "%SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe" command, using the startup location that you want. For example, if you want Windows Explorer to start at the root of drive C, edit the command to the following:
%SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe /root, C:
4. Click OK.

I always create a Windows Explorer shortcut with a path set to focus a specific partition/drive. For example, create a WE shortcut & from properties set this path in the "Target" line item : %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e,/select,D:

In this case, it tells WE to open and highlight the D: drive. You will of course use the drive letter that is the problem drive.


Let me know what happens.

Commands/Switches (see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307856 )

/n Opens a new single-pane Window for the default selection.
This is usually the root of the drive on which Windows is installed.

/e Starts Windows Explorer using its default view.

/e, <object> Starts Windows Explorer using its default view with the focus on the specified folder.
/root, <object> Opens a window view of the specified object.

/select, <object> Opens a window view with the specified folder, file or
program selected.
 
Also try this:

With the USB drive plugged in, go to Device Manager & uninstall the USB Controllers then reboot.

This will reinstall the USB device Controllers & hopefully correct & registration issues regarding the Windows GUI.
 
I didn't have a chance to try changing the default WE folder yet.
(It's not my laptop - just helping out a colleague)
But I did try entering the address manually in the address bar which should have the same effect - and that did not work.

Also tried uninstalling all the USB hubs and everything USB controller related.
As I stated in problem #1 - that caused a whole bunch of devices to show up with the yellow question mark since WinXP doesn't auto-install a single driver.
Had to right click, Update driver, auto search for every single one of them.
That installed exactly the same devices/drivers as before => both issues still persist.
 
Interestingly a call came in on the "All About Your Computer" radio talk show today hosted by Datel Systems (KFMB760 Larry Piland). Almost the same problem except that the caller's was intermittent. No one was able to resolve it for sure either. About the only useful advice was to ensure that the USB device work properly in other machines.

Another possibility might be to do a Windows repair. This should have minimal impact on the users existing files (ie, most everything such as programs & data should be after the operation).

If that doesnt work then you may have to reinstall WIN as it is appearing either that the wrong HAL (hardware abstraction layer) was installed (windows usually guesses correctly) or that the correct HAL just didnt install right.

Also, when you plug in the USB HDD does it show up correctly (ie, drive letter) in the Mounted Devices list at HKLM/Software/System?
 
Originally posted by: C1
Interestingly a call came in on the "All About Your Computer" radio talk show today hosted by Datel Systems (KFMB760 Larry Piland). Almost the same problem except that the caller's was intermittent. No one was able to resolve it for sure either. About the only useful advice was to ensure that the USB device work properly in other machines.

Another possibility might be to do a Windows repair. This should have minimal impact on the users existing files (ie, most everything such as programs & data should be after the operation).

If that doesnt work then you may have to reinstall WIN as it is appearing either that the wrong HAL (hardware abstraction layer) was installed (windows usually guesses correctly) or that the correct HAL just didnt install right.

Also, when you plug in the USB HDD does it show up correctly (ie, drive letter) in the Mounted Devices list at HKLM/Software/System?
Click to expand...

Would love nothing more than to run a repair but lenovo is smart enough not to provide any Windows installation disks (only their godawful system restore partition and disks).
When will manufacturers finally learn?
Our company will NEVER buy another Lenovo unless they provide genuine OEM installation CDs for Windows.
 
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