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Rajkumar S
Rajkumar S asked in Computers & InternetHardwareOther - Hardware · 1 decade ago

Usb based external hard disk not detected by Windows XP?

Western Digital usb based external hard disk not detected by Windows XP. At my office PC, it works fine but at home pc problem comes, Official documentation say that no driver required on windows xp and it should be detected by plug and play. Any way, on inserting cable in usb port, installation wizard runs and in end shows can not detect any driver. some time when i insert the usb port to external device, sound comes many times like it is connected and disconnected again.

I have try to select location c:/windows/inf. Except that I have installed sm bus driver but no solution is working. I have even checked in bios and usb is enabled there. Other usb device like flash disk are working on pc but only external hard disk is giving problem. Same external hard disk is working fine on another windows xp pc.

Please help as i am very confused.. Thanks a lot.

Update:

Dear Mr Dougie, Device manager tree is expanding and collapsing again and again on adding device so what you say is not possible to do.

Dear Robin p, I have only external hard disk connected to usb port and not much devices so what u say does not seem to apear with my case.

Dear UBER , I already had installed USB 2.0.

Dear Ebilan , I have already tried all the port in front and back...

I thank all of u to support me but no solution is still working .....

6 Answers

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  • devanshu
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    well....their can be various reasons your computer does not detect a USB drive...the reasons and solutions (most possible ones) are listed below-

    (1.) problems in USB cable - their might be problems in your USB cable itself..and that's why the system can not detect it...or maybe...when you insert your USB cable the computer flash a message that the device is not detected by windows..or something like that...maybe you can wait for sometime and then manually open up "my computer" > and right click on the divide you have inserted in your system > and click open....may be it will open...

    (2.) USB mouse - well if you have a USB mouse...thensometimes the computer is only able to read one USB device...try to disconnect your mouse and insert your USB cable in the same USB plug.

    (3.) software update - most probably your DSL USB Driver has not been updated or some of it's files are missing....then simply uninstall it and re-download it from the Microsoft website...or from some other trusted and secure website like http://www.download.com/

    (4.) clean ups - this is just the most common problems of USB drives not detect the external hard devices...just try to clean up your USB plug by blowing hard in it...make sure you take every possible step in cleaning it...

    (5.) another software - may be the external USB based hard disk you are inserting requires other softwares to run it...for example an apple ipod will never be recognized by a computer untill i-Tunes is installed in the computer...some pen drives also require special softwares to run them.

    just go ahead and try out these experiments i have written on my own right now...and see weather these work or not...and make sure that the DSL USB Driver software is instaled in your computer...thank you for reading this answer and giving your precious time.

  • robbie3k2
    1 decade ago

    It could be that the power supplied by your USB ports is insufficent to power the Hard Disk.

    This could be if you've got too many things currently plugged into the others. (Only 5V at 0.5amps is available and shared across the USB ports).

    Try unplugging everything, including the hard disk and then plug just the hard disk in. It should detect it correctly then.

  • Ebilan
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    I'd suggest plugging the external drive in to one of the USB ports on the back of your PC if you havn't already.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    When the hal.dll is damaged/missing your only real option is to completely reinstall Windows, which would cause you to lose all your data if it's not already backed up. You could bring it to a computer repair store and let them back it up for you and fix it for you, but that costs money. The question is: how valuable is your data?

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  • uber.cronic
    1 decade ago

    sounds like the hd is usb2.0 compliant and you are trying it in a usb1.1 port.....try going to your control panel and updating the usb drivers since the usb drives you are using might be 1.1 compliant...and try a different usb port on the computer...eg front,back,side?....best of luck

  • dougie
    1 decade ago

    try going to the device manager, uninstall your usb then scan for hardware changes, leave the drive plugged in when doing this and it should sort its self out

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