# XP won't recognize external hard drive



## merlinburgh (Dec 31, 2008)

I have a SimpleTech (re)drive 500 GB USB external hard drive and I am running XP sp3 on my laptop. My external hard drive was working fine until this morning, when my computer decided not to recognize it at all. It doesn't show up under My Computer, in the Device Manager... or anywhere that I can find...

Other USB devices are still working, and the external hard drive is still working on other computers.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Does anything at all happen when you plug it in?

Do you see anything about it under drives in Device Manager, or "mass storage" under the USB section?


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## lawson_jl (Aug 3, 2008)

More then likely you will see a question mark next to a mass storage device when the drive is isntalled. Delete it and reboot letting the computer find the external drive again this should fix the issue.


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## merlinburgh (Dec 31, 2008)

Thanks for the help, but magically the problem seems to have fixed itself.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

I don't like that "magic" too much. But I'm happy for you. We can reopen this if you request it.

You can mark your own threads "solved" using the button above.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

I don't like that "magic" too much. But I'm happy for you. We can reopen this if you request it.

You can mark your own threads "solved" using the button above.


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## merlinburgh (Dec 31, 2008)

Okay, so it's happening again. When I had this problem about six months ago I did this:

_Create a file with NOTEPAD containing the following lines and save it as FIX.REG

-------------------------- Use text after this line --------------------------------
REGEDIT4
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment]"DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES"="1"

-------------------------- Use text before this line --------------------------------

Double click on FIX.REG and say yes to the Merge Into Registry question.

Unplug ALL USB devices.
Open Device Manager.
View, Show Hidden Devices.
Uninstall all devices under USB Controllers.
Uninstall all devices under Disk Drives that you know are not present.
Uninstall all devices under Storage Volumes. Say no to any reboot prompts until you are finished. Also, if a Storage Volume doesn't uninstall, ignore it and move to the next one.
If you have a yellow ? with unknown devices, uninstall all of the entries there as well.

When this is done, reboot TWICE.

Reconnect the USB devices and see if they're recognized properly.

NOTE: If you have a USB keyboard and/or mouse, you'll have to modify the instructions and leave enough parts for those to function. I don't have one yet, so I haven't had time to modify the instructions._

and it solved the problem.

But now it's not helping at all. 
The only thing that is happening when I plug my drive in is the light on the drive lights up, so there is definitely power going to it.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

If you have any other USB devices, unplug them and try the drive again.

Open up the USB section in Device Manager and right-click the hubs and controllers. Choose Update and allow it to connect to the internet and automatically search for new drivers. 

Do you see any problem devices in Device Manager?

If this doesn't help, right click the controllers in the USB section and choose Uninstall. Reboot.


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## merlinburgh (Dec 31, 2008)

Tried all this with no apparent effect.

And there are no problems in the Device Manager that I see.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Try running USBDView and right-clicking and removing any device that has a "No" in the column about whether it is presently connected.

Does anything happen when you plug it in? Does it appear in Device Manager under Ddrives or as mass storage under USB?

Do you see it in Disk Management?

Right-click Computer > Manage > Disk Management.


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## merlinburgh (Dec 31, 2008)

Okay, tried that. No change.

And no, it's not showing up in any of those places.


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