Missing external usb drivers

  • Thread starter Thread starter EricG
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EricG

Hi All;
Running Windows Xp Pro + Sp3 (not a recent update affecting question I
think). Have 2 external usb Hard drives which worked correctly until a couple
of days ago. 7 port usb hub connected to rear of desktop usb ports (verified
to be working ok, via other hardware such as usb modem). I think I have lost
the drivers through virus scan or the like? Tried to restore to a point when
they were working via windows Restore, no luck - no software etc changed via
that.
Can anyone advise where I can get the drivers to restore? Are they on
installation cd? Don't want to format/reinstall if possible.
Thanks for your help.
Regards
 
Hi All;
Running Windows Xp Pro + Sp3 (not a recent update affecting question I
think). Have 2 external usb Hard drives which worked correctly until a couple
of days ago. 7 port usb hub connected to rear of desktop usb ports (verified
to be working ok, via other hardware such as usb modem). I think I have lost
the drivers through virus scan or the like? Tried to restore to a point when
they were working via windows Restore, no luck - no software etc changed via
that.
Can anyone advise where I can get the drivers to restore? Are they on
installation cd? Don't want to format/reinstall if possible.
Thanks for your help.
Regards
Click to expand...

The USB drivers that Microsoft provides would be considered as
protected files and XP will always restore them.

You will need to clean up the USB devices, volumes and disk drives.
Disconnect and re-connect the drives after and XP "should" show up.
 
Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what you mean about 'clean up' the usb
devices. There does not appear to be a problem with the external hard drives
or the usb hub for that matter as they work OK when I connect them to my
laptop.

In Device Manager the usb controllers appear to be OK, not yellow
exclamation marks, but the hub device is shown as an 'unknown device' I have
uninstalled the device and on reboot the hub shows up again as an unknown
device.

I have disconnected/reconnected the hub and/or the ext hard drives from the
hub, rebooted several times in an attempt to have Windows recognize the
device(s).

There are not any known viruses, root kits, or trojans that I can find using
several scanners!

Thanks for your help, any other thoughts?

Regards
 
Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what you mean about 'clean up' theusb
devices. There does not appear to be a problem with the external hard drives
or the usb hub for that matter as they work OK when I connect them to my
laptop.

In Device Manager the usb controllers appear to be OK, not yellow
exclamation marks, but the hub device is shown as an 'unknown device' I have
uninstalled the device and on reboot the hub shows up again as an unknown
device.

I have disconnected/reconnected the hub and/or the ext hard drives from the
hub, rebooted several times in an attempt to have Windows recognize the
device(s).

There are not any known viruses, root kits, or trojans that I can find using
several scanners!

Thanks for your help, any other thoughts?

Regards
Click to expand...

Clean up USB devices is to "uninstall " all entries un the USB section
of Device Manager and reboot. Once XP complete the reboot, it should
re-detect the USB controller and fix up the USB port "channels."
Then, you can start re-connecting the USB devices. XP can mix up the
devices and may need the "clean" reset of the USB devices.
 
Hi, thanks once again. I have done that, but I will try again and advise.

Your patience with me in solving this problem is greatly appreciated.

EricG
 
Hi: have completed uninstalling all the usb items to clean them up. Restarted
Windows, etc and in Device Manager, all the usb items loaded OK, except for
the usb hub which showed up as an unknown device and under properties, tells
me no drivers are installed for this device. I just reinstalled the hub
alone; it works Ok on my laptop, so the problem appeares to be confined to
the desktop. Did the reinstall one at a time.
Other items, i.e usb modem all are OK. tried switching usb ports on the back
of the desktop: those that worked previously are OK, the hub still an unknown
device.
So it looks like some drivers have been lost.
Hope you can help.
Regards,
 
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