[ironmaidens]

Hey Everyone,

I have a problem with my USB devices. I have a HP Vectra VL400(I know, ****ing old) and it's running on Windows 2000 Professional. Now here is the thing. I can plug in every kind of portable flash drive and I will get an extra drive in My Computer. But when I try to plug in any kind of External Hard Drive, I don't get a drive at all. And when I look in my devices I see a yellow question mark. Tried re-installing the thing but using the same drivers, but still didn't work. so my thought is either hardware incompatibility or failure in drivers.

Anyone has an idea how to fix this?

Grtz,
ironmaidens

[win2kpro]

Are all of your service packs and other updates up to date?

[ironmaidens]

Nope sorry, nice try though.
I installed every possible update.

[win2kpro]

What kind of drivers are you using with the external? I have six externals that I used with Windows 2000 Pro that never required a driver. Provide a link to the external you are trying to use.

[ironmaidens]

Just the standard MOBO+USB drivers that came with the machine. The External Hard Drive I'm trying to use is the Western Digital Elements 500GB and with W2K, it should run without problems. That's just the reason why I'm confused.

[leoneire]

Is this problem just with one external hard drive or have you tried others??

[win2kpro]

What I would try first is this.

Disconnect all USB devices connected to the machine. If you have a mouse and keyboard with PS2 connectors use those.

Go into device manager and expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.

When you get the drop down showing all the controllers and hubs right click on each one and click uninstall.

After all the controllers and hubs on the drop down list are uninstalled restart the machine and Windows should find each controller and each hub and reinstall the drivers.

After all the drivers are reinstalled see if the problem continues.

[win2kpro]

If you are using a USB keyboard and mouse it would be better is you went here;

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article04-103

and follow the instructions to temporarily disable the sign on screen so Windows will start automatically after you uninstall the USB drivers.