USB drive: My computer isn't detecting the USB drive?

Question

I am using Windows XP.

The USB drive is working fine on other computers.

Answer 1

Hi Maddy, a few of these answers are confusing a drive or partition which is used for Hard Drives for the computers boot, OS, File System, ect, to the Universal Serial Bus ports in which you connect devices such as cameras, printers, scanners, video players, MP3, Apple iPods, etc to the computer.

You did not specify what it is you are attempting to do here, which makes it difficult to offer a real response. If the onboard USB ports are the issue that is one situation, if all are in use and you have attached a USB Hub, that is another issue, if you are attempting to install a device to an onboard port that is another issue, and if you are attempting to hook up a device with a USB port on a hub, is once again another issue.

From how you wrote your question it sounds as though you are attempting to hook up something via a USB Hub port. Which means you have installed the Hub via an onboard port, and now the ports on the hub are not being recognized for some odd reason. With Plug and Play, this should not even be an issue, as when you hook up any device via a port on a USB Hub the OS automatically recognizes the object, applies the proper driver, or you pop in the software CD which came with the device and it loads the driver for you during installation of the devices software.

Windows XP, Home, Pro, Media, Tablet, etc, have a large folder with all sorts of drivers for most contingencies. This is what makes Plug and Play so easy to set up devices. Just plug the device in, Windows recognizes the device, and loads the appropriate driver automatically. This is true with all ports: parallel (LPTx), Serial (COMx), infrared (IrDA) or 1394 (Firewire), as well.

Now, you may be referring to a USB Thumb Drive, which is used to store removable media such as music files, image files, or text files. If the OS is not recognizing the drive when you plug it in, try using a different drive, if one is available. That is the first step in getting it to work properly. This type of removable media also includes: floppy drives which allow for the use of, well, floppy disks to copy data too of course very much like a DVD/CD readable/writable drive, compact flash, zip and other memory card readers. Go here:

http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx

In the left side click on Windows XP, then at the upper right side put in these key words for a search of knowlege base articles, "Universal Serial Bus" and search results will appear in the Microsoft Help and Support Center.

If you are unable to find a paper which fits your issue correctly, I then suggest you try one of the Microsoft Newsgroups. You can locate a newsgroup here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/gp/commnews

Now, you will need a .Net Passport to use these groups and to access the Help and Support Center, but that is very easy if you have a hotmail account. Just put in your hotmail address and the corresponding password and you are good to go. If you do not have a .Net Passport, there are two options to obtain one: In User Accounts you can access a link to connect your account to a .Net Passport right in Windows XP. Just go to the Control Panel and then to User Accounts, click on the account you wish to link, click on the link provided and follow the directions. Now, it states you can use any e-mail account for your .Net Passport, but I had a heck of a time doing so and wound up having to open a hotmail account to get mine. I hope it works out better for you. lol The other method is to go to the site and when the sign-in page appears click on the link for creating your linked .Net Passport. Using the Windows Method may be preferable IF you can get it to accept your current e-mail account, as that way you do not have to open a new account which you may not need or want.

Good luck Maddy in finding your answers to this issue. I will continue to look into it myself, as I am very curious now why this problem is occurring for you. I am a curious cat so to speak and learn a lot because of that curiousity. lol I think you probably already know most of what I wrote here, but I wrote it down just in case. I wish you a fine day today and all that follows as well.

Maddy, while I wrote this Dewcoons wrote his reply too. In Device Manager, the entries under Universal Serial Bus are the actual onboard devices used to plug items in, not the actual items themselves. Do NOT uninstall these items or you will be left with a huge mess and an unworkable removable drive system. These are the root usb hubs onboard and the corresponding drivers for them, along with the controllers which make them work properly. Now, installed hardware devices will be listed here, but under other lables such as "Monitors", "Keyboards, mice and other pointing devices", Imaging devices" which would be printers, webcams ect, and so on and so forth. Now, this is not the place to remove hardware, only to troubleshoot drivers and update or roll them back. If you wish to remove all hardware currently installed or attached to your system do so via the "safely remove hardware" program in XP which is accessable via the icon in the System Tray or Notificaiton Area by the clock, or you can troubleshoot hardware via the Add Hardware wizard in Control Panel. Good luck! ;-)

Answer 2

USB is a wonderful thing - when it works....

Sometimes if you plug a USB device in, let Windows detect, unplug it, and plug it into a different USB port (at any time in the future), the USB will get confused and stop detecting the device.

Go into your Control Panel and the System icon
Click the Hardware tab
Click the Device Manager
(Look for any devices with a yellow "!" in front of them and uninstall them)
Go to the USB section
Uninstall everything in that section
Reboot the computer and it will redect the USB ports. When it does, this clears the table of detected devices and the ports start working again.

Answer 3

You suggest that the computer isn't seeing the USB port - that would suggest that some hardware is plugged in to it. I would look to see what operating system your computer is using. Then look to see what the system requirements for the USB equipment are.

If (by example) you have Windows 98, first edition (as I do) and the USB equipment requires Windows 98, Second Edition, or higher, then your computer will not "see" the USB port equipment.
.
Just a thought!
.

Answer 4

Most times when I see this it is because all of the drive names up to H: are already in use. Win XP only automatically asigns drive names to H:, and will not go back to use B: because it is reserved. You may be able to name you USB drive a new name in Disk Manager


1. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
2. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Performance and Maintenance.
3. Click Administrative Tools, double-click Computer Management, and then click Disk Management in the left pane.
4. Right-click the drive, the partition, the logical drive, or the volume that you want to assign a drive letter to, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
5. Click Change.
6. Click Assign the following drive letter if it is not already selected, click the drive letter that you want to use, and then click OK.
7. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the drive letter change.

Answer 5

It could be that you need a driver or updating software from the manufacturer of the drive. Try looking to the manufacturer's website...they probably have a support section and you may find answers there.

If could also just be that the drive or USB outlet on your computer is defective.

Answer 6

If you got a driver, install the driver. Have you tried different USB ports on your computer? Maybe one of them is damaged?

Answer 7

Check that USB is enabled in the BIOS. Sometimes I disable it and I have been on PCs where it is blocked by the administrator

Answer 8

USB device not detected
Refer this link for troubleshooting instructions:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/fastFaqDocument?lc=en&product=18703&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c00035553


Good Luck and Happy Computing
Regards,
Prasad.

Answer 9

try another port