USB drive..'data is invalid' message

[arkham77]

Browsed the forums with a previous technical question concering my external hard drive..and the assistance worked a treat. Cheers! A second question I have is as follows:

Whenever i connect some usb drives to my laptop, they work ok. However, i can connect exactly the same make and model usb drive that has previously worked ok, and my laptop displays that i need to install drivers for the device. Once i have gone through the process of dowloading drivers from manufacturers website, the final message is 'the data is invalid' Any suggestions?

I am running Windows XP whihch i believe is 'plug and play' and should not require any additional drivers for usb drives. I tested a couple of different makes of drives, all resulting in the same message. I can try and re-create the problem and attach a couple of screenshots if this is of any help. Thanks for any assistance.

 

[wahnula]

You are correct, WinXP does not require drivers for USB flash drives, unless they are encrypted or use a proprietary software method of organizing files.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[hotkeys]

Something that has worked for me :

Disable the external USB hard drive in device manager and then select uninstall (still in device manager).
Unplug USB hard drive, reboot XP and then reconnect. If there are no other problems XP should detect and install.

I believe this problem is related to service pack 3, as that was when it started to occur. Unfortunately I have to go through this procedure every time I reboot.

Hope this helps.

John

 

[BadBigBen]

Q: are these USB ThumbDrives (ergo USB Stick) or USB HDD drives?

if the later, then I suggest to try a powered HUB, or power the drive through the external power supply (most USB HDD come with a small power brick)...

if there is a setting in the BIOS for the voltage of the USB ports, try to up it... not all mainboards allow this though...

as mentioned there should be no need to download any drivers for the device... and the error message you are getting sounds to me like a file corruption, which can occur using IE (though it has been a long long time since I heard about it, and it usually happens with ZIP files)...

When you do suffer a download corrupted by Internet Explorer and you wish to retry it in the hope it will work the next time (or the time after that, or…), it is absolutely essential that you first clear the browser cache to get rid of the incomplete download. If you fail to do this, Internet Explorer will, while going through the motions to persuade you that it is downloading the file from the Web site, actually just copy the version saved in the cache, handing you another identically truncated copy.

source: “Corrupted Downloads”

Zip Files Downloaded with Internet Explorer Are Not Saved to Your Computer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308090

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[hotkeys]

Thanks for your thoughts but in my case the drives are USB HDD and they (2) are both powered through their own power supplies.

I do not use IE, I use Opera for browsing and FlashGet for downloading.

John

 

[bobw]

hotkeys,
I had a similar problem with an external usb hard drive. I used the drive for several hours and shut the pc down for the night. When attempting to continue the next day the same pc gave me a message that the drive was not recognized.
I solved the problem by removing the drive from the usb case and plugging it directly into an ide ribbon (I don't know if this works with sata). The pc recognized the drive proving that the usb case was the culprit. In my frustration I tossed the idea of a usb case since it wasn't absolutely necessary for my needs.
I hope this helps you get to the bottom of this.
Bob W

"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail." - Abraham Maslow

 

[hotkeys]

Thanks, I'd have to investigate the sata aspect. The strange thing here is is that it's happening to 2 usb hard drives, admittedly both Maxtor one an old 3200 & the other a 3 month old 500gb One Touch. Once I reinitiallise them with the proceduire I mentioned above they work perfectly, luckily I do not reboot very often.

Prior to attaching them to this desktop I ran them on a laptop without any issues. The laptop was SP2 the desktop is SP3 and I'm still convinced it was the cause of this issue, but I've yet to work out why.

John

My apologies to arkham77 I appear to have hijacked this thread - it was not my intention.

 

[BadBigBen]

I would take a look at the chipset drivers, they may be old and an update may be the key to success here... as well as updating the BIOS to the latest version...

I am not convinced that it is a SP3 issue... but more of an USB or BIOS issue...

also where are the USB drives attached, on the front panel or at the rear USB jacks?

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[hotkeys]

The computer is 6 weeks old, all the drivers & the bios were updated to the latest when it was built.

The USB drives are attached at the rear.

I will check the bios out when I next reboot, but I have not changed anything. It worked fine on laptop, and on desktop for 2 weeks - and then I installed SP3...

I also found this:-

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/showpost.aspx?postid=3344576&siteid=17

"That thread tells you how to repair this situation by coping the sp2 USB drivers over the sp3 drivers. the sp3 USB drivers are , in normal terms, screwed up for some older machines (and even some newer) so going back to sp2 drivers fix's it. I bet if you had removed ALL usb devices your computer would have loaded up just fine. however you do need to remove usb devices so that SP3 can finish installing BEFORE coping the sp2 drivers back over. At least thats what I am assuming when the tech guy is stating to remove devices and let it boot."

It appears there are quite a few USB issues with SP3 - (Scroogle search revealed many pages), so I will try the above - I'm hoping I can just roll back the drivers as SP3 is fully installed.

John.

 

[BadBigBen]

John, I hope that that helps in your case, if you replace the USB drivers from SP2... but also check the BIOS setting for LEGACY USB SUPPORT, as this can screw up things as well (disregard if you have only a USB Keyboard, as this will render it useless, until you are in windows)...

I perused that link you gave, and had to laugh at a lot of places, especially everyone rambling about and cursing over MS... what stuck out was that guy who gave up and gave his PC into a so called 'PC Clinic', where they just REFORMATED his computer and gave it back (LOL)...

I got to say this, that I've installed XP SP3 on 30 or so PC's and not one problem with it at all, except on one and that was HP's fault...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[hotkeys]

My apologies, I included the link that went with the comments without going to the link first - I did afterwards, gave me a laugh too, so wasn't totally pointless(LOL).
Had to boot up this morning after 11 hour power cut, thunderstorm last night - first rains since May. USB's still not detected in disk manager/explorer but listed in device manager as working properly, after I'd tried this suggestion on forum.driverguides.com,

USB Device Stops Working or Won't Resume

WinXP by Default turns off USB Root Hubs to Conserve Power causing some devices not to resume correctly after Windows resumes from sleep, hibernation or computer inactivity

In the Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers > USB Root Hub > Power Management, Uncheck the box per the illustration below. Uncheck all boxes on all root hubs.

Allow the computer to turn off this device to conserve power.

To get them working I disabled & deleted the drivers in device manager and then selected 'add hardware' in control panel. Detected both drives and working ok - a quicker method than my first. I forgot to check the BIOS, that'll be next.

I tried rolling back the drivers but it informed me there are none available (none saved). I know I have the drivers in C:/WINDOWS/Driver Cache/i386/SP2.cab, I shall have to do some scroogling on how to go about replacing the SP3 ones.
(unless I can find an alternative cure - still looking)

John

 

[hotkeys]

Update:
As the USB drives are permanently connected I have the settings in 'properties-hardware-policies' at 'optimize for performance'. So as an experiment I 'safely removed' both drives before shutting down. Lo and behold both drives were auto detected on bootup!
I tried again with the policy set to 'optimize for quick removal' (and not using 'safely remove') but once again they were not detected.
This suggests to me that there is something amiss in XP's shutdown procedure - unfortunately I have no idea where to investigate it.
So, for the time being, as long as I remember to 'safely remove' the drives, the problem is 'minimised.

John