usb mass storage device listed as unknown

[wile666]

I just purchased a usb 2.5" hdd divx player. Yesterday i attached to the computer and it recognized and worked fine. But the drive was NTFS and needed to be FAT32. Today I attached to another computer to reformat. The computer recognized it and formated it, but I forgot to partition so it formatted it again as NTFS. I attached it to another computer so I could reboot using a Win98 boot disk and format from it. The computer I attached it to did not recognize it. Since than every computer I attach it to recognizes the device but gives an error: One of the usb devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and windows cannot recognize it.
I tried updating the driver by reinstalling the usb mass storage driver, but everytime it says windows is already using the best driver for Unknown device and will not let me install.
I have tried in XP, Vista and w2k3.
When I attach the drive to a monitor or tv it is recognize as a hard drive.

 

[stduc]

Bit naughty - but your easiest solution is probably to return it as faulty.
You could try turning on hidden devices and uninstalling the device and then re-attach it an see if windows re-discovers it OK. But I suspect the win98 PC has corrupted something essential.

1. Open the Registry Editor (RegEdit.exe).
2. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to:
System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session
Manager \ Environment
3. In the right pane of RegEdit, right-click on
DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES and select
Modify from the drop-down menu.
Note: If DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES does
not exist:
Create it by right-clicking in the right pane of
the registry editor and select New\String
Value from the drop-down menu.
Rename New Value #1 that is created to
DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES and press
enter - then follow the instruction given
above in step 3.
4. In the Edit String dialog box enter the following
value into the "Value Data" section:
1
5. Click OK button.
6. Exit the Registry Editor (RegEdit.exe).

You also have to select "show hidden devices" on the view menu in device manager.

That would let you uninstall the device when not attached and start again.

[navy]When I married "Miss Right" I didn't realise her first name was 'always'. LOL[/navy]

 

[wahnula]

You could try the Autoplay repair wizard...doubtful, but it might work:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...B6-E8FA-45C4-A171-1B389CFACDAD&displaylang=en

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[wile666]

I have already tried all of that and more. I've googled the problem and tried most of the fixes. I was able through Add remove hardware to install the usb mass storage driver, but now it has an ! and says it cannot start the device. I have contacted the seller and told them computers won't recognize the device. Hopefully they will let me swap it out. if not I guess I can always format the drive in a laptop copy files to it than put it in case and hook it up to the tv. I seems as though something on the other system currpted whatever it is that makes the usb recogenize the drive. I can configure a computer that level hardware problem is beyond me.
Thanks for you suggestions.

 

[Lemon13]

the prob is that you partitioned it. most dvd player have some hidden files or even a hidden partition where information/files are on wich are important for function of the device (like a firmware i.e old 5gb ipod).
u might be able 2 recover it by getting an image of a working device and image urs.

 

[wile666]

When I formatted the drive with NTFS it was attached to my laptop and the laptop read it without any problem. After that all I did was attach it to another computer, because I wanted to format it using a win98 setup disk, but the computer it was attached to did not see the drive. It wasn't until I removed it from that computer and I reattached it to the laptop that it started to be read as unrecognized. All I can think of is that the usb ports on the other computer are probably 1.0 and that may have caused some kind of problem.
They will swap out this one for another one, but I'm not sure how much is going to cost to send this one back to China!!!