Win 8.1 64 bit now hates the external USB drive attached to it

[lb63640]

All of a sudden, this Dell Optiplex with Win 8.1 64-bit, doesn't like the external USB drive that's connected to it. No hardware or software changes involved--it just threw a "device not recognized" message (per the user).

When I check it in Device Manager, the obligatory yellow warning icon is next to it with "unknown USB device (port reset failed)."

Currently, it is similarly unhappy with all four Win 8.1 machines, but will cooperate with a lowly WinXP machine.

Uninstalling the device, rebooting the PC, then connecting to the same or different USB ports yields no joy.

Anybody have a tip or clue to shove me in the right direction?

 

[goombawaho]

You're already done the sleuthing and now listen to your troubleshooting results. It's windows 8 related if it happens on four computers but not XP. Got any Windows 7 to try?

Boot from a Linux CD and see if the drive is detected properly on the same hardware, but different OS. That will prove my first theory.

Motherboard chipset driver update available?
Try different USB cable
Try USB2 vs. USB3 ports or vice versa

OR

Link
Link

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