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Seagate FreeAgent 500gb
Works fine in my Vista laptop
Put all my files on it
Plug into family XP computer to back up files on there,
USB device is malfunctioning - not recognized
'Unknown device' in device manager
Whole point is that the drive needs no extra driver - just runs off Windows one
Now does not work in Vista laptop
Second time this has happened - second Ext. HDD!
Really rather annoying? Anbody able to help?
Issues is a well known issue with USB drives, as you already thoght there is windwos updates to try and resolve USB issues. Format the drive in windwos Vista, and you shoudl be abel to use it in XP without issues, and on Vista.
You may stil get prompt for integrety issues, but you can ignore as long as it was fomatted on Vista machine
Regards, AlanMcC
Aleeve,
See if there is anything here that might help.
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/in.....ee0a0aRCRD
Kindest Regards,
Rick P. ♥ :)
Thanks Rick
But I checked on there
The whole point of this drive is that it does not need a driver - runs off windows default driver?
Is stupid, because it worked on my Vista laptop
Plugged into family XP - is not recognised (drive malfunctioned)
Try vista again - same problem as XP
Aleeve,
I figured you may have tried the website.
Seagate is my favorite HD OEM for reliability and speed with their Internal HDs.
HOWEVER in searching, I'm finding many results with issues concerning their External HDs.
Sorry I don't have an answer for you.
Maybe Seagate just "blew it" with their External HDs.
Don't know.
Kindest Regards,
Rick P. ♥ :)
Aleeve, I think that you should look for the drive as a hidden entry in Device Manager. Follow these instructions from The Geek to show hidden devices and remove any old entries for the external drive. Then try connecting it again.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto.....-hardware/
Aleeve, all of those greyed out icons represent hidden devices. You have a ton of them! Even if there are some on that list that you will be plugging back in at some point, why not clear out the clutter? It might allow the Seagate to be recognized again.
Either way, what does the property sheet for the Unknown Device say? I'm wondering if it has any information, such as a device ID, that Windows should recognize but is not.
Aleeve, that device that you are showing is the USB Controller on the external device not the disk drive. It should say "USB Mass Storage Device" when recognized properly. There is a lot of advice on the net for people having these kinds of problems. I can't vouch for the following sites, but they do have instructions that are supposed to fix the problem if it's an OS or software problem.
http://www.hat.net/geeky/node/221
http://www.ntcompatible.com/De.....32356.html
Ok, with this
2) Removing all entries under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Enum/USB that start with VID ==
Removing the VID entries from the registry will cause them to be redetected at restart.
CAUTION: If you have a USB keyboard or mouse, do not remove the VID entry for these devices, otherwise, Windows may not restart correctly.
1. Click Start and click Run. Type regedit and click OK. The Registry Editor window will open.
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB.
3. Highlight and delete all the VID_…. entries.
Permissions may be set allowing the deletion of the VID_ entries by following the steps below:
a)Right-click the key to be deleted, and then click Permissions. The VID_… Permissions window will open.
b)With Everyone highlighted in the Group or User name section, select Full Control in the Permissions section.
c)Click Apply, and then click OK.
4. Turn off the computer.
Reconnect the USB device to the computer system: ==
1. With the computer system turned off, reconnect the USB hub to the the USB port.
2.Restart the computer.
3.A New Hardware Detected window should open and reload the drivers.
How do I know which my USB mouse is? And also I have a laptop, so keyboard built in - is this a problem?
In Device Manager, find the mouse and open the properties sheet. On the Details tab, select Hardware IDs from the pull-down and you will see VID numbers. On my system, all of the Human Interface Device (HID) entries have the "&MI" in the ID string. The USB Mass Storage device entries do not have the &MI.
EDIT: for the keyboard, check it's Hardware ID and don't remove the corresponding entry from the registry.
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