Help!! Cannot install new USB devices

Question

My computer is having problems so it is time to reformat and start again. However I need to save the data currently on my pc so I bought a portable USB hard drive.   The trouble is when I first plugged it in, the pc wanted to install some software which the hard drive did not come with because any USB 2.0 compatible PC should already have the drivers.   Anyway now when i plug it in I just get this message:   'There was a problem installing this hardware   Device description   An error occured during the installation of the device. The data is invalid.'   The device is A Western Digital  WD elements hard drive.   My PC is a dell dimension 5000 with windows XP installed.   I've already been through the fix that involves copying driver.cab from my XP disc and replacing the one on the PC and that has made no difference, although it did allow me to install the usb drivers for a mobile phone that wasn't working previously.   I also get the same message when I plug in a standard usb 2.0 stick.   I really need to resolve this issue as I stand to lose a lot of data if i cannot connect a device to my pc such as a hard drive.   Help!

PETER345 · Answer

What computer and OS do you have? Peter

Devil2575 · Answer

Dimension  5000 with Windows XP home edition.

PETER345 · Answer

Did you install the chipset driver and then the other drivers? Peter

tstroud · Answer

Hi I was just wondering if you have SP2 installed on your computer, if not that may be why USB 2.0 is not working for you, Let me know    thanks   Terry

Devil2575 · Answer

You'll have to forgive my ignorance.   the chipset driver for what?   What is SP2?   USB 2.0 does work, I think the computer is just deciding there is a problem and blocking the connection.   I downloaded some software to format the hard drive and if i fire it up as soon as the computer is powered on it is able to see and format the hard drive. However as soon as the new hardware wizard kicks in the formating software is unable to see the HD.

Devil2575 · Answer

Just realised what SP2 is and yes. MY PC had SP2 pre installed when I got it.

PETER345 · Answer

The chipset drivers are the drivers for the chipset on the motherboard. The chipset controls basic bus operations (e.g. PCI), internal peripherals and the USB ports.

If you don't install the chipset drivers, other devices (e.g. USB or graphics cards) may not function correctly.

You can download the chipset drivers from support.dell.com.

Peter

Devil2575 · Answer

Surely they should be installed from new?   I will give it a go though.

Devil2575 · Answer

What I mean is surely dell would have installed all the correct drivers when they sold me the PC.   I haven't reformatted the PC and reinstalled the OS, although I plan to once I can back up my important data.

PETER345 · Answer

@Devil2575 wrote:

Surely they should be installed from new?

I will give it a go though.

Not sure what you mean. They are NOT installed with XP unless you did so. Reinstalling the OS does not reinstall the drivers.

Peter

tstroud · Answer

Hi if you are able to get online you may be able to go to windows update and get the latest updates for your computer, this may help you with your problem, have a great day   Terry

Devil2575 · Answer

Tstroud   All the latest windows updates are installed.

Devil2575 · Answer

I manually went onto the microsoft update site and checked.

tstroud · Answer

Hi did you manually do the update or did they automatically update, sometimes you have to manually update them from microsoft, hope this helps   Terry

Devil2575 · Answer

Just done something interesting and perhaps a clue as to what may be going wrong. I plugged a USB stick in and accessed it straight away before the new hardware wizzard had time to kick in and I am able to copy to it and copy from it without any problems. However if I let the new hardware wizard do it's thing before i try to access it, it disappears from the view as if it isn't there. So the problem is with the hardware wizard not the USB, I think...

Message Edited by Devil2575 on 01-28-2008 04:54 PM

Storage, Drives & Media

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