USB trouble

I have an external hard drive in a box that facilitates connecting it
to a USB slot on my machine. I continually have trouble getting XP
PRO SP2 to recognize the drive by its PnP. I have to physically
unplug the power supply to the box as well as the IDE cable therein to
get XP to recognize its presence.

Is there any software does a sort of USB scan for newly connected USB
devices?

Thanks

G

"gecko" <alpha@olympus.net> wrote in message
news:7opoh31kcgj1pa1b8qofs1s511se33lq7k@4ax.com...
>I have an external hard drive in a box that facilitates connecting it
> to a USB slot on my machine. I continually have trouble getting XP
> PRO SP2 to recognize the drive by its PnP. I have to physically
> unplug the power supply to the box as well as the IDE cable therein to
> get XP to recognize its presence.
>
> Is there any software does a sort of USB scan for newly connected USB
> devices?

Sounds like you might have driver trouble in your XP setup there. USB
devices are usually detected automatically and immediately. You could try
manually scanning for new devices - Right click 'my computer' and choose
manage and "Device Manager". Right click on the list of devices somewhere
and 'scan for changes'.

On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:58:29 +0100, "GT"
<ContactGT_remove_@hotmail.com> wrote:

>"gecko" <alpha@olympus.net> wrote in message
>news:7opoh31kcgj1pa1b8qofs1s511se33lq7k@4ax.com.. .
>>I have an external hard drive in a box that facilitates connecting it
>> to a USB slot on my machine. I continually have trouble getting XP
>> PRO SP2 to recognize the drive by its PnP. I have to physically
>> unplug the power supply to the box as well as the IDE cable therein to
>> get XP to recognize its presence.
>>
>> Is there any software does a sort of USB scan for newly connected USB
>> devices?
>
>Sounds like you might have driver trouble in your XP setup there. USB
>devices are usually detected automatically and immediately. You could try
>manually scanning for new devices - Right click 'my computer' and choose
>manage and "Device Manager". Right click on the list of devices somewhere
>and 'scan for changes'.
>

I have tried that. Sometimes PnP picks up the USB device, and
sometimes not. When it does, the USB connection is added to Device
Manager of course, When it does not, Device Manager is unchanged.

I use the external HDD for backup, and when not in use it is powered
off by its own on/off button. So - to turn it on, I merely press the
button, This is supposed to keep my backup out of harm's way.

Since I experience the same problem on each of my two XP machines, I
suspect the problem is within the circuitry of the external HDD box
itself. I have to wonder how a new, more modern, external HDD would
behave.

Oh well - I just thought a piece of software might be out there that
would overcome the problem. Maybe not.

Thanks

G