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Question

Windows XP SP3 - WD 1TB Elements Issue

by Aug 21, 2011 8:00PM PDT

Hi, I have purchased a Western Digital 1TB Elements External HDD.When I plug the HDD into my computer (Windows XP) it doesn't display in My Computer.The add new hardware prompt pops up, but cannot find any drivers for the harddrive.I have checked Device Manager, and it says USB Drive with an exclamatian mark.I have checked the HDD on another machine with Windows XP and it work's fine. My computer seems to be missing these drivers.

Can anyone help?

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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Answer
you are right
by Aug 21, 2011 8:11PM PDT

Hi friend,

you are facing the problem which is commonly related the driver .you must see the driver of that device from your friend computer and then download it from internet

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Driver
by jsncrs Aug 21, 2011 8:25PM PDT

How can I check what the driver is called on my friends machine?

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I'm not convinced!
by MarkFlax Forum moderator Aug 21, 2011 8:34PM PDT

I'm not convinced this is a driver issue as I've never had to install drivers for external hard drives.

The fact that this drive works on another XP system and not yours points to a problem with your system so try another USB port. If that fails, disconnect all other USB devices and try again.

Does this external drive use it's own power supply source or does it rely on power from the USB?

Tell us about your XP. This is a 1TB drive and probably SATA. XP without any Service Packs will not recognise any drives over 127GB, but even with SP's, (we are up to SP3 in XP), an XP machine that only uses IDE drives will not recognise SATA drives.

Mark

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Re: drivers
by Kees_B Forum moderator Aug 21, 2011 8:40PM PDT

My WD external hard disk gave a similar popup, but the installation manual told me to cancel it and install the automatic backup software from the drive itself if I needed that.
But it didn't give an error in Device Manager.

So something is strange here.

Kees

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Driver
by jsncrs Aug 21, 2011 8:42PM PDT

Have tried all USB ports on the computer, the computer makes a sound confirming that the device is plugged in. The ADD HARDWARE wizard pops up, but it just can't find the correct drivers.

The HDD has it's own external power source which is plugged in. And I'm using the USB cord supplied with the HDD.

As I said, the device works on my friends XP SP3 machine with no problems.
I have also kept the machine up to date with the latest Windows updates.

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Answer
Just a thought.
by Forum moderator Aug 22, 2011 3:27AM PDT

I just fixed one like this and it was SOMEONE TINKERING WITH SERVICES. The plug and play service had been disabled and no USB drives would work.

There are likely other reasons but like Mark I have yet to install a driver.
Bob

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