Win XP stopped recognizing my USB Flash Drive

[MoDyna]

Installed a Maxtor III external HDD the other day and got my PC files backed up. :) That's the good part, but ever since Windows, will not acknowledge my flash drive when I plug it into a USB port. I have my HDD partitioned into four parts: (C) OS; (E) Music; (F) Photo and (G) Backup with (D) as the DVD drive. (H) goes to the Maxtor III external HDD when its turned on.

No matter what, if I plug in the flash drive, Windows just does not respond to it. My Computer showed a spurious (I) drive hanging in there even though with no USB drive installed it shouldn't. I used Windows services to delete the drive, but that did not help. Both of my USB drives work in other PC's, so what can I do to force XP to start seeing these USB drives again. Does not seem to matter if I leave the Maxtor III disconnected and leave (H) available for the USB drive.

Any suggestions out there.....


Thx, Mo....

[Ob1]

right click my computer and choose manage, then go to disk management and see if you see it in there and assign it a drive letter. then verify its working by looking back in my computer

[MoDyna]

No joy.... I can turn on my external HDD and that shows up fine, disappears when I turn it off, but XP just will not even hiccup when USB drive inserted into port. In fact, I cannot get my camera or MP3 player to be seen now either. Looks like I hosed my USB processes, but the Maxtor III is USB, so not sure what is happening. :confused:

[Ob1]

look in device manager under USB controllers for any yellow exclamation points. if so, delete those usb controllers and reboot your machine, windows will detect it and reinstall proper drivers.

also run system file checker

start>run>type sfc /scannow - need XP disc to do this