I am running WinXP Sp3 on a Dell Precision 4300. I have an external USB drive that the system does not recognize periodically. When the USB drive is turned on, one hears the funny "boink nose" indicating the the system knows that something is there. But a fair fraction of the time (50%) the device is not visible/accessible using a file manager or the disk management routine or other processes that would normally show all drives.
When the device is turned on and is visible, it is the correct drive letter and seems to work fine. About 50% of the times that the drive is not recognized, a reboot will solve that. I do not believe that this is a device letter problem, i.e., that multiple devices have the same drive letter.
The USB ports (I have tried them all) on the computer all seem to be working fine -- other USB devices work as expected.
Any help on how I might diagnose this problem would be appreciated.
When the device is turned on and is visible, it is the correct drive letter and seems to work fine. About 50% of the times that the drive is not recognized, a reboot will solve that. I do not believe that this is a device letter problem, i.e., that multiple devices have the same drive letter.
The USB ports (I have tried them all) on the computer all seem to be working fine -- other USB devices work as expected.
Any help on how I might diagnose this problem would be appreciated.