Unknown Device and USB Device Not Recognised - with a WD HP external drive

Hi there,

I just bought a WD external drive and have been having problems the moment I attempted to use it. So firstly I attempted to connect it to the computer and it would immediately tell me that Unknown Device driver was loaded and straight after USB Device Not Recognised and that no drivers were actually loaded for the external device.

I looked on the net and someone suggested doing this

2. Uninstall and then reconnect the USB device
If the above trick doesn’t work, you may try this option.
a. Click Start, type Device Manager in the Search box. Now click on Device manager.
b. In the device manager, find the USB device from the list of hardwares. For example, if the USB device that stopped working was an external hard drive, you have to click “Disk Drives” from the list of hardware.
c. Right-click the USB device having issue and click Uninstall.
d. After the drive is uninstalled, unplug the USB device.
e. Wait for a minute and then reconnect the USB device. The driver should automatically load.
f. Now check for the USB drive in Windows Explorer…

http://www.technologynext.org/error-usb-device-not-recognized-how-to-fix/

I did that and by some miracle it worked! The driver re-installed and the external hard drive was up and running with no probs. I then decided it’s time to put all my pictures, music and films onto the hard drive since that’s what I bought it for.

However this morning I log onto my computer and again it’s not working! I tried everything, disconnecting the device and turning everything off from the power source, rebooting, and even repeating the uninstall of the disk drive. Nothing seems to work…I don’t think it’s the cable at fault because the day before it transferred over 135gigs of data without a hitch.

At this point I’m at wits end as to how to fix this issue and I don’t understand why it is happening and how to fix it…If anyone has any good idea’s I would gladly appreciate it.

Hello, try opening the disk management window to see if it’s recognized there. If possible also try connecting the hard drive to another PC. Check the link below for the steps. 

How to access Disk Management in Windows 7, Vista, XP or 2000 to manage your hard drives