[burnout42]

Ok I will try to keep this short. I have an older computer, Dell dimension 4550 with some upgrades. I am trying to reformat and I am having a problem with backing up files to an external hard drive. This problem may be related to my ORIGINAL problem. About a month ago I noticed that my Win mobile pocket PC failed to connect to my PC via Activesync. I would plug in my phone and activesync would not even recognize that I plugged it in and it would not sync. I then got an new iphone and I was having problems syncing that through iTunes as well. My computer has been running slowly lately so I figured, something is wrong let me just backup files and reformat. My problem now is that when I plugged in my Maxtor one touch III mini, my computer would not recognize it. It will not show up in my computer or disk manage. It does show up in the device manager under USB mass storage device but there is a yellow ! there. I have been playing with this for a week so now I have tried everything. I have updated all of my drivers, I have upgraded my BIOS, I have brought another external HD home from work and got the same problem. Finally I went into device manager and right clicked on the "USB mass storage device" and uninstalled it. I restarted my computer, plugged my one touch mini back in and TADA.....XP recognized it as a Maxtor One Touch III! Seconds later I got another bubble that says Your device is installed and ready to use! GREAT! NOW I CAN BACK UP AND REFORMAT!! I clicked on my computer and crap.....it still is not showing up. I checked disc manage and...it is still not showing up there. If I go into device manager it IS showing up there with NO yellow ! and it says that the device is workign properly. I even right clicked on the device and asked windows to update the driver and it says that windows can't find a better driver than the one that I am using. I used this HD to backup my PC last time a did a reformat about 2 years ago and all went smooth. What else can I do?? With the other usb related issues that I am having with the iPhone and my pocket pc there is a problem somewhere. I am pulling my hair out. Please help me.

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[bleep].........nobody?

[burnout42]

[bleep].........nobody?

[dsenette]

it's quite possible that your USB ports are messed up. have you tried different USB ports on the computer? different cables?

before formatting you could try a repair install (if you've got an actual XP disk and not a recovery disk).

Repair the Windows XP installation.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Make sure that the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive is the first priority startup device.
  See your computer documentation for information about how to do this.
• Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
• When the instruction to "Press any key to boot from CD" appears, press a key. Your computer starts from the Windows XP CD.
• When the computer starts from the CD, the system verifies your hardware, and then prompts you to select one of the following options:
  

  - To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER
  - To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
  - To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

• Press ENTER.
• Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.
• A box lists your current Windows XP installation, and then the computer prompts you to select one of the following options:
  

  - To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R.
  - To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press ESC.

• Press R.

You'll get to keep your existing apps & settings, but you need to re-install SP2, Windows Updates & any unsigned drivers afterwards.
NOTE: Be aware that you'll lose any protection from Blaster / Sasser type worms. Don't go online without a firewall, whether the built in Windows one or 3rd party.

How to Perform A Re-Install Of XP.

[burnout42]

yes, I have tried different cables AND I have tried different USB ports on the front and back of my PC. I just want to reformat. I am actually contemplating getting a whole new PC....if I could just backup my files! Maybe we can just figure out another way for me to backup my files. I have pics, music, video and program .exe files that I want to backup. I looked into Carbonite, but they won't backup video or program files.

[dsenette]

well for video/music/data you can just remove the HD from the old computer and mount it in an external drive enclosure and hook it up to the new computer (or any other working computer) and copy the files off that way. for the program files, if they're already installed programs then there's not much you can do about saving those...if you've got the installers or they're really simple programs that just run without installing then you can copy those.