Recently I purchased a Creative Zen Vision M music player and an external hard drive. These were both working fine on the computer until one day when the computer would no longer recognise either of these devices. I tried both devices on another computer and they work correctly, and have also tried three different USB ports but the same problem persists. However, the computer has no problem recognising the USB printer. How can I make the computer recognise the music player and external hard drive? The computer is running Windows XP.

As the devices work correctly on another computer, we can assume there is nothing wrong with the devices themselves. So, the problem is most likely due to the computer and Windows not recognising the devices. We must first establish whether the devices are being recognised by Windows, and are just not functioning correctly, or whether they are not being recognised at all. To test this theory, connect the external hard drive to your computer. Then go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘System’ control panel (you may need to open ‘Performance and Maintenance’ category). In the window that appears, click the ‘Hardware’ tab and the ‘Device Manager’ button. Expand the ‘Disk drives’ section and check whether the computer has recognised the external hard drive (in theory, assuming that you only have one internal hard drive in the computer, there should be two drives listed here: the internal hard drive and the external USB hard drive). If the hard drive is listed, then it seems to be recognised by Windows. In this case, double-check whether you can access the drive through My Computer or Windows Explorer. If the drive is not present in the list of hard drives, the most likely explanation is the external hard drive has lost its drive letter assignment. This means that while the drive is recognised by Windows, it has not been assigned a drive letter and therefore cannot be easily accessed (e.g. through My Computer). This is a common problem, and fortunately has a ready fix. In the Control Panel open the ‘Administrative Tools’ control panel and then ‘Computer Management’. In the window that appears, under ‘Storage’, select ‘Disk Management’. Here you should see a list of all hard disk drives on the computer, with their drive letter assignment. Look for the entry for the external hard drive (you should be able to tell which one is the external hard drive, judging from the capacity and free space on the drive). Once you have found the external hard drive, you will probably notice it has not been assigned a drive letter (i.e. the volume column has no drive letter assignment). Therefore, we need to assign the external disk a drive letter so it can be accessed through Windows. For the entry for the external drive, right-click in the ‘Volume’ column (you will not be able to right-click in any other columns) and select ‘Change drive letter and paths’. In the window that appears, click the ‘Add’ button and enable ‘Assign the following drive letter’. In the drop-down box, select the drive letter you wish to use for the device (make sure this is a letter which will never be used for anything else). Once you are finished, click OK. The drive will then be assigned the drive letter, and should be accessible through Windows.

However, should the hard drive not appear in the Device Manager it appears that the drive is not being recognised at all. In this case, we will need to next check whether the same occurs for the Creative Zen to determine if there is a pattern to the problem. So, disconnect the external hard drive from the computer and connect the Creative Zen. Assuming that Windows does not provide any immediate feedback that the device has been recognised, go back into the Device Manager and check whether the device has been recognised. If the device has been recognised, it seems that Windows is having difficulty communicating with the device. Some MP3 players act like external hard drives, and they appear in My Computer as a hard drive, allowing the user to copy files directly to and from the device just like a normal drive. I am unsure how the Creative Zen is setup, but if this sounds familiar then go into My Computer and check whether the MP3 player is appearing as a drive. If not, you may need to assign the device a drive letter (following the previous instructions provided for the external hard drive). However, should this procedure not be applicable for the Creative Zen, you could next try reinstalling the Creative Zen. Right-click on the Creative Zen entry in the Device Manager and select ‘Uninstall’. In the confirmation message click OK. The device should now be uninstalled. Unplug the Creative Zen from the computer and then uninstall all associated software which came with the device. Once this has been completed, the device should be removed from the system, and now you need to reinstall the device from scratch. Follow the instructions which were included with the device so you can setup the device from scratch, and make sure you follow the instructions, as many such devices require things to be installed in a particular order (e.g. installing software and drivers before hardware).

However, in the scenario that both the external hard drive and Creative Zen are not recognised by Windows and do not appear in the Device Manager, this makes it appear like there is possibly something wrong with the USB interface on the computer, or the ability of Windows to recognise such devices. However, since the USB printer is still working it appears that the USB on the computer is at least partially working. However, it is possible that some conflict is causing problems with the USB ports on the computer. To test this theory, we need to try connecting another device to the three ports you have already tested. I suggest you try plugging a USB thumb/flash drive into each port, as such a device is a good approximation in function for the external hard drive and Creative Zen which you are attempting to connect. Once you have plugged the thumb drive into the computer, check whether the device is recognised by Windows. If the device is not recognised in the three ports, it seems that there is something wrong with those ports. In this case, we need to determine whether there is a physical problem with the ports (i.e. physical damage preventing the ports from correctly recognising the connected device) or there is a software problem (a conflict or similar preventing the ports from working correctly). In the next instructions, I am assuming the problem is software related since the issue occurred suddenly, and is also present across all three USB ports (making a hardware related issue relatively unlikely).

Assuming the root cause of the problem is software related, we can try reinstalling the USB devices on the computer. Be aware, if things go wrong during this process it could result in being unable to use any USB devices (including the USB printer). So, proceed with caution! You should also note that while Windows should be able to automatically reinstall the USB drivers, if your computer came with a drivers CD (e.g. a brand-name computer drivers CD, or a motherboard drivers CD) it may be worthwhile to have these handy just in case Windows cannot locate the drivers. When you are ready to begin, make sure all USB devices are disconnected and unplugged from the computer. Then, open the Device Manager and expand ‘Universal Serial Bus controllers’. You will need to uninstall all the items under this category. So, right-click on each item and select ‘Uninstall’. Once all the items have been removed, restart the computer. Upon restarting, Windows should recognise the USB controllers and proceed with reinstallation (this is the point when you may be prompted for a drivers CD, if Windows cannot locate the needed drivers). Once the USB controllers have been reinstalled, try connecting the printer to verify it still works. Should all be good, try connecting the external hard drive and Creative Zen to check if they work.