i have a new external hard which, when i first plugged it into my laptop, which operates under Windows XP, it automaticly registerd and i was able to access the drive under my computer. After spending the last two days ripping most of my music to it, it has now decided to not work. i unplugged the hard drive and now when i plug it back into the USB port....the same one i might add....it now says, new hardware, then a new window pops us saying Hardware Update Wizard. I cannot connect to the internet on my laptop, but even when i plugged it into my main computer, it still does the same thing...it wont find any of the necessary software.

i have gone into the device manager of my laptop, and the USB device is listed with a bg yellow question mark and yellow circle with excalmation mark. when i click on that, it tells me the device is not configured correctly (Code 1). and when it gives the option to reinstall the drivers for the device, the same hardware update wizard box pops up.

i bought the hard drive off ebay and is has come from japan. it did come with a little piece of paper explaining how to install and use the hard drive, and it says that if i am using XP operating systems, then a driver is not necessary. it should just pop up under my computer....like it did originally.

I am completly at a loss and I am very frusterated....especially as it worked absolutly fine the last two days. and i have already attempted to restart my laptop.

if someone can help me ASAP, I would be very grateful.

Have you added any other USB Devices recently as well? A few things to maybe attempt.

Try plugging a flash drive into that same port and see if it functions properly, second if you have any USB webcams, printers, etc, unplug them and try the HD as the only non-essential device plugged in. I've had problems in the past with my USB Printer conflicting with my IPOD, for whatever reason, so it worth a quick check to see.