USB error

Ok, I know this isn't a game related issue, but I need you techies to help me out. Here is the situation. 2 identical P4 machines with WinXP SP2. 1 external 360G USB harddrive. Plug HD into 1 computer and get the following balloon where the usb icon is in the systray. "One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned....." Now, I can plug any other tye device (digital camera, thumb drive, mouse, etc....) into the same usb slot and they will work fine. I can take that same HD and plug it into the other computer and it will work fine. I have unistalled all usb devices through device manager (including hub) let Windows reinstall during reboot. Verified I have the latest MB drivers (intel) from the website. Ensured all appropriate services are running (plug and play, removable storage, shell hardware detection). I don't know what else to do. Looking for all input/advice.

this could be a few issues.
What I am thinking: the hd is usb2.0 and the socket is usb(original), if it was the other way it would work.

or

1 machine has a power issue and can not power the hd properly, A way to test this is to plug it into a self powered usb hub.

or

dust/hair in the socket

the above 3 are the most likely.

Thanks zamial, I'll look into suggestion #2. I think I have an external hub somewhere I can take over and plug in to try that. Both machines are built on the D865PERL motherboard, so the USB subsystem is the same 1.1 Don't really think it is a dust issue as I can plug other devices into that very same port and they will work, but then plug the drive back in and get the error.

Make sure your USB drivers are installed correctly.
Make sure you installed your external HD correctly (according to the manual).
Make sure the external HD isn't malfunctioning.
Have you tried other USB ports? I can't imagine your PC only having one USB port.

Drivers are installed correctly, as ALL other usb devices work just fine.
HD is "Plug -n- Play" and works perfectly on other identical machine.
Doesn't matter which USB port I plug into, I get the same error.

Update to SP3 might help as well.

Doesn't the registry "remember" devices if they are attached to the machine a certain number of times?

If that "memory" or registry entry was corrupted, than it would make sense that everytime you connect it, it gives you the same error.

This is all just speculation since I'm trying to remember stuff I haven't used in several years.

LOLed at your Avatar. Interesting thought. I'm not sure if that is true or not, never heard that, but it could be. However, this happened on initial install.

Rawr...guess I'm wrong then. Go figure.

Have you had anything else connected to that port for a long period of time, like a mouse or something else that uses USB 1.1?

You might be right overall with the Registry thing. The registry may do what you say. I do appreciate all input trying to resolve this. No, that machine still uses PS2 Mouse + KB. The only USB devices are an occassional thumb drive and a digital camera.

I honestly don't know about the registry thing. Speculation from me doesn't get anymore wild than that.

Try this. Leave the HD connected and turn it off and back on. See if it does anything different.

Do you have ownership of the external hdd set to the other computer that it does work on? If so try this: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;308421 Otherwise if its encrypted, try http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q255742

Are the two machines entirely identical, or do they both just have the same mobo and cpu?
Is the USB drive powered from the USB or does it have it's own power brick?

I've come across this error before, but I don't remember the solution.

At any rate, make sure the mobos BIOS is updated to the latest (and/or check to see if it's the same revision as the other one.)

Southbridge error. Flash a new BIOS to the motherboard and see if the problem persists.

@ fusa, No the drive is brand new out of the box. No data has been transfered to or from it. Plugged it into the second machine just to try and verify it the drive was bad.
@ Quaker, maybe identical is not the most correct wording. MoBo, processor and ram are the same. Not sure if maybe the rev # on the MoBo are different. So it could very well be a bios issue. Will look into that next opportunity.
@ Rahja, like Quaker said, I'll check into the bios.

Thanks for all this input. Don't know why I didn't think to look into the bios myself. Guess sometimes you can't see the forest because of the trees. LOL

P.S. Rahja....love the Avatar man, love it, especially with the "You're an idiot" quote!!!

In BIOS is Plus and Play OS enabled? Also is this service running for windows (most likely is else would be other problems)? Also I assume you've connected the usb drive directly to the computer, not through a hub, and used the usb 2 ports?