Can not download to external drive

Using XP Pro SP3 OS. Dell E510 computer. 160 gig internal HDD. 320 gig
external HDD (USB).

Computer has been running pretty good for quite awhile.
Other night the computer just kind of made a moaning sound and kind of
blinked - really can not describe what happened.
I was not doing anything exceptional - just using the computer.
Do not remember installing any software or doing anything special - Try to
be pretty cautious about installing stuff.
Anyway - My computer shows drive letters for all my "extras" - USB drives,
card readers, external drive (1 only).
I use the external drive to hold all my data, music, pictures, etc.
I load all programs on my C drive.
In the past I have been able to download files directly to my external drive
and save files there also. Now for some reason, I can not download directly
to my external drive. When I try and access the drive via "my computer" - I
get the flashlight thing and then the drives letters (I can access the
external drive to read and save to it - I can not drag and drop music to my
CD's or DVD's. When I put a disk in the players - I get a message saying
there is no media in the player. I can play from them though. I can access
my thumb drives and write/save to them. When all of this happened, the way
the data files in the folders shows up has also been affected (thembnail vs
icon etc). In "my computer" my folders used to be on top in the screen and
the drives were listed in the middle with the printers listed in the
unspecified area below - now they have changed also.
No idea what is going on. When I do a search (google desktop) I can no
longer find documents on the external drive - just like they did not exist.
I can access the external drive and find them manually - big pain. Have read
numerous posts looking for thoughts and solutions - no luck.
Also, about this time I downloaded the latest version of itunes - when I
next tried to use the program - itunes could not find the music loaded on the
external HDD - I had to delete the library and reload it.
Thoughts and suggestions or even the solution will be very much appreciated.
I have never configured any of this stuff. The CD/DVD came with the
computer, the external HDD is just a plug in USB. My computer knowledge is
not all that great. Again thanks.

On 9/23/09, the entity Randall wrote this:
> Using XP Pro SP3 OS. Dell E510 computer. 160 gig internal HDD. 320 gig
> external HDD (USB).

> Computer has been running pretty good for quite awhile.
> Other night the computer just kind of made a moaning sound and kind of
> blinked - really can not describe what happened.
> I was not doing anything exceptional - just using the computer.
> Do not remember installing any software or doing anything special - Try to
> be pretty cautious about installing stuff.
> Anyway - My computer shows drive letters for all my "extras" - USB drives,
> card readers, external drive (1 only).
> I use the external drive to hold all my data, music, pictures, etc.
> I load all programs on my C drive.
> In the past I have been able to download files directly to my external drive
> and save files there also. Now for some reason, I can not download directly
> to my external drive. When I try and access the drive via "my computer" - I
> get the flashlight thing and then the drives letters (I can access the
> external drive to read and save to it - I can not drag and drop music to my
> CD's or DVD's. When I put a disk in the players - I get a message saying
> there is no media in the player. I can play from them though. I can access
> my thumb drives and write/save to them. When all of this happened, the way
> the data files in the folders shows up has also been affected (thembnail vs
> icon etc). In "my computer" my folders used to be on top in the screen and
> the drives were listed in the middle with the printers listed in the
> unspecified area below - now they have changed also.
> No idea what is going on. When I do a search (google desktop) I can no
> longer find documents on the external drive - just like they did not exist.
> I can access the external drive and find them manually - big pain. Have read
> numerous posts looking for thoughts and solutions - no luck.
> Also, about this time I downloaded the latest version of itunes - when I
> next tried to use the program - itunes could not find the music loaded on the
> external HDD - I had to delete the library and reload it.
> Thoughts and suggestions or even the solution will be very much appreciated.
> I have never configured any of this stuff. The CD/DVD came with the
> computer, the external HDD is just a plug in USB. My computer knowledge is
> not all that great. Again thanks.

This is not the best news group for hardware failures (it sounds to me
like your USB controllers have failed).

Try a Windows XP general or hardware group rather than a Media Center
group.

--
Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com

Not a Media Center related question, repost to a more appropriate group such
as xp.general

--
The following is a signature, don't take it personally unless it applies to
you.
How to ask a question http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375


------
"Randall" <> wrote in message
news:2705CBF4-F825-4BFB-8807-...
> Using XP Pro SP3 OS. Dell E510 computer. 160 gig internal HDD. 320 gig
> external HDD (USB).
>
> Computer has been running pretty good for quite awhile.
> Other night the computer just kind of made a moaning sound and kind of
> blinked - really can not describe what happened.
> I was not doing anything exceptional - just using the computer.
> Do not remember installing any software or doing anything special - Try to
> be pretty cautious about installing stuff.
> Anyway - My computer shows drive letters for all my "extras" - USB drives,
> card readers, external drive (1 only).
> I use the external drive to hold all my data, music, pictures, etc.
> I load all programs on my C drive.
> In the past I have been able to download files directly to my external
> drive
> and save files there also. Now for some reason, I can not download
> directly
> to my external drive. When I try and access the drive via "my computer" -
> I
> get the flashlight thing and then the drives letters (I can access the
> external drive to read and save to it - I can not drag and drop music to
> my
> CD's or DVD's. When I put a disk in the players - I get a message saying
> there is no media in the player. I can play from them though. I can
> access
> my thumb drives and write/save to them. When all of this happened, the
> way
> the data files in the folders shows up has also been affected (thembnail
> vs
> icon etc). In "my computer" my folders used to be on top in the screen
> and
> the drives were listed in the middle with the printers listed in the
> unspecified area below - now they have changed also.
> No idea what is going on. When I do a search (google desktop) I can no
> longer find documents on the external drive - just like they did not
> exist.
> I can access the external drive and find them manually - big pain. Have
> read
> numerous posts looking for thoughts and solutions - no luck.
> Also, about this time I downloaded the latest version of itunes - when I
> next tried to use the program - itunes could not find the music loaded on
> the
> external HDD - I had to delete the library and reload it.
> Thoughts and suggestions or even the solution will be very much
> appreciated.
> I have never configured any of this stuff. The CD/DVD came with the
> computer, the external HDD is just a plug in USB. My computer knowledge
> is
> not all that great. Again thanks.

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote:

> On 9/23/09, the entity Randall wrote this:
> > Using XP Pro SP3 OS. Dell E510 computer. 160 gig internal HDD. 320 gig
> > external HDD (USB).
>
> > Computer has been running pretty good for quite awhile.
> > Other night the computer just kind of made a moaning sound and kind of
> > blinked - really can not describe what happened.
> > I was not doing anything exceptional - just using the computer.
> > Do not remember installing any software or doing anything special - Try to
> > be pretty cautious about installing stuff.
> > Anyway - My computer shows drive letters for all my "extras" - USB drives,
> > card readers, external drive (1 only).
> > I use the external drive to hold all my data, music, pictures, etc.
> > I load all programs on my C drive.
> > In the past I have been able to download files directly to my external drive
> > and save files there also. Now for some reason, I can not download directly
> > to my external drive. When I try and access the drive via "my computer" - I
> > get the flashlight thing and then the drives letters (I can access the
> > external drive to read and save to it - I can not drag and drop music to my
> > CD's or DVD's. When I put a disk in the players - I get a message saying
> > there is no media in the player. I can play from them though. I can access
> > my thumb drives and write/save to them. When all of this happened, the way
> > the data files in the folders shows up has also been affected (thembnail vs
> > icon etc). In "my computer" my folders used to be on top in the screen and
> > the drives were listed in the middle with the printers listed in the
> > unspecified area below - now they have changed also.
> > No idea what is going on. When I do a search (google desktop) I can no
> > longer find documents on the external drive - just like they did not exist.
> > I can access the external drive and find them manually - big pain. Have read
> > numerous posts looking for thoughts and solutions - no luck.
> > Also, about this time I downloaded the latest version of itunes - when I
> > next tried to use the program - itunes could not find the music loaded on the
> > external HDD - I had to delete the library and reload it.
> > Thoughts and suggestions or even the solution will be very much appreciated.
> > I have never configured any of this stuff. The CD/DVD came with the
> > computer, the external HDD is just a plug in USB. My computer knowledge is
> > not all that great. Again thanks.
>
> This is not the best news group for hardware failures (it sounds to me
> like your USB controllers have failed).
>
> Try a Windows XP general or hardware group rather than a Media Center
> group.
>
> --
> Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com
>

I apologize for posting in the wrong place, misunderstood where I was at.
Thanks.
Randall

On 9/24/09, Randall posted:

> "Gene E. Bloch" wrote:

>> On 9/23/09, the entity Randall wrote this:
>>> Using XP Pro SP3 OS. Dell E510 computer. 160 gig internal HDD. 320 gig
>>> external HDD (USB).
>>
>>> Computer has been running pretty good for quite awhile.
>>> Other night the computer just kind of made a moaning sound and kind of
>>> blinked - really can not describe what happened.
>>> I was not doing anything exceptional - just using the computer.
>>> Do not remember installing any software or doing anything special - Try to
>>> be pretty cautious about installing stuff.
>>> Anyway - My computer shows drive letters for all my "extras" - USB drives,
>>> card readers, external drive (1 only).
>>> I use the external drive to hold all my data, music, pictures, etc.
>>> I load all programs on my C drive.
>>> In the past I have been able to download files directly to my external
>>> drive and save files there also. Now for some reason, I can not download
>>> directly to my external drive. When I try and access the drive via "my
>>> computer" - I get the flashlight thing and then the drives letters (I can
>>> access the external drive to read and save to it - I can not drag and drop
>>> music to my CD's or DVD's. When I put a disk in the players - I get a
>>> message saying there is no media in the player. I can play from them
>>> though. I can access my thumb drives and write/save to them. When all of
>>> this happened, the way the data files in the folders shows up has also
>>> been affected (thembnail vs icon etc). In "my computer" my folders used
>>> to be on top in the screen and the drives were listed in the middle with
>>> the printers listed in the unspecified area below - now they have changed
>>> also. No idea what is going on. When I do a search (google desktop) I can
>>> no longer find documents on the external drive - just like they did not
>>> exist. I can access the external drive and find them manually - big pain.
>>> Have read numerous posts looking for thoughts and solutions - no luck.
>>> Also, about this time I downloaded the latest version of itunes - when I
>>> next tried to use the program - itunes could not find the music loaded on
>>> the external HDD - I had to delete the library and reload it.
>>> Thoughts and suggestions or even the solution will be very much
>>> appreciated. I have never configured any of this stuff. The CD/DVD came
>>> with the computer, the external HDD is just a plug in USB. My computer
>>> knowledge is not all that great. Again thanks.
>>
>> This is not the best news group for hardware failures (it sounds to me
>> like your USB controllers have failed).
>>
>> Try a Windows XP general or hardware group rather than a Media Center
>> group.
>>
>> --
>> Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com
>>

> I apologize for posting in the wrong place, misunderstood where I was at.
> Thanks.
> Randall

No problem, and I hope the other groups can help.

--
Gene Bloch 650.366.4267 lettersatblochg.com