I've got a bit of a problem with my notebook at home.

It has decided to stop recognising external drives which are plugged in via USB. Specifically, it can't 'see' my creative zen, nor can it see my external hard drive (which is basically an old hard disk from another computer). The only thing it does see is my 1GB thumb drive. It also works when other USB devices are plugged in.

These two devices work fine on other computers, which 'see' them no problem.

Is there a bit of software people can recommend that could resolve this problem?

Cheers in advance.

How old is your laptop? Does it have a USB 1 or USB 2 (I think that is what they are called)? Older USB ports only recognize one device at a time; it takes the newer model ports to run multiple devices from the same port.

no more than 3 years old.

It recognises more than two devices at a time. I've had a combo of thumdrive, wireless mouse and keyboard, and camera going at the same time without any problem.

Just these two particular devices are giving me hassel.

Probably just needs the driver reinstalled for the USB drives.

Probably just needs the driver reinstalled for the USB drives.

OK, dumb question, how does one do this.

Cheers!

Probably just needs the driver reinstalled for the USB drives.

OK, dumb question, how does one do this.

Cheers!

Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager

They should be under "Human interface devices" expand the list and you'll see them.

right-click and choose "update driver"

mucho mucho gracias.