External Hard drive Issues
 

I have a Maxtor 200gb hard drive that I had built into an enclosure and was working perfectly until around mid-January. When it was turned on a message popped up saying that it required an installation disc for "Cypress AT2LP RC42"(no clue what that is) and then the new harddware installer started up.

I could never get through the whole process and re-installing the drivers didn't do anything. At this point when I switch on the drive nothing even happens anymore.

It's not the drive or the enclosure, I know that for sure. I do think it has something to do with Windows update. I've done a lot of searching and have found that others have had this same problem, but I have yet to find a solution. Any help would be appreciated.

Cypress is the maker of the USB->IDE adapter inside the enclosure. AT2LP is the series of adapter and they've made several versions. There do seem to be quite a few people having the problem.

Who makes the enclosure? It's likely they've heard about this already. Microsoft, too, since XP certainly knows about USB mass storage devices. This chipset must provide additional functionality and one of the updates woke it up. One of them (MS or enclosure vendor) will come up with an update.

Last ditch you could try Cypress' reference driver. It's 3yrs old but might get you access temporarily. <a href="http://www.cypress.com/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=209&PageID=418&r_folder=Software%20and%20Drivers&r_title=Windows%20Mass%20Storage%20Driver%20v.6.01">ReallyLongURL</a>

Thanks cyrnel, I'll give that a try.

I just bought a basic CompUSA brand enclosure because at the time I was strapped for cash and just needed an enclosure to get by. I've searched for any sort of support options via CompUSA, but they really don't have a lot of info on their products.

CompUSA would just label something, not make it, so if you recognize it with a different name in any catalogs you may have found a clue.

Worst case pick up another enclosure for $25. The drive and your data won't care.