Incredibly Frustrating USB Error Messages

[Lms526]

Here’s my problem
I recently received a new Digital Media Player as a gift. It’s a GXP ML660 8 Gig Digital Media Player. I’ve been trying all week to get it to work, but not having any luck.  I am using the home version of Windows XP and recently downloaded Windows Media Player 11. My family purchased our computer in 2004, and I checked, it does have USB2 already installed. There is a cable that came with the player. But whenever I attach the device and plug it into the USB Port on my computer, I get an error message that says “USB Device not recognized. One of the devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, please click the message.” When I click the message, I get a weird screen that shows all the available ports and at the bottom it says “Try reconnecting the device. If Windows still does not recognize this device, replace the device.”

The thing that I don’t understand is that the problem only occurs with this Digital Media player. I have several other USB Devices. I have 3 different flash drives and an Ipod Shuffle. These devices all work perfectly fine. I plug them into the USB drive and have no problems whatsoever. Because of the nature of the error message, I assumed that the player was defective in someone. My mom tried taking it back to the store where she purchased it. She said that the guy took it out of the package, plugged it into his computer and it worked just fine. I don’t know if the problem is in the cable, the device, or the USB hub.

Here is a list of the things I’ve tried so far to fix this problem. None of these things have been successful.
1.   Downloading and installing latest version of Windows Media Player
2.   System Restore
3.   Updating the drives
4.   Deleting and reinstalling everything under “Universal Serial Bus Controllers” in Device Manager
5.   Showing hidden files and folders
6.   Using Device manager to try to install/update new software
7.   Disabling Power Management on the USB Hub.
8.     Turning off the computer, unplugging it from the wall for 1 minute and then restarting the computer

On the original packaging for the Digital Media Player it says that the system requirements are Windows XP and Windows Media Player 9 or higher. I also can’t get the player to sync. I go into Windows Media Player and click on sync. I am able to drop songs to be synced. But when I hit the start sync button, nothing happens. Above my list of songs to be synched, it says “Attach Device”

At this point, I am completely out of ideas. Would it help if I bought a different USB cable or a different brand of Digital Media Player? If this will solve the problem, I will gladly do it. But if I will get the same error message with any type of Mp3 player, then I’m not going to waste my money!

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Lms526

[Geek-9pm]

You have done a very good job of trying all the things that usually go wrong.
At this point, the best recommendation I can think of would be to try the device in another computer. Of course, I don't mean the computer at the store or your bonnet. I mean on the computer that one of your friends might have.
You mentioned a problem with Windows media player. Windows media player must be working perfectly before you can synchronize it with an external device. If you are having any problems with Windows media player, you absolutely have to address this problem first.
Does your windows XP have the current updates on it? You may wish to completely uninstall Windows media player. Furthermore, uninstall any other type of media player you may have on your system. In particular I am thinking of Nero. But other media players and similar devices can interfere with the Windows media player.
Do you have iTunes or QuickTime installed on your computer? Please also might possibly the suspect.
Try and do a complete reinstall of the Windows media player. Possibly finding one of the earlier versions of Windows media player. Perhaps Windows media player version 9 work better on your computer.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx?displang=en&qstechnology

On the above link scroll down until you find Windows media player nine. It says it is for earlier versions of Windows up to 2000. However, it works fine on Windows XP

[Lms526]

Yes I have both Itunes and Quick Time installed. Could that be the problem?

Lms526?

[Geek-9pm]

Remove both iTunes and WMA and try the version 9 WMA.

[Lms526]

Okay, I removed both QuickTime and ITunes. I also rolled back to the original version of Windows Media player that was previously installed. It was Windows Media Player 9. I tried plugging the device back in and....got the same error message. Any other suggestions? Do you think the same thing would happen with a different brand of Digital Media player or a new USB cord?

Lms526

[Geek-9pm]

Please repeat the make and model number of your digital player. I have had limited experience with these new digital players, but I know they can be very frustrating. And some of the stuff that has been sold out there is just pure junk. But I don't know about yours, just a quick check on Google shows a number of people complain about installing that video player with Windows. Just to make sure were talking about the same device, this is a little USB device that you can plug in your computer and upload or download music files and possibly some movie files. Some of these work real slick and are easy-to-use. Others have instruction manuals and software that will drive you up the wall. However, in most cases where there some kind of error message it usually ends up being the issue with the drivers. But your to do that. Without any more information I would say your best option is to just go back to the store and ask for your money back or exchange it for a different brand or different model or something like that. Again make sure that you give me the right model number. I want to look that up on Google. Of course, you could do that yourself. Just open up the Google search engine and type the word problem followed by the model number of your device. That should give you lots of hits we'll find dozens of people complaining about the same thing.
Unless the manufacturer does more to try to resolve this issue, the best thing to do is just change it for a different brand or different model. I would go for different brand. You know to make these manufacturers pay attention to us we have to vote with their feet.
But the way, I am not a good speller or grammar teacher. So you'll find some obvious errors in my dictation. I try to give you the best answer I can in the shortest possible time and this results in all sorts of strange errors that I don't catch.

[Kurtiskain]

I noticed you said you were using a hub? plug it straight into the rear ports on your motherboard and see if this helps. It may be that the front USB ports or the hub do not provide their own power, not allowing the device to be recognized properly