[DemanPhos]

System: XP Pro Version 2002 ServiceP 2
Running soft firewall (Sygate), ATI tray.
Four partitions on a single HD - EXT3(logical1 - part 0 - not mounted), SWAP(logical2 - part 0 - not mounted), NTFS(C drive - part 2), NTFS(H drive - part 3 - windows system). Second HD (K drive), one part FAT32

The XP install is on the H partition, which is roughly 25GB, with the C part being about 45GB.

Hardware: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (single core) 1GHz ' 1GB RAM PC3200-2stick256 PC2100-1stick512 ' ATI AGP RADEON 9600 128MB ' Gigabyte mobo with onboard LAN being used ' 4 port USB mobo back hub, 2 port USB case front hub

The USB drivers/controllers were ULi, but I uninstalled them for the generic windows drivers/controllers.

Problem: When plugging a removable storage device (iPod, flash stick, anything) into one of the USB ports, Windows recognizes there is a removable storage device, identifies it, uses an appropriate driver, but does not assign a drive letter. When I manually assign a drive letter to the removable disk it does not 'show up' in My Computer, nor can I use the drive letter in Explorer to access the mounted disk. I can, however, use DOS to access the mounted disk normally, but no other method.
Changing the USB port causes no difference. Changing the USB HUB controller/drivers from mobo specced to generic caused no difference. Manually assigning different drive letters to the storage device caused no difference. Using different storage devices(an iPod, three different flash sticks) caused no difference.

Possiblilities proposed:
*Windows craps out because it can't handle the partition/drive configurations, and sits on it's proverbial hands.
*Explorer doesn't update it's knowledge of the drive even when it's assigned a letter manually, and thus doesn't know what the user is talking about when I ask it to access that letter. DOS just happens to know better than Explorer.
*My USB/mobo driver/controllers are messed up, and thus is confusing Explorer into thinking it can't access the drive, while DOS somehow sidesteps that problem.
*I've disabled or set to manual a service thatis required to access a removable/USB storage device. Very possible. A list/reference of what services perform what tasks (especially in regards to storage, usb, plugNplay) is appreciated.