"USB Mass Storage Device" won't start

The actual device in question is an IDE to usb device (like to attach an ide hdd or cd rom to usb port). I have one that works fine, but when I plug two in, I get problems. Ultimately I want 3 of these devices (two extra hard drives and a dvd rom drive) to work, but for the time being I'm working one at a time.

Computer management doesn't show extra drives, so I checked device manager. There's a yellow "!" on the usb mass storage device icon and I can't repair it. The error code is 10 (This device cannot start).

Any advice?

edit: in other words, I'm trying to have 3 IDE hard drives at the same time. One is attached to the motherboard/power supply, and two are attached via USB port. One is failing to start).

Your computer might not be able to cope with 3 USB connections simultaneously. Also your computer migh be too old to use the extra devices that are added on. What OS do you use?

These are just suggestions though.

Are you sure your USB controller can supply enough power to 3 such units at once?

winXP, 3 different connections, 3 different ac adaptors. And in fact the reason for 3 devices is so I don't overload the PSU :p

currently I am trying to reinstall windows from scratch to see if it's a configuration issue. A bit of a snag -- the cd will not load up the windoze install section. Repartitioning hdd.

How does master and slave work under these conditions? I'm assuming one of the HDDs still has to be set as master or cable select and the other as slave.