xp device not recognized for ext. usb hdd after virus removal

I'm running xp pro sp 3 and was surfing the web using firefox 3.6.6 &

my antivirus (avira free) said it found a virus, and I had it remove

it. A couple minutes later it found something again and I had it

remove the threat.

I ran microsoft security essentials and it started to scan my pc but I

cancelled the scan and instead decided to reboot into safe mode and

run malware bytes antimalware and did a full scan of my c: drive and

it found and removed 4 threats.

While still in safe mode, XP then detected a USB device as though I

had just plugged one in (which I did not) - some kind of indexing

service (I didn't write down the name). I had 2 external seagate hard

drives:

1) FreeAgent Go, p/n 9za2ah-502 500gb

2) Expansion Portable Drive, p/n 9sd2a4-500, 500gb

that were already plugged in at bootup so I told xp not to install the

device and just rebooted into normal mode.

However now when I boot up, xp says USB device found for my external

hard drives, but when I tell it to automatically install, it can't

seem to find the drivers (says device not recognized). However the

drives work fine & are totally readable on my other XP machines. So I

am wondering what happened, Did my AV some how mess up my driver files

in removing the threats? How do you fix this?

Here is the malwarebytes log file from the removal, if it helps shed

light on anything:

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.46

http://www.malwarebytes.org

Database version: 4333

Windows 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 (Safe Mode)

Internet Explorer 8.0.6001.18702

7/20/2010 9:31:27 PM

mbam-log-2010-07-20 (21-31-27).txt

Scan type: Full scan (C:\|)

Objects scanned: 374527

Time elapsed: 59 minute(s), 25 second(s)

Memory Processes Infected: 0

Memory Modules Infected: 0

Registry Keys Infected: 0

Registry Values Infected: 3

Registry Data Items Infected: 0

Folders Infected: 0

Files Infected: 1

Memory Processes Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Memory Modules Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Registry Keys Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Registry Values Infected:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

\howhqeyl (Rogue.AntivirusSuite.Gen) -> Quarantined and deleted

successfully.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

\sijhmsek (Trojan.FakeAlert.Gen) -> Quarantined and deleted

successfully.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

\prunnet (Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

Registry Data Items Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Folders Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Files Infected:

C:\Documents and Settings\User1\Local Settings\Temp\pdfupd.exe

(Trojan.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.